Watched all the 1st, now - but some really interesting info in the comments! 

Some of this I have previously read about.

The earliest form of musical notation can be found in a cuneiform tablet that was created at Nippur, in Babylonia (today's Iraq), in about 1400 BC. The tablet represents fragmentary instructions for performing music, that the music was composed in harmonies of thirds, and that it was written using a diatonic scale. The "oldest known song" was written in cuneiform, dating to 3400 years ago from Ugarit in Syria. It was a part of the Hurrian songs, more specifically Hurrian hymn no. 6. It was deciphered by Anne Draffkorn Kilmer, and was demonstrated to be composed in harmonies of thirds, like ancient gymel. Although the interpretation of the notation system is still controversial, it is clear that the notation indicates the names of strings on a lyre, the tuning of which is described in other tablets. Although they are fragmentary, these tablets represent the earliest notated melodies found anywhere in the world. Indian classical music can be found from the scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. Samaveda, one of the four vedas, describes music at length. The oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world, is the Seikilos epitaph, dated to either the 1st or the 2nd century AD. 

@ABitRusty -

This video is a MUST WATCH - thanks for sharing it! 

I've only watched 4 Chapters... so far. 

"Stop Talking" - LOVE he shares my annoyance with the term "Classical Music"!  Someone really needs to come up with something more accurately descriptive. 

"Harmony" - Aren't 'overtones' produced by nature sounds & the human voice, harmony?  Think even ancient people were drawn to certain sounds because of this & given the early understanding of harmonics, it is surprising it took so long to start notating music with harmony! 

I do take exception to one point he makes about the Chinese not having notation.  I recently delved into the history of Chinese music (will share more in International Genre) & they had ancient forms of written music notation for bells/chimes, with specific, measurements referenced for pitches, as far back as 433 B.C. & for the Guqin (plucked, 7 string instrument) as early as the 6th Century (words describing fingerings), then a short time later abbreviated symbols were used.  

In reading about early Indian music, it's true there was no known 'Western' type notation, but symbols were used to show the rise & fall of pitch in manuscripts.

"Question Time" - interesting thoughts!  I think everyone is born musical.  We express a repertoire of pitches from the moment we are born, starting with crying & cooing sounds - and everyone feels the heartbeat of their Mother while developing in the womb. 

"Desert Island" - great thoughts, even on composing here, especially about new players coming out of the Music Conservatories & Classical Music today.  Tempo, Metronome - 🤣

Don't know if I would've seen this video while watching the series - Thank You!