Musical instruments are devices capable of producing sounds in a pattern. They help form the soundtrack of human emotions, rhythm, and dance. Their history is difficult to trace and complex, since they originated in so many different cultures. As time went on, many new types were developed, so that today, there is a wide range.
Earliest History
The earliest examples are at least 35,000 years old. Archaeologists discovered a flute made from the hollow wing bone of ancient vulture species, the griffon vulture. The slender artifact has five finger holes, but the bottom part is missing. A replica of the entire flute indeed plays musical notes. The discovery occurred in the Swabian Alps, west of the German city of Munich. Given music's importance in bringing people together, historians are now speculating that this area could have been a key cradle of European civilization. In other places, our ancestors probably created drums even earlier. Many cultures develop drums first, since there is a natural human tendency to tap to a beat.
Later, Mesopotamian artwork depicts lyres and drums from 2800 B. C. While many cultures independently developed their own instruments, art and archaeology show that there was a great deal of trade. Popular music-makers made their way halfway across the world. Mesopotamian examples were played all the way in the Malay Archipelago, in Southeast Asia, in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, medieval Europeans were playing their own tunes on devices from North Africa.
Types of Musical Instruments Today
Since people all around the world have enjoyed music, there is a wide range today. The Sachs-Hornbostel system remains a popular way to classify them into four main groups. The four main groups are idiophones, membranophones, chordophones, and aerophones.
Players of idiophones hit or scrapes to create vibrations. Examples are xylophones and rattles. Membranophones, like idiophones, are devices that a player may also hit, but these have membranes. The membranes are stretched to give a vibrating tone. An example is a drum.
Chordophones have a stretched string. The player either rubs a bow across the string or strikes the string. Diverse and popular examples are violins, violas, cellos, and pianos.
Aerophones are the type that a player blows into. The sound comes from the vibrating tube of air. Examples are flutes and horns. Within aerophones, there are woodwinds and brass groups, key players in Western music orchestras. A woodwind is an aerophone that has a sharp edge or reed. Flutes, clarinets, bagpipes, and oboes are all woodwinds.
The members of the brass section have a tube. When the player blows, he or she vibrates his or her lips in order to get a vibrating sound from the area of air. Some brass examples have valves, operated by buttons. These include the French horn, trumpet, and tuba. Others use a slide mechanism to adjust the sound, such as a trombone.
Electrophones, a category added later, use electronics to create sound. An example is an electronic keyboard. With new electronic technology, musical instruments continue to evolve, but their purpose dates back thousands of years, to evoke human emotion through sound.
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