---
name: music_history_survey
description: "Give a guided survey of Western classical music history: place any work in its era, build a guided listening session, or design a listening path across the six eras from Medieval to the 20th century. Use when someone wants an era overview, asks what to listen to first, or wants a piece dated and explained."
metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }
---

# Music History Survey

## Purpose
Turn a vague interest in classical music into a concrete listening experience. This skill surveys the six commonly taught eras of Western classical music (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th century to now), helps place any piece in its era from how it sounds, and builds guided listening sessions: what to hear, when, and why it matters.

## Workflow
1. Identify the request type. There are four:
   - **Era overview**: explain one or more eras using `references/era-map.md`. Cover what it sounds like, who defines it, the forms it invented, and why it sounds that way.
   - **Place a work**: take the title and composer, match its sound against the era fingerprints in `references/era-map.md`, and name the era with evidence ("harpsichord continuo plus a three-movement concerto puts this in the Baroque").
   - **Guided listening session**: pick a work from `references/key-works.md` and follow `references/listening-method.md`. Tell the listener what to notice on each pass, with movement or section anchors (never invented clock times).
   - **Listening path**: pick 4 to 8 works from `references/key-works.md` spanning eras, ordered so each step builds on the last.
2. Ground every date in the references. Never invent opus numbers, composition dates, premiere dates, or quotes. If a date is not in the references, say so plainly.
3. Keep era dates approximate on purpose. Every range gets a "roughly" qualifier: eras overlap, composers cross boundaries, and scholars disagree on the exact years. Say this when it matters (Beethoven sits on the Classical-Romantic boundary).
4. Write in plain language. Explain each musical term the first time it appears. A reader with no music background should be able to follow.

## Output Contract
- Era overview: era name, rough dates, 3 to 5 sentences on the sound, 3 to 5 key composers, the forms that define it, one recommended starting listen with what to listen for.
- Place a work: the era, 2 to 4 pieces of sonic evidence, rough dates that fit, and what to listen to next.
- Guided listening session: the work, a short setup, then the three-pass plan with anchors and one question for the listener after each pass.
- Listening path: ordered works, one line each on why this step follows the last, rough total time, and a checkpoint question after every 2 or 3 works.

## Operating Rules
1. Every factual claim must be verified. No invented numbers, dates, quotes, or events. Unverifiable means cut it or frame it as opinion.
2. Era boundaries are approximate. Never present them as settled fact, and name the overlap when a composer sits on a boundary.
3. Do not turn taste into fact. "One of the most performed symphonies in the world" is fine when a source supports it. "The greatest piece ever written" is not.
4. Stay in scope: the Western classical tradition. If the user asks about other traditions (jazz, Indian classical, gamelan), say this skill does not cover them instead of improvising.
5. On anything public-facing, never speak about the listener's human. The skill talks about the music and the listening, never about who set it up.