Wikipedia tells me that sustainability is "the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely". Well, I guess that makes sense. To sustain something is to keep it at a constant state. According to Wikipedia, sustainability plays a huge factor in environmental protection. Forests thats have given life to ecosystems for hundreds and thousands of years are being ravished by humans. Life itself cannot sustain if there is nothing for it to flourish on. As the downward spiral continues, life will fall down with it. Nature is what gives us our life. If we take it away, we are playing in nothing but a long process of self destruction. Isn't sustainability the exact opposite of what humans have been doing for centuries though? Human nature for the past 200 hundred or so years has been all about progress. New ideas and constant changing of technology has polluted the idea of sustainability. On the other hand though, some of those progressive movements have kept sustainability in our lives. Advances in medicine have kept people living much longer than they were ever intended to. Modern transportation has brought people around the world in a matter of hours to help people less fortunate then us.

"The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty, and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all which is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real condition of life and his relations with his kind." -Karl Marx

Yeah, I just quoted Karl Marx. Not one of the best, but it kind of sums up the importance of progress, (to a point). He was also a big activist in the belief of Modernism. Modernism is a trend of thought which affirms the power of human beings to make, improve and reshape their society, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation. Here, people claimed such confidence in the ability to change their world for the better, which they thought that, in a relatively short time, largely illiterate peasants could begin to build a productive, functioning, and socialist order, armed with science and technology. Many advocates of capitalism agreed with Marx's analysis of capitalism. He just opposed it.

What really makes something "sustainable"? Something that has stood the test of time, something that has guided human nature through its course, and something that will keep evolving and grow along with human nature. Music has done all of that. Art itself has been around since the beginnings of humans. Pre historic paintings have been found all over the planet. Along with visual art, bones cut with holes to produce sound when wind blows over them have been found. Before people could even right, they were making and listening to music. Whether is is a bird chirping or the sound of rushing water, ancient people would enjoy listening to it. They would make tools and try to mimic the sounds of nature.

The earliest written recording of music is found in the Samaveda of India and in 4,000 year old cuneiform. The people of India have one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music (marga) can be found in the ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. THe Ancient Greeks and Chinese have musical roots dating back 3000 years ago. The Greeks would use music as a form of entertainment. The would have choirs sing in theaters for people to enjoy.

Once the Middle Ages arrived, music became more prevalent in society. The Church dominated the music realm with religious hymns and stories of the bible incorporated into song for people to share with one another. Music was also a form of information. Wandering minstrels would parade through towns singing of news from his endeavors through the land. They would bring them updates on war and events such as a new king. The Europeans developed their own style of music, meandering away from the ancient styles of the Arabic and Hindu practices. The Arab tone system is very different from what the Europeans used o what we are even used to today. It consisted of the octave being divided into 24 equal tones as opposed to our 12 tone system. This change came with the development of the Vincenzo Galilei (father of Galileo Galilei). He and his partners began writing music with the chromatic scale in about the 1500's.

During the 16th century, commercial printing available, which made it much easier for people to share their music throughout other regions.

With the arrival of the 17th century, opera became the dominant genre. This came about during the very tail end of the Renaissance. Also, Classical music was making headway with such composers as J.S Bach, who helped evolve the music further into sonnets and concertos. The Baroque period ended around the same year as Bach's death in 1750, but gave way to another very important period. The Classical period and the Romantic period were very influential times in music. With world renowned composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven. With the expansion into classical music came the development of the symphony. The symphony was composed of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Sonnets were the primary choice of entertainment in these days. Beethoven on the other hand expanded on this. He was really the transition into the Romantic period. During the romantic period, people saw symphonies grow even larger. Concerts were held in massive halls and became a vital piece in society and culture. Chord uses were beginning to be more widely used. Tension and release was made possible by the use of chords which gave a very dramatic and suspenseful tone that was a trademark of romantic music.

As the 20th century came into view, music drastically changed. During WWI, jazz and ragtime was the top genre of choice. During the 1900's and the first world war, sheet music became very popular. New ways of printing music became available which made it cheeper for the average person to buy. The birth of dixi and "mountain music" origonated in the 1900's as well. This music took influences on old Anglo-Irish ballads, but with different tunings. Along with new types of music in the 20th century, new ways of recording music emerged. Vinyl records have been becoming more and more popular as well as the phonograph. Now, music recording wasn't new in the 20th century, it just became more available to the masses at this time.

Music was recorded on 10" vinyl records and played at speeds ranging from 60-120 rpm, but eventually settled at 78 rpm. By 1930, the record label RCA sold the first 12" LP at the speed of 33 1/2 rpm, which is the standard for 12 LPs to this day. Along with the 12" also came the 7" or 45 rpm. It was used for shorter recordings and singles.

Vinyl records were the dominant way of distributing music from the 1900's to the late 1980's. During the reign of the LP, various other forms of distributing music were used. Reel to reel tapes were used, but did not catch on as well, as well as laser discs. The 8 track was used until it was surpassed by the tape cassette. By the mid 80's cassette tapes were just s popular as vinyl records. By the late 80's, CDs were introduced to the world of music. Many artists began using these as the primary was of recording music, but many also could not afford to record on CDs, and stuck to vinyl. By 1991, Almost all music was recorded, produced, and distributed on compact discs. CD's were by far the peoples first choice for music. They could take them in their cars, they were smaller, the didn't skip or pop, they weren't as delicate, and they had better sound quality. By 2007, the mp3 had surpassed the CD, so I have to pay about 15-20 bucks for a CD now...bummer.

AS you can see, music has stood the test of time, and won. It has gone through countless changes, formats, decades, and styles. Music has brought every emotion to people whether it be happy or sad, depressed or angry. Music has always been there, and will continue to evolve as much as we will.