I'd be lying to myself if I said this wasn't a new start for a new adventure with new things to look at. I wrote on and off over 7 years, and I find it's a relaxing way to settle all matters and bring clarity and understanding over. Investigate all things and keep what is good. Writing is good.
I was told a story of the development of music from Baroque to Classical to Romantic to 20th century. It's a story around the limitations of instruments, with the piano at the centre. In Baroque times, most instruments were made of wood and there wasn't an abundance of metal to make instruments. So to zest things up Baroque music relied on improvisation by adding ornaments, repeating a subject or a phrase of music in various ways, and not many chords were used because the instrument of the time, the harpsichord or clavichord, had a limitation there. They didn't lend themselves well to scales, arpeggios, only slow to moderate melodies. And so the orchestra of Baroque times were small, and Baroque composers normally worked for rich people and catered to their interests. Bach is a good example.
In Classical times, the fortepiano was developed. Today it's a pianoforte, this is an early reiteration of the harpsichord. It allowed scales and arpeggios to be played easily because the mechanism for hitting a note was greatly simplified. And in Classical times symmetry and balance was the focus. Symmetry in phrasing, 4 or 8 bar phrases, dynamics, structure. It was the fashion to play melody and accompaniment on one fortepiano, and to implement scales and arpeggios. So with a better instrument, the technique of pianists developed and improved.
By the Romantic period, the pianoforte was developed. The car was in use. Dynamics range from ppp to fff, and the texture of music increased, which means a lot more chords were used because the instrument allowed it. Pedals were developed for the pianoforte, metal was more in circulation by this time, a consistency in instrument making began.
In 20th century music, they and their past musicians already explored symmetry, balance, the fugue structure, wrote the most beautiful melodies, explored texture and dynamics to its pinnacle. What wasn't played with yet was rhythm and the sound effect. The quality of sound that comes from playing notes.
There, I summarized an hour lesson into a brief read.