Why Try Something New?

During class we learned that composers of the ars nova began increasing the complexity of the music they composed, both melodically and rhythmically.  This prompted the challenge of why a composer would try to write more intricate music?

Some of the responses espoused in class were experimentation, challenge for performers, and more interest for the listener.  Whether she realized it or not, I think one of the students came up with the most profound reason of all.

Because they could.

While it may not have been so apparent at the time, we can now look back over the development of music from the earliest extant examples of monophonic chant to post-modern music, with all of the varying categorizations within those genres and see the increasing complexity of the music.

You do not generally see quantum leaps in development in any discipline, music or otherwise.  You see people taking the next step.  When you string together enough steps, you've made quite a journey.  This applies to music.

Composers made music more intricate during the ars nova because it was new and they were experimenting with convention.  They tried different things to see whether they liked them or not.  I would guess that composers tried some new things that simply didn't take, but those are the "steps" that didn't survive because they didn't work.

The experiments that worked, however, were the steps that ultimately led to the next period in music.  The really interesting thing, though, is the knowledge that time does not end with us.  As such, music students in a thousand years may well be looking at the music composed today with the same impression of simplicity that we look at monophonic chant today.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?