Music can be termed an art form; the word Music has been derived from the Greek word, which means “art of the Muses”. Muses were the goddesses in ancient Greece; they inspired arts, such as literature, music, and poetry. Musical sounds are created through instruments. Anything or object that produces sound can be said to be a Musical Instrument if designed for that purpose, most preferably. Over the centuries, various instruments have been a part of Musical Instrument Evolution from different parts of the world.
Through the Evolution of Musical Instruments over the years, taking music for granted is easy in today’s society. In our culture, music has increased in the aspect of life and in every possible way. Music is just a handful away from reach these days. You can hear any theme you want by turning on the radio or streaming to a music app.
We can’t surely say when humans started creating music and using their voices exactly. Though there are great interesting stories about how it all started, those stories cannot be used as evidence to prove the same. The history of Musical Instruments goes a long back. Though it is not certain, around 37000 years ago, the invention of the first musical instrument took place made with animal bones – The flute, as pointed out by most historians.
Early Instruments and Melodies
It was neither musical nor like a jam session when early humans started picking up instruments for the first time. For early humans, instruments were a part of their important rituals, which they performed to make sense of the chaos around them and help communicate. For religious ceremonies, drums were very popular among them. Different sounds for different rituals. Some are vital for their survival, and some are for celebrating a hunt that went successful. These are a part of the communal activities involved at that time. These ceremonies may have survived over the ages. Still, transformation with the passing year has brought so many changes to them that it is hardly recognizable anymore for what reason they are celebrated for.
The cheering and singing of a good hunt of the prehistoric age can be compared to today’s celebration of your favourite team’s win.
The composition is regularly used to become complex and take hold of recurring specific melodies. The world’s first musician came to play, and the first version of the song came into existence with these melodies. Early humans had to settle down for gigs around the fireside or outside their caves, practising as no coffee shops were back. But there is a high possibility of throwing out of the shelter of a relative who can’t bear the sound anymore by considering it a noise.
Antiquity of Instruments
In the cradle of civilization, two distinct lines of musical instruments were formed by the division of labour. This is a sad as well as an interesting fact. Who had little or no time to practice, simple instruments were there. On the other hand, there are professional instruments that are complex to play, and various richer sounds are produced by them and also require a lot of practice to play them.
For string instruments, Mesopotamia had some extra fondness. Beyond that, some fascinating instruments like a cymbal, clapper, bells, rattles, sistra, concussion club comes from the same birthplace –Mesopotamia. Clay figures and string players enjoy another level of fondness in their culture. Countries like Greece, Rome, and Etruria had less influence over the music, and this can be depicted as simple instruments like lyres, and they imported the spread. In contrast, the development of musical instruments had a huge bearing on Egypt and Israel together.
There are more instruments and styles to explore, and the hibernation of different cultures is traded, leading to the richness of music altogether.
Ages from Middle to Modern
With cymbals being a favourite, the percussion instruments spread to various places, from Asia to other parts of the world. European music has become more complex around the end of that historical era. The use of instruments built more universally and the use of tablature that was more advanced gave them a huge advantage. The music that we refer to as classic today has broken from the distinct period of several eras. Various orchestral strings to the harpsichord, to an organ or great composers cutting their teeth on the piano to ending with romantic, starting from baroque to finally coming to classic. It has come a long way.
The violin was naturally the most popular among the string instruments, but throughout the 1700s first half, the most common string instrument seen was the lute. During that century guitar made its way to popularity and shaped the faith in the evolution of musical instruments for hundred years in the coming future.
Innovations to instruments were made very few, standardized everything in the 20th century. The need for creating new tools and innovations was not required anymore. This was until a whole new family of electrical instruments introduced their way to the world. It brings us the familiar sound that we hear today. The music world is rocked by the electrical family of keyboards and guitars.
It is simple for anyone to leave while trying to find out the best musical instrument. With the evolution of the musical instrument, we had an enormous variety of their availability. With time, musical instruments have evolved. To provide us entertainment in every possible way and make our life harmonious.
In many populated places of the world, musical instruments developed independently. However, contraction among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. A religious ceremony drum and a horn to signal for the hunt have been used as rituals for early musical instruments. But with time, it has diverted to performing melodies and the development of composition for cultural representation and entertainment. With changing technologies, musical instruments have also changed.