It's Christmas time, so we thought that we'd do a quick jump into the history of the Christmas carol. Until next year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us at In Time: A Music History Podcast.

When does music become modern? What is the difference between modern and contemporary music? What trends exist in the landscape of 20th century art? All that and more in the final episode of In Time: A Music History Podcast's exploration of the various musical and artistic eras in history. 

What happens when the Western Tonal System that stood for four hundred years collapses? Well, Jazz takes over. This week, the end of one art form gives way to the rise of another. 

The late Romantic era sees an explosion of technological progress, but with that shift comes a change in what it means to not only be an artist, but what it means to be human as well. With each new revolution, comes a fundamental psychological and spiritual shift in the mind of composers, artists, authors, and musicians.

The start of the 19th Century is the age of giants. In politics, art, literature, and music this age is defined by its large number of creative forces, who shape not just their age but our own as well. 

An Announcement from In Time: A Music History Podcast regarding the future of this season, and our plans after our current series wraps up. 

The Enlightenment provides some of the most unified artistic visions in our shared history. The irony of this is that while unified, the art, music, and philosophy of the age is not a reflection of the world that birthed it, but rather a product of its ideals. 

The modern world begins here. Science, reason, political liberalism, and modern sounding music all add together to turn this era into the first one in which we can truly call our world.

Martin Luther’s Reformation, while intended to merely change church practices and reinvigorate the doctrine itself turned into a movement of destruction for the art lover of the day. To fill the void, music stepped into the forefront of the newly formed Lutheran church and culture would never be the same. Still elsewhere, King Henry VII staged his own reform movement of sorts and through the drive of his ego, he would set England on course for literary greatness.

The Renaissance is the first period of time in which we can truly see ourselves in history. This week, Zach explores the major artistic, philosophical, and musical developments that helped turn this period into the first of the modern world. 

The Dark Ages or the Middle Ages seem horribly impenetrable to us in our modern, secular age. Buried beneath this heavy weight of religious belief and strange images is a culture that is rich in meaning, symbolism, and a logical extension of how anyone would behave if they could possibly die tomorrow. Join us this week as we explore this misunderstood period in our history. 

In this episode, Zach and Susan explore the vast region of time that precedes our recorded history and try to piece together how music and art came to be.  

In our second season premier we revisit a part of music that Zach neglected to mention when we began the show - the overtone series. Join us and learn how it influences the tendencies and sound of our music. 

In this excerpt from our upcoming season, Zach muses on what could have driven humans to create flutes from bone.

A quick announcement from In Time: A Music History Podcast. We're on break until September 6th, but we'll be back with our next season shortly!

This week in our Summer Season finale, Zach and Susan discuss why we've chosen to canonize certain musicians over others and our thoughts on its general merits. 

This week, we have a follow up to an interview that I did with Chris Munce of the Choralosophy Podcast. I wanted to explore the idea of being a "Cultural Custodian," the implications it has for those of us outside of education and how all of us can be one.

Eric Schrantz is a music teacher and gigging musician in and around Springfield Missouri. His band Funk Tank can be found at https://www.funktankmusic.com/

This week, Susan leads us through the tales of John Phillips Sousa and Adolphe Sax. 

Jin J. X is a jazz guitarist based in Springfield Missouri. Last year, during the pandemic, he released two albums "The Narrator" and "Songs for Liz." You can find his music on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/jinjxmusic/playlists 

Brant Jester is a jazz pianist now based in Kansas City. You can hear him play on YouTube, or find him at the Majestic Restaurant on Saturday nights. In this talk, Brant shares with us some of his teaching philosophies, as well as his opinions on jazz, theory, education, and when music peaked.

Last week, Zach released an audio essay titled “What Happened to Music?” This week, Susan is on hand to either put Zach in his place, or help him sharpen his thesis. Which one will it be?

What happened exuberance?  Why are our modern pop singers so self consciously aware of their image? This week, Zach explores these questions and more. 

Music is one of the most basic of human forms of expression and through out the centuries, our ability to play it has been a key aspect of what it means to be human. This week, we’ll examine how our ability to express ourselves through music changed as our ability to notate ideas developed and improved.