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| c. 45,000 years ago |
| | | Neanderthals carve a flute from the leg bone of a young bear, in the region that is now Slovenia | |
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| c. 2800 BC |
| | | The harp and the lyre are in use as musical instruments in Mesopotamia | |
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| c. 1500 BC |
| | | A copper trumpet is in use in Egypt, forerunner of the brass instruments of the orchestra | |
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| c. 500 BC |
| | | The followers of Pythagoras discover the mathematical basis of the octave | |
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| c. 250 BC |
| | | The organ, using a mechanical device to pump air through a set of musical pipes, is invented in Alexandria by Ctesibius | |
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| c. 600 |
| | | Ritual intoning of the psalms, derived from Jewish synagogues, is formalized in Christian worship as Gregorian chant | |
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| c. 1050 |
| | | Polyphony brings new complexity of interweaving vocal lines, in the choral singing of abbey or cathedral | |
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| c. 1320 |
| | | Philippe de Vitry, in his Ars Nova ('New Art'), lays out the basis of musical notation | |
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| c. 1397 |
| | | The keyboard of the organ is adapted in Germany to strings, thus providing the harpsichord - first mentioned in a manuscript of this year | |
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| c. 1400 |
| | | Guilds of singers and song-writers develop in German towns, calling themselves Meistersinger, or master singers | |
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