| Description |
One phenomenon that distinguishes humans from other animals is the use of music and language. Musical instruments are a major tool in making music, which is sound organized by humans. In many regions, music, singing, and dancing are used interchangeably, and musical instruments and music are inextricably closely related. The word Ngoma in Africa is the name of a drum, but it is a comprehensive term that includes all the music, songs, and dances played by the drum and has the meaning of ritual ceremonies.
Musical instruments have been with humankind since the Paleolithic era. Musical instruments are among the oldest and most widespread objects made by humans. Humans began making musical instruments to imitate the sounds of nature such as wind, rain, thunder, and the sound of birds singing as well as the howling of animals. Such a tradition of using nature sound continues to this day. We can see wind chimes that dangle by the wind in Buddhist temples throughout Asia; wind bamboo tubes in Bali of Indonesia; Đan Nu’o’c, created by Sedang people in Vietnam, which is a clicking bamboo musical instrument using water; and Suikinkutsu using a bamboo tube and water pot in Japanese gardens. Since the Neolithic era, people soothed the hardships of labor with songs, learning the power of the rhythm by pounding a pestle in a mortar. Humans began to think about transcendental beings and had ritual ceremonies, and they tried to impress their existence by using music and musical instruments. |
