H ow do we know that people made music thousands of years ago?

2. How do we know that people made music thousands of years ago? Today, recorded music surrounds us. You can buy CDs of your favorite music. You can hear singers on the radio. You can even watch them on TV.

3. Thousands of years from now, people will know about our music because we have made recordings of it. Thousands of years ago, recording music was impossible.

4. So how do we know that people long ago played music? Because scientists have found flutes that are over 9,000 years old!

5. The flutes were found in China, in the Yellow River Valley. Here, scientist unearthed all sorts of treasures, including 36 flutes.

6. The flutes were made from the wing bones of a crane – a long necked wading bird. People long ago carved and shaped the bones and put holes in them.

7. Flutes made from bone.

9. Even more surprising was that one of the flutes found in China could still be played. “It makes a reedy, pleasant sound, a little thin, like a reorder,” one scientist described.

10. WHAT IS SOUND? Sound is a kind of energy that you can hear.

11. Sound is made when something vibrates, or moves quickly back and forth.

12. When something vibrates, it makes the air vibrate, too. Vibrating air carries the sound you hear.

13. No one knows for sure what type of music the people form the Stone Age played. Did it sound like the music of today?

14. Did people have musical talent and perform concerts? Did people sing along? We can only wonder what their music might have sounded like!

15. Today, people can enjoy recorded music as well as live music at concerts like this one,

16. or this one.