Music is a big part of our life. I know we are not alone in this. Apps to listen to music thrive, as do radio stations, and music sales, as well as live music.
In our family we have come full circle — no we don’t have anyone buying 8-track tapes as we listened to — but our early adult daughter does have a growing collection of vinyl. And when it’s time to thin out for an eventual move, our LPs from 1960 to 2013 will face a proverbial firing squad.
Over the years we have pared them down, but there is still more to go.
The largest genre of our 33 rpm, vinyl, LPs is rock and folk. But now on CDs and streaming we listen to a much wider variety. The rise of independently produced music, indie, has allowed musicians we may never have heard from in the past, come alive in our living rooms.
Oh, and we also still own some 45 rpm records. The last time we listened to these was on our 45th wedding anniversary about three years ago.
A few nights ago, I came across a website that listed the oldest living recording artists. That seemed like a set of challenging trivia questions for my music-immersed husband. The top four are between 100 and 103 years old, one is a former member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
Then, at 99 came Dick Van Dyke. Was he a singer? We thought he was an actor and comedian. But how many of us have seen Mary Poppins, where Van Dyke played opposite Julia Andrews, as a singing chimney sweep. Andrews is on the list at age 89.
Regarding the music information as trivia, both Greg and I had the same thought: Let’s ask Scott!
A friend of about two years, Scott is the person whom I know is the most into music. We started at the 103-year-old (Ray Anthony), and it wasn’t long before he was telling us what instrument someone played, or what role as bandleader, songwriter, or band member they held.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself. While we were looking at the oldest living singers, we typed in ‘what is the oldest song?’ There are several ways you could look at this question. Obviously, there were songs in village and community tradition long before there was recording. But what we found was interesting.
The oldest song written in a musical notation (so it could be played again) is called “Hurrian Hymn No. 6.” It is from 1400 BC. This song is inscribed in cuneiform on a clay tablet. Other fragments of songs, but no other complete tablets, were found with it when excavated in the 1950s in present day Syria.
Though the interpretation of the musical notation is still being discussed, the tablet gives instructions that the hymn (to Nikkal, ancient Near Eastern goddess of orchards) should be played on a seven-string instrument, closely resembling a lyre.
Besides being a serious music enthusiast, Scott has a master’s degree in history. He knew the name and backstory of “Hymn No. 6” as soon as we mentioned the topic.
The “Hurrian Hymn” is the “oldest surviving substantially complete work of notated music in the world.” The tablet resides in the National Museum of Damascus. You can listen to one musical decipherment played on a period instrument, and possibly more versions, online. Just search “Hurrian Hymn.”
