musical instrument

Also known as music instrument, instrument, instrument in music, instrument (music)

device created or adapted to make musical sounds

AI overview

A musical instrument is a device that's either made or modified specifically to create musical sounds. These tools matter because they're fundamental to how people make and share music across cultures and throughout history.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Image: Historical instruments.jpg
Has use: music

Show 12 more facts

topic's main category: Category:Musical instruments
equivalent class: performedmusicontology.org/ontology/IndividualMediumOfPerformance
maintained by WikiProject: WikiProject Musical Instruments
has characteristic: family of musical instruments
Commons category: Musical instruments
topic has template: Template:Musical instruments
Commons gallery: Musical instrument
has effect: instrumental music
used by: musician
studied by: organology
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
P8168: Chomu

Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Historical instrumentsA musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who plays a musical instrument is known as an instrumentalist.

The history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have been used for rituals, such as a horn to signal success on the hunt, or a drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment. Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications and technologies.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “musical instrument” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.