The great strides taken in the advancement of music and musical instruments

Modern music instruments

Music has evolved greatly from the ancient days when the only musical instrument that man could make was when he hit wood against wood. The changes in music and how music is used are as a result of the ever progressive desire of mankind to become better in all that he does.

Mankind may have discovered music from simple sounds found in nature. The singing of birds early in the morning, the different calls of wild animals, the different sounds in nature such as the sound of a waterfall, the sound of hoofs beating on hard ground, the sound of rain, the sound of thunder, the sound or wind rustling among leaves and other assorted sounds. Music could have been invented when man tried to mimic these sounds using his voice.

When man learnt that he could produce different sounds, he went further and started making melodious sounds. This was the advent of singing. Music instruments could have been invented when man started mankind sounds using percussion instruments and discovered that he could produce a pleasant beat.

The advent of music has continued steadily with more musical instruments being invented and the existing musical instruments being improved. For example, the traditional drum has been developed and today we have the drum set. The drum set is a much more advanced musical instrument with more versatility in the sound that it provides.

The greatest leaps in musical advancements have however come around in the last few hundred years. This advancements are hugely due to the rapid increase in technological advancement.

One of the main technological gains that has greatly boosted the advancement of music and musical instruments is the discovery of electricity. Electricity was hugely influential in changing many of the ways that things were being done and our ancestors decided to apply the same power in musical realms.

The greatest contribution of electricity in the musical world is probably in sound amplification. The fact that sound could be made to have a larger magnitude was a tremendous achievement. There before, musicians were usually constrained to performing to small audiences but thanks to electricity, the sound could now be multiplied many times more through the use of microphones and amplifiers. A soloist could now sing to millions of people in real time without having to strain his or her voice.

The same was also applied in musical instruments. There before, musical instruments such as guitars were hugely disadvantaged since their sounds could not carry very far. Guitars could also not be used in live performances because the sound would simply disappear in the wind. Today, thanks to electric amplification, a guitar can be used anywhere and for an audience of any size.

Technology has also been responsible in recent times for advancing music to the level where we can store music. Today music performed can be recorded and replayed in the future as often as one wants. In the past once music was performed that was it, although similar music performances could be repeated, no two performances could be identical.