Dr. David Thornburg coined the phrase, “rhymes of history” because he noticed a similarity in evolving technologies to Mark Twain’s notion that history may not necessarily repeat itself, but it rhymes a lot (Laureate, 2014h). According to Thornburg, rhymes of history occur when a new technology rekindles or affects something that humans want to do and causes humans to either do it more easily or over a broader scale (Thornburg, 2014h). Listening to recorded music has been rekindled over the past century-and-a-half to the point where music “plays” digitally instead of through a mechanical device.
Thomas Edison opened the door for audio recording when he shouted ,”Mary had a little lamb” in a horn (microphone) attached to a stylus, a cylinder wrapped in foil, and another horn used as a speaker. The sound vibrations moved the stylus over the cylinder, which, when Edison moved the stylus back to the original position, allowed a re-playing of the recording. Humans now had the ability to record and play sound, especially music.
The first rekindling of recorded music came with the diamond disc, which looks like the vinyl records some of us grew up with. The biggest difference between the diamond disc and the vinyl disc is that the diamond disc is heavy and not flexible, whereas vinyl discs are lighter and floppy.
The next rekindling of recorded music came with tape. Cassette tapes were the most popular. However, reel-to-reel and 8-track tapes were prevalent modes of music listening during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Cassettes were lighter, smaller, and more portable than their big, bulky counterparts, so they sustained throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The cassette’s size allowed listeners to use portable devices such as the Walkman and the boom-box in order to have their music with them everywhere they went.
In the 1980s, digital recordings arrived with the compact disc. Instead of a stylus or mechanical head, a laser beam read digitally imprinted information and transferred the information into sound. Not only did compact discs bring clearer sound, but also, when used properly, they would not wear out like records and tapes did after multiple uses.
The next rekindling of music listening took place when listeners accessed music digitally from the Internet and stored it in digital music players such as mobile phones, mp3 players, and i-pods. There no longer was a need for music lovers to use mechanical devices to listen to their music. Listeners have the opportunity to keep thousands of songs in digital libraries in the palms of their hands. What will be the next technology that rekindles music listening?
For a more detailed history of music recording, please visit http://www.recording-history.org/
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014h). David Thornburg: Rhymes of history [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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