What was the first musical instrument? The most ancient musical instruments

Today, guys, we will plunge into the world of music and musical instruments. Do you know what musical instruments are?
Musical instruments are objects with which a person can produce various sounds. The range of musical instruments is very wide: these are the well-known piano, grand piano, wind instruments, organ, guitar, button accordion, accordion, and even spoons and more modern electronic synthesizers.
The first musical instrument appeared in this world simultaneously with man himself. And this instrument was the man himself. Yes, yes, don’t be surprised, everything is correct, a person has a voice that can produce melodious sounds of different pitches. And the first melody in the world was played, of course, by a human voice. And in order for the melody to sound rhythmically, the person either clapped his hands or stomped his feet rhythmically. Claps of hands, stomping - what are not percussive sounds?
For ancient dance, rhythm was of great importance, so the dances were accompanied by clapping hands, tapping on various objects, and stamping. Therefore, rattles and drums became the most ancient musical instruments, with the help of which the rhythm of the dance can be conveyed very clearly.
Initially, music was only church music and was performed in churches. Despite the prohibitions of the church, along with church rituals, church music, and singing, there were ritual folk performances, accompanied by songs, dances, and playing folk musical instruments.
The first professional actors in Rus' were buffoons. They also performed as singers, musicians, storytellers, skit performers, trainers, and acrobats back in the 11th century. Representatives of the clergy and authorities expelled buffoons in every possible way, so in 1648, the year of the wedding of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a prohibitory letter was issued stating that buffoons with domras, harps and bagpipes should not be invited into their home. And in 1649, Alexei Mikhailovich issued a decree to the Verkhoturye governor, which ordered that buffoons be punished and their instruments destroyed.
In Ancient Rus', there are references not only to buffoons, but also to musical instruments such as the trumpet and harp. During numerous wars, trumpets and tambourines were used by Russian troops as signaling instruments.
The first musical instruments were made from animal bones - holes were hollowed out in them to allow air to be blown in. Various percussion instruments were also widespread (mallet, rattle, rattle made of dried fruits with seeds or pebbles inside, drum).
The appearance of the drum indicated that people had discovered the property of resonating empty objects. They began to use the dried skin, stretching it over an empty vessel.
During excavations in Ukraine, scientists were able to discover two bone mallets and a noisy set bracelet of five bone plates, which were presented as musical instruments of that time.
Wind musical instruments used the production of sounds by blowing air. The materials for them were stems of reeds, reeds, even shells, and later wood and metal. Such folk wind musical instruments as the whistle and pipe became the prototypes of modern flutes.
It is believed that primitive people invented all types of musical instruments: percussion instruments were made from wood or bone, which were then covered with leather, strings were made from a stretched bow string, wind instruments were made from hollow wood, tubular bone, and even from thick bird feathers.
Later, man invented wind instruments made from animal horns. From these primitive wind instruments, modern brass instruments developed. As man developed his musical sense, he began to use reeds and thus produced more natural and gentle sounds
The first keyboard instrument was the clavichord, which is the ancient ancestor of the piano.
The first image of a guitar was depicted in ancient times on the stones of the Egyptian pyramids; the ancient Egyptians called this instrument nabla. Guitar is a stringed plucked musical instrument of Spanish origin, which is a flat body with deep cutouts on the sides and soundboards, of which the top has a resonator hole, necks with a neck equipped with metal frets, as well as heads with pegs that regulate the tension of strings, most often metal or nylon guitars. Guitars come in six and seven strings. A bass guitar is an electric guitar that has a board instead of an acoustic body and a neck with a thin neck on which 20 frets are located. This model was developed in the early fifties, the most common is a four-string, but there are five-, six- and eight-strings.
Gusli is an ancient musical instrument. The Slavs played the gusli back in the 11th century. There are three types of gusli: ringed, plucked and keyboard.
Domra is the prototype of the Russian balalaika. The domra family includes: piccolo domra, small 3-string domra, 4-string small domra, alto domra, bass domra and double bass domra (extremely rare).
The first mention of the balalaika dates back to the end of the 17th century. The modern balalaika, or rather the entire family of balalaikas, was made by Andreev together with Paserbsky and Nalimov. The balalaika is a true symbol of the Russian people.
The violin is a stringed musical instrument. The history of music believes that the violin in its most perfect form arose in the 16th century. In the 16th century, two main types of bowed instruments clearly emerged: the viol and the violin.
The very first Italian violin makers were Gasparo Bertolotti (or "da Salo" (1542-1609) and Giovanni Paolo Magini (1580-1632), both from Brescia, in northern Italy. But very soon Cremona became the world center of violin production. And , of course, the most outstanding and unsurpassed masters of violin making are considered to be members of the Amati family (Andrea Amati - the founder of the Cremona school) and Antonio Stradivari (a student of Nicolo Amati, who improved the look and sound of the violin), and the Guarneri family (Giuseppe del Gesu - the most famous of family; his best violins surpass Stradivarius instruments in their warmth and sonority of tone) completes this great triumvirate. The first violins in their fully completed form appeared in Moscow, apparently, only at the beginning of the 18th century.
The simplest accordion is separated from the modern accordion by only a few decades. The name comes from the name of the legendary ancient Russian singer, the first mention of which was discovered in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The button accordion belongs to a large group of instruments - harmonics. The chromatic harmonica was made at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, which was called the button accordion.
The accordion is one of the most advanced varieties of chromatic harmonica with a right-hand piano-type keyboard. In many countries, the accordion has gained particular popularity among folk music performers. In some countries, it is customary to call accordions all hand-held harmonicas - both with keys and reed musical instruments with buttons. It has two keyboards: the right one is a piano keyboard and the left one is a push-button keyboard (with a system of basses and chords) for accompaniment.
The first mention of playing horns dates back to the 17th century. The horn has different names: shepherd's, Russian, song.
The first mention of pity dates back to the end of the 18th century. There are two types of zhaleika - single and double.
Svirel is a Russian instrument of a type of double-barreled longitudinal flute. Chroniclers use three names for instruments of this type: flute, nozzle and foregrip. The mention of the pipe dates back to the end of the 11th century.
Clarinet is a woodwind musical instrument.
Kuvikly (kugikly, kuvichki) is a Russian type of multi-barrel flute (Pan flute). In Russian kuvikla, each pipe has its own name: guden, podguden, medium, and the smallest one - pyatoushka. A set of five pipes in the hands of one performer is called a pair.
Ocarina is a type of whistle-shaped vessel flute, mainly ceramic whistles.
The bambula is a percussion musical instrument, a musical instrument of African-American origin, widespread among black residents of New Orleans in the first half of the 19th century. It is a drum in the form of a bamboo barrel, with cowhide stretched over it, from the membranophone family.
Banjo is a plucked string musical instrument, exported at the end of the 16th century. from West Africa to the southern states of the USA, is a small flat drum with an elongated neck attached to it, on which strings are stretched.
The number of strings can be from 4 to 9.
A musical percussion drum has the appearance of a cylinder, covered on one or both sides with leather or plastic film with the help of metal hoops on which there are screws that regulate the pitch of the sound. Bass saxophone - first used in the twenties by Adrian Rollini. A clapperboard is a wooden percussion musical instrument that consists of two narrow planks, one of which has a handle, and the second, pressed against the first by a spring, is fixed at the lower end above the handle on a hinge. Bongos are a percussion musical instrument of Latin American origin.
consists of two one-sided small drums tightly connected to each other with a wooden block of different diameters, but the same in height, which determines the different pitch of their sound.
Bells - a percussion metal musical instrument, are hollow round metal bells made of thin brass up to 8 cm in circumference, attached to a wire ring or handle.
Inside each bell there is some kind of freely rolling object (a pea, a lead pellet, a round pebble). When shaken, the bells produce a high, light tinkling sound. Horn is a brass musical instrument.
Vibraphone - a percussion metal musical instrument consists of two rows of metal plates mounted on a special high table according to the principle of a piano keyboard with a chromatic scale.
Under each plate there is a metal cylinder-resonator, inside of which there is an impeller driven by an electric motor. The sound is produced by hitting reed sticks 35-40 centimeters long with rubber, felt or felt heads. Cello is a stringed musical instrument. The oboe is a woodwind reed musical instrument.
A gong is a percussion metal musical instrument from a family of Asian origin; it is a convex, large-diameter disk made of a special alloy with edges bent at right angles, freely suspended on a cord from a stand or frame. The oboe is played with a special mallet with a felt tip.
Horn is the general name for brass instruments. The harmonica is a wind reed musical instrument designed in 1821 by Berlin musical instrument maker Franz Buschmann. Guiro is a percussion wooden musical instrument of Latin American origin, it is a dried fruit of an oblong pumpkin with transverse notches cut on top and a hole at the bottom for sound resonance, also made from animal horns, dense varieties of wood or other hard material. The sound is produced using a thin faceted wooden stick. A wooden box is a wooden percussion musical instrument of Chinese origin; it is a small rectangular block made of ringing varieties of well-dried wood with a recess in the form of a longitudinal slit on the long side wall. They play on a wooden box with a snare drum stick. The jug is a primitive Negro musical instrument; it is a clay jug with a narrow neck, which is used as a resonator when singing, held in the hands and placed to the mouth. Kabatsa is a percussion wooden musical instrument of Afro-Brazilian origin, it is twice the size of a maracas and is a dried pumpkin fruit or a hollow ball wrapped in a net with beads strung on it.
They play only one instrument, holding it by the handle in the left hand and hitting it with a half-open right palm, or they scroll a grid of beads with a tangential movement of the palm. In Brazil it is used instead of maracas. Castanets are a wooden percussion musical instrument of Moorish-Andalusian origin, consisting of two shell-shaped plates made of hard wood, loosely connected by a cord... passed through holes in the upper part.
A loop is made from the same lace, into which the thumb is inserted, and with the remaining fingers the performer alternately taps one of the pieces of wood, causing it to click against the other. Cow Bell is a percussion metal musical instrument from a family of Latin American origin, it is a regular cow bell, it looks like an oblong, slightly flattened bell without a tongue, 10-15 centimeters long, made of brass or sheet copper.
Bells - a percussion metal musical instrument of Asian origin, is a two-row set of duralumin or steel plates of different lengths, tuned according to the principle of a piano keyboard and loosely mounted on a wooden frame, which is placed in a small flat box, most often trapezoidal in shape. Bells are played with two wooden, metal or plastic mallets. Conga is a percussion musical instrument of indefinite pitch of the membranophone family of African origin, has the shape of either an elongated barrel, slightly narrowed downward, or a cylinder gradually tapering downwards with skin stretched on top.
The height of the conga is 70-80 centimeters, the diameter is 22-26 centimeters. This instrument is played with fingers or palms, suspended over the shoulder using a belt. The double bass is a bowed string musical instrument; it is an accompanying instrument and performs the function of a bass voice.
The xylophone is a wooden percussion musical instrument, which is a set of rosewood plates of various lengths, located along the contour of a trapezoid and tuned according to the principle of a piano keyboard. The records are connected to each other by a vein or silk cord and are placed on a special table when playing.
They play the xylophone by hitting the records with special light sticks. Timpani - a percussion musical instrument of a certain pitch from the membranophone family, is an aluminum, brass or copper body in the shape of a cauldron, over which leather is stretched using a hoop. The instrument is adjusted using 6 screws located on the hoop. The timpani are played with light sticks that end in heads made of cotton wool, sponge or cork.
Maracas - a paired percussion musical instrument of Latin American origin, is a dried fruit of a coconut, pumpkin or small melon with a handle and filled with pebbles, dry olive grains or sand. Modern maracas are made from thin-walled wooden, metal or plastic balls and filled with peas or shot. The sound is produced by shaking and is characterized by a sharp rustling sound.
Marimba is a wooden percussion instrument of African origin, which is a type of xylophone and has metal resonator tubes. It is played with rosewood sticks with hard, medium and soft heads. An organ is a keyboard and wind musical instrument. It is believed that the organ (hydraulo - “water organ”) was invented by the Greek Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt in 296 - 228. BC e. An image of a similar instrument appears on one coin or token from the time of Nero. Large organs appeared in the 4th century, more or less improved organs - in the 7th and 8th centuries. Pope Vitalian (666) introduced the organ into the Catholic Church. In the 8th century, Byzantium was famous for its organs.
The art of building organs also developed in Italy, from where they were exported to France in the 9th century. This art later developed in Germany. The organ began to receive its greatest and most widespread use in the 14th century. In the 14th century, a pedal appeared in the organ, that is, a keyboard for the feet. Medieval organs, in comparison with later ones, were of crude workmanship; a manual keyboard, for example, consisted of keys with a width of 5 to 7 cm, the distance between the keys reached one and a half cm. They struck the keys not with their fingers, as now, but with their fists. In the 15th century, the keys were reduced and the number of pipes increased. The pandeira is a percussion musical instrument that consists of a rectangular wooden frame with a strip in the middle that turns into a handle. Between the sides of the frame and the rail are inserted 4-8 pairs of brass plates with a diameter of 4-5 cm, mounted on metal rods.
Plectrum (mediator) is a wooden, bone, metal or plastic plate used to produce sound on plucked instruments. A whistle is a musical instrument consisting of a metal tube, at one end of which there is a mouthpiece, and at the other end a piston with a handle is inserted. As the piston moves, the pitch of the sound produced changes. A synthesizer is a universal electronic musical instrument; it is a complex combination of many functional units that the performer controls using a special electronic device that generates signals and consists of a keyboard and remote control. It allows you to simulate the sound of various instruments.
Saxophone - the first saxophone was created by the Belgian music master Adolphe Sax in Paris in 1842. This first instrument had all the characteristics of the modern saxophone: it had a metal conical body, a mouthpiece that was borrowed from the clarinet, a single reed and a Theobald Boehm ring valve system. The saxophone had a “snake-like” shape.
A tambourine is a percussion musical instrument consisting of a narrow wooden shell in the form of a hoop about 5 centimeters wide, covered on one side with leather, and small, freely dangling plates (rarely bells or bells), arranged in pairs, which are mounted on metal rods and secured in the slots of the hoop. When playing the tambourine, the cymbals hit each other, ringing rhythmically.
Tam-tam is a percussion metal musical instrument, a type of gong, of Asian origin. Cymbals - a percussion metal musical instrument, are monolithic rounded discs made of a special alloy, with a cup-shaped convexity in the middle, in the center of which there is a small round hole. The secret of making real Turkish cymbals has been held for more than 350 years by a Turkish family that founded a music company. The cymbals are installed in a freely suspended state on special brackets attached to the bass drum, or on stands. They play the cymbals with sticks from a snare drum, as well as timpani or brooms.
Temple block is a wooden percussion musical instrument, made of hard wood, has a round, pear-shaped shape, is hollow inside, with a deep characteristic slit-like cut in the middle.
Timbales - a percussion musical instrument, consists of two small, bong-like, single-sided drums, equal in height and different in size, with a brass or copper body. The drums are connected to each other by a small block and mounted on a vertical holder. The timbales is played with snare drum sticks and fingers. The tom-tom is a percussion musical instrument from the family of membranophones of Chinese origin; it looks like a cylinder covered on one or both sides with leather or plastic film using metal hoops with screws on them that adjust the pitch of the sound. Unlike a snare drum, a tom-tom is always without springs, but most often has a muffler. The tom-tom is played with snare drum sticks, sticks with soft mallets or brooms.
A triangle is a percussion metal musical instrument, it is a rod made of iron or chrome-plated steel with a cross-section of about 1 centimeter, bent in the form of an open equilateral triangle. The triangles are hung freely by a hook on a fishing line or held in the left hand. The triangle is played with a steel stick without a handle, 22 centimeters long, held in the right hand.
A ratchet is a percussion musical instrument that consists of a wooden gear mounted on a wooden or metal rod (connected to a handle on one side) and placed in a small wooden box.
The sound is produced by rotating. Jumping from one tooth to another, the record produces a characteristic dry crackling sound. Trombone is a brass musical instrument. The appearance of the trombone dates back to the 15th century. It is generally accepted that the immediate predecessors of this instrument were rocker trumpets, when playing which the musician had the opportunity to move the instrument tube, obtaining a chromatic scale. In 1839, the Leipzig musician Christan Zatler invented the quarter valve, which made it possible to lower trombone sounds by a fourth, which made it possible to extract sounds from the so-called “dead zone”. The main principle of playing the trombone is to obtain harmonic consonances by changing the position of the lips and changing the length of the air column in the instrument, achieved with the help of a slide.
The trumpet is one of the oldest musical instruments. Mentions of the oldest instruments of this type date back to approximately 3600 BC. e. Pipes existed in many civilizations - in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient China and were used as signaling instruments. The trumpet played this role for many centuries until the 17th century. In the Middle Ages, trumpeters were obligatory members of the army; only they could, using a signal, quickly convey the order of the commander to other parts of the army located at a distance. The art of playing the trumpet was considered “elite”; it was taught only to specially selected people. In peacetime, trumpets were sounded at festive processions, knightly tournaments; in large cities there was a position of “tower” trumpeters, who announced the arrival of a high-ranking person, the change of time of day (thus acting as a kind of clock), the approach of an enemy army to the city and other events .
Tubular bells are a percussion metal musical instrument of a certain pitch, consisting of two rows of brass, copper or steel of small diameter and different lengths, freely suspended on a special frame and arranged in chromatic sequence. The sound is produced by striking the upper edge of the corresponding pipe with a wooden mallet with a barrel-shaped head, covered with leather or rubber bands. Tuba is a brass musical instrument that performs the function of a bass. The first attempts to create a low register brass instrument date back to the second quarter of the 19th century. Previously, this function was performed by serpent (serpent means “snake”). The first instrument similar to a tuba was made in Berlin in 1835 by Moritz, according to the instructions of the court musician W. Wiprecht. The tuba owes its modern appearance to the Belgian music master Adolphe Sax. A few years after its creation, the “German imperfection” came to him. He experimentally selected the necessary scale ratios for the instrument, the length of the sounding column of the instrument and achieved excellent sonority.
The tubafon is a percussion musical instrument, similar in design to bells, but instead of plates, the sound source is metal tubes of different sizes, located on straw rollers and interconnected by a vein, strings or silk cord. a certain pitch. Appeared almost simultaneously with the vibraphone.
The ukulele is a plucked string musical instrument that first appeared in the Hawaiian Islands. It is a small four-string guitar.
A washboard is a percussion instrument that is a regular washboard. The washboard is played with fingers wearing thimbles.
The flute is one of the oldest musical instruments; official sources date its appearance to 35 - 40 thousand years BC. But perhaps this amazing musical instrument is much earlier. The prototype of the modern flute is an ordinary whistle, the sound in which appears when an air stream of air oscillates, which is cut by the sharp edge of a tree or other material; they were made of clay, stone, wood. They existed among most peoples as various signaling devices, children's toys and as musical instruments.
Later, holes were cut in the whistle tube, by clamping which it was possible to adjust the pitch of the sound. Chromatic frets were formed using finger combinations and closing the holes halfway or one-quarterway. An increase in sound by an octave occurred by increasing the strength and/or direction of breathing. Gradually, the whistle tube became longer, and there were more holes. Modern flutes are divided into several main types. The transverse flute was known in Egypt more than five thousand years ago and still remains the main wind instrument throughout the Middle East. In China, the transverse flute has been known for more than three thousand years, in India and Japan for more than two thousand years. In Rus', a type of longitudinal flute was the flute, but it is not possible to date its appearance. Flexatone is a percussion metal musical instrument.
Appeared in the early twenties of the twentieth century in France. It is a small steel plate, tapered towards the end, on a wire frame. The narrow end of the plate is bent, and flat steel rods are attached to it on both sides, at the end of which two solid wooden or metal balls vibrate freely.
Flugelhorn is a brass musical instrument. Piano is a string, percussion-keyboard musical instrument that performs melodic, harmonic and rhythmic functions.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, piano music became very popular in barel houses, where many talented pianists, later famous jazz musicians, played. Piano art reached its most intense flowering in the second half of the twenties. And in our time, the piano is the most common musical instrument.
A cylindrical box is a percussion wooden musical instrument that is a hollow wooden tube with slots along the edges. In the middle, the tube is covered with a metal coupling with a clamp, with which the instrument is attached to the bass drum, and is played with snare drum sticks.
The Charleston is a percussion metal musical instrument invented
drummer Vic Burton and designed by Kaiser Marshall in the second half of the twenties. The Charleston is a special device mounted on a tripod device, on top of which plates (about 35 centimeters in diameter) are attached horizontally, one below the other, with their inner sides facing each other. The lower plate is fixedly attached to a metal rod passed through a pipe 70 centimeters long and connected at the bottom to the pedal. Celesta is a percussion-keyboard musical instrument, which is a wooden body (similar to a small piano) in which a piano mechanism with felt-covered hammers is mounted.
Chocalo is a percussion metal musical instrument of indefinite pitch from the family, which is a cylinder filled with some kind of bulk material - shot or grains.
When playing, the chokala is held with both hands in a vertical or horizontal position and shaken, rotated or tapped on the body with the fingers. Electric instruments are musical instruments in which sound vibrations produced mechanically are amplified and then transmitted to an acoustic system. The idea of ​​​​creating power tools belongs to the Soviet scientist Lev Theremin, who designed such a tool back in 1920. The first power instrument to receive practical use was the organ designed by the American Lawrence Hammond in 1929, and mass production of cutters began in 1935.
In the second half of the thirties, the electric guitar appeared, and then the violin, bass guitar and piano, piano, and with the development of electronics, more and more new musical instruments appeared with stereo effects and surround sound and a huge range of reproduced sounds.

The first convincing evidence of musical experiments dates back to the Paleolithic era, when man learned to make instruments from stone, bone and wood in order to produce various sounds. Later, sounds were extracted using a faceted rib from bone, and the sound produced resembled the gnashing of teeth. Rattles were also made from skulls, which were filled with seeds or dried berries. This sound often accompanied the funeral procession.

The most ancient musical instruments were drums. The idnophone, an ancient percussion instrument, arose during the period of speech formation in ancient man. The duration of the sound and its repeated repetition were associated with the rhythm of the heartbeat. In general, for ancient people, music was primarily rhythm.

Following the drums, wind instruments were invented. The ancient prototype of the flute discovered in Asturis (20,000 BC) is striking in its perfection. The side holes were knocked out in it, and the principle of sound production was the same as that of modern flutes.

Stringed instruments were also invented in ancient times. Images of ancient strings are preserved in numerous rock paintings, most of which are located in the Pyrenees. Thus, in the Cogul cave nearby there are “dancing” figures “carrying bows”. The “lyre player” struck the strings with the edge of bone or wood, producing sound. It is curious that in the chronology of development the invention of string instruments and dance occupy the same time space.
At this time, an aerophone appears - an instrument made of bone or stone, the appearance of which resembles a diamond or the tip of a spear.

Threads were threaded and secured through holes in the wood, after which the musician ran his hand along these threads, twisting them. The result was a sound resembling a hum. Most often they played the aerophone in the evenings. The sound emanating from this instrument was reminiscent of the voice of spirits. This instrument was improved during the Mesolithic era (3000 BC). It became possible to play two or three sounds simultaneously. This was achieved by cutting vertical holes. Despite the primitiveness of the method of making such instruments, this technique was preserved for a long time in some parts of Oceania, Africa and Europe.

Among the musical instruments used by ancient civilizations we find wind instruments: flutes (tigtigi) and oboe (abub). We know that the Mesopotamian population, like the Egyptians, had a high technique for making wind instruments from reeds. They modified tools throughout the existence of their civilization. Soon, along with the flute, the pishik was invented, which contributed to the appearance of the oboe. In this instrument, sound was produced by rapid vibration of air in the pike, and not by blowing air streams on the mouthpiece, as happens in flutes. Of the strings, lyres (algar) and harps (zagsal), which were still very small in size, were widely used

Often the body of a musical instrument was painted. We see confirmation of this in exhibits found in the tombs of the state of Ur (2500 BC). One of them is in the British Museum. A variety of percussion instruments are also striking. This is often evidenced by iconography, bas-reliefs, dishes, vases, and steles. As a rule, the painting on them indicates the use of large drums and small timpani, as well as castanets and sistrums. Later exhibits also feature cymbals and bells.

The instruments and repertoire were handed down to subsequent generations living in Mesopotamia. By 2000 B.C. The Assyrians improved the harp and created the prototype of the first lute (pantur).

God Pan created the shepherd's pipe, Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, invented the flute, and the Indian God Narada invented and gave man a harp-shaped musical instrument - the veena. But these are just myths, because we all understand that musical instruments were invented by man himself. And there is nothing surprising here, because it is the first musical instrument. And the sound that comes from him is his voice.

Primitive man transmitted information with his voice and informed his fellow tribesmen about his emotions: joy, fear and love. To make the “song” sound much more interesting, he clapped his hands and stomped his feet, knocked stone against stone and hit the stretched mammoth skin. Just like that, the objects that surrounded a person slowly began to transform into musical instruments.

Musical instruments are divided into three groups, that is, according to the method of extracting sound from them: wind, percussion and strings. So let's now figure out why primitive man pulled, why did he knock, and what did he hit? We do not know for sure what kind of musical instruments there were at that time, but we can guess.

The first group is wind instruments. We don’t know why the ancient man blew into a reed reed, a piece of bamboo or a horn, but we know for sure that it became an instrument when the holes appeared.

The second group is percussion instruments, which were made from all sorts of objects, namely from the shells of large fruits, wooden blocks, and from dried skins. They were beaten with a stick, fingers or palms, and were used for ritual ceremonies and military operations.

And the last, third group is stringed musical instruments. It is generally accepted that the first stringed musical instrument was a hunting bow. An ancient hunter, pulling his bowstring, noticed that the string was “singing” from the splinter. But the stretched vein of the animal “sings” even better. And it “sings” even better when you rub an animal’s hair against it. This is exactly how the bow was born, that is, at that time, it was a stick with a tuft of horsehair stretched over it, which was moved along a string made from twisted animal sinews. After some time, the bow began to be made from silk threads. This divided stringed musical instruments into bowed and twisted.

The most ancient musical string instruments are the harp and the lyre. All ancient peoples have similar instruments. Ur harps are the oldest stringed instruments that have been found by archaeologists. They are approximately four and a half thousand years old.

The truth is that it is impossible to say exactly what the first musical instrument looked like, but we can say with complete confidence that music, at least in a primitive form, was part of the life of primitive man.

1899 Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel “Pan”

The truth is that we cannot name the first musical instrument, since all primitive people throughout the world seem to have created some kind of music. It was usually music with some kind of religious meaning, and the audience became participants in it. They danced, drummed, clapped and sang along with her. This wasn't just done for fun. This primitive music was a significant part of people's lives.

The legend of Pan and the reed suggests how man came up with the idea of ​​​​making so many different musical instruments. He may have imitated the sounds of nature or used the objects around him to create his music.

The first musical instruments were percussion instruments (like a drum).

Later, man invented wind instruments made from animal horns. From these primitive wind instruments, modern brass instruments developed. As man developed his musical sense, he began to use reeds and thus produced more natural and gentle sounds.

In 2009, an expedition led by archaeologist Nicholas Conard from the University of Tübengen discovered the remains of several musical instruments. During excavations in the Hols Fels cave in Germany, scientists discovered four bone flutes. The most interesting find is a 22-centimeter flute, which is 35 thousand years old.
The flute has 5 holes for producing sounds and a mouthpiece.
These finds show that Neanderthals already knew how to make musical instruments. This circumstance allows us to take a different look at the world of primitive man; it turns out that music in his world played an important role.

Finally, man invented the simple lyre and harp, from which bowed instruments came. The lyre was the most significant stringed instrument of ancient Greece and Rome, along with the lyre. According to myth, the lyre was invented by Hermes. To make it, Garmes used a tortoise shell; for the antelope horn frame.

In the Middle Ages, the crusaders brought many amazing oriental musical instruments from their campaigns. Combined with folk instruments that already existed in Europe at that time, they developed into many instruments that are now used to play music.

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German scientists published an article about an interesting find - an antique flute. According to paleontologists, the found tool was made about 35,000 years ago during the colonization of Europe by modern people. To date, this flute is the oldest musical instrument ever discovered by man.

Researchers say that music was especially common in prehistoric times. Scientists suggest that it was she who became a contributing factor in the development of human personality. Perhaps, thanks to music, the Neanderthal moved to another higher stage of his development. A team of researchers from the University of Tübingen has published a report of flutes found in old caves in southwest Germany. This cave has become widely known due to the fact that from time to time archaeologists discover in it evidence that people previously lived here. In May last year, members of the same archaeological group discovered a statue in the same cave, which today is one of the oldest previously discovered objects belonging to ancient people.

The best preserved flute was made from the bone of a vulture's wing. What is this tool? This is a fairly long tube with two V-shaped notches at the end of the tool. As the researchers suggest, these are special holes so that the flute player can blow into the hole and reproduce the corresponding musical sounds. Fragments of the other two flutes are not as well preserved as the first.

However, scientists have determined that they are made of ivory, presumably taken from mammoth tusks. The total number of flutes found today is eight, of which four are made from mammoth tusks, and the other half from bird bones. As stated by Tubing University professor Nicola Conard, these kinds of finds indeed prove that music was widespread 40,000 years ago, when people began to settle in the territory of modern Europe. It is clear that music has been an integral part of human existence. Music has been used in many areas of life: religion, work. However, the main purpose of music to this day remains approximately the same as many years ago - to please people and significantly simplify some moments in people's lives.

Researchers also suggest that ancient people had a special creative spirit. This is why music was so important to them. She helped them every day in achieving their goals and mental development. As Professor Conard stated, modern people have been familiar with the visual arts and musical traditions for quite some time. To this day, scientists are faced with interesting finds, such as, for example, symbolic artifacts, images of mythological creatures, as well as various jewelry made many millennia ago.

Such finds help shed light on the social and everyday life of our distant ancestors. That is why all these objects, found in different places and at different times, are of great interest to science. Researchers argue that it was the early emergence of culture and art in human life that was the reason that the ancestors of early modern humans and Neanderthals survived in such difficult and harsh conditions.

Music and other forms of art could have made a significant contribution to the maintenance of many areas of life of ancient man. Perhaps it was culture and art that helped modern man when it came to the territorial and demographic expansion of Europe. It is worth noting that the Neanderthal population was much more conservative and isolated in terms of mental and territorial development. This is the point of view of the famous British researcher Professor Chris Stringer. It is worth noting that he is not alone in his opinion and judgment on this issue.

The found flutes are another confirmation of how different the development of the ancestors of modern humans and Neanderthals was, and how significant the difference was in the spiritual development of both species. It is possible that the traditions, art and culture of our ancestors go back much deeper. It is likely that music and other arts existed more than 50,000 years ago. But evidence of this has not yet been found. Scientists from many countries around the world are actively working on this.