I think music history should be taught thematically. Rather than going Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. in chronological order, use music theory to make connection

I think music history should be taught thematically. Rather than going Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. in chronological order, use music theory to make connections across all time periods in each lecture. For instance, one could teach about open chords, those containing 1 and 5 only. That might be illustrated in both 2001: A Space Odyssey or monastic music from medieval churches. One could examine how melodies are shaped, what makes music sing. Harmonic analysis could be the aim, looking at how dissonance was increasingly used to create tension and drama. There's also storytelling in music, whether through words or not. All of this to say, I'd rather not use chronological time as the axis of any musical study. We love music for its beauty and power, which is not a function of time but of the intricate neurological systems devoted to hearing and musical thought.