Music

The Music of Percussion

The simplest form of percussion is banging two solid items together to create a beat, and that is the most likely origin of percussion instruments....

Music

The Stradivarius is More Than Just an Instrument

Stringed instruments are part of many different cultures throughout the world, but violins have long been recognized as one of the most refined musical instruments....

Music

Traditional Chinese Instruments

As one of the largest countries in the world, China has a variety of musical traditions and instruments that have developed over the years. Different...

Music

An Ancient Instrument

The shiny metal of the flute is an instrument that is easy to recognize, but that is a modern flute which is very different from...

Nearly every culture in the world has its own collection of musical forms, and the majority of them have developed their own set of musical instruments. While the human voice is said to be the most expressive instrument of all, many musicians have written their music to be played only on instruments. It makes sense that it would be something many cultures would find valuable because humans do not all have the ability to carry a tune, so there might be no one available to sing when music is part of an event.

While many cultures have adapted musical instruments to become a part of their current culture, many of them have contributed unique pieces or made significant improvements on the instruments of other cultures. Crossing geographical lines does not lessen the impact of any music from a particular culture, so using non-indigenous instruments is just another way to adapt a culture’s music to make it even better.