The first musical instruments have been percussion. From those blows of stone against stone, until hitting a piece of hollow wood spent several centuries according to the evolution of music and the need for it for daily life.
The first percussion instruments of more complex elaboration come from the percussion on dead animals and the resonance of the thoracic cage of these animals. In this way the stretched leather began to be used, first on the same bones of the animal remains, but the duration of this instrument was very short due to decomposition.
When the man discovered the drying and tanning of skins he immediately used this art to build percussion instruments of longer duration, which made possible a continuous improvement of these instruments, of which there are no vestiges since the passage of time ended up undoing them. However it is thought that the body of these instruments was made of wood with tensioned leather.
This is how man discovered some basic principles of acoustics: the bigger the body of the instrument (or rather, its sound box), the more serious the sound; later he used this basic principle in everything else: the longer the tube of a wind instrument, the more serious the sound it produces; the longer a string, the more serious the sound it produces and vice versa. Thus he could have a wide range of percussed sounds: bass, middles and treble.
With this range of percussive sounds, music was developed as a means to "dominate nature and dominate the visible and invisible world". Severe percussion instruments (with a low frequency) scare off predators more than just hitting a hollow wood, due to a biological process where low sounds (like the roar of a lion) produce a release of adrenaline and this produces fear. Obviously the prehistoric man did not use the instruments with a scientific criterion but by the ancient method of trial and error.
The sharp percussion sounds produce a feeling of restlessness and nervousness and the means a mixture of both, therefore they began to be used with the purpose of producing sensations and moods much better than before. The different mixture of frequencies produced different responses in the mind and therefore could be used for war, hunting or ritual.
About the Author:
My name is Gabriel Beguerie, I'm a Music Teacher and Piano Teacher in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Currently I work at the Luis Gianneo Provincial Conservatory and the Art No. 1 High School.
Passionate about History in general and the History of Music in particular.
Contact: gabriel.arturo.beguerie@gmail.com
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