The art of music. Vol. 01 (of 14) : $b The pre-Classic periods
History
The art of music. Vol. 01 (of 14) : $b The pre-Classic periods
Music -- History and criticism; Musicians
We have seen how naturally the percussion instruments were developed;
how they sprang into being, as it were, in response to an innate
necessity for rhythmic expression, an inevitable accompaniment of the
dance and the dance-song. Almost at the same time wind instruments
of a simple and rude kind were fashioned. Whistles were made from
the bones of animals with the marrow removed. Pipes were made from
hollow reeds, while conch shells and the horns of deer-like animals
furnished the first trumpets. These primitive whistles, pipes, and
deer-horn trumpets[5] when blown were capable of giving forth but one
tone. However, it is highly probable that, as their makers grew more
familiar with the effect of the varying pressure of the lips, certain
partials of the fundamental tone were produced, such as the octave, the
fifth, and even the third. Eventually a series of holes were pierced
in them, thus making it possible by means of stopping and unstopping
these holes with the fingers to produce a rude scale of tones. But the
first whistles were evidently of the one tone variety. An interesting
relic of this description has recently been exhumed by N. Lartet in the
department of Dordogne, France. It consists of a small bone, probably
of the reindeer, about two inches in length. Through this bone near
one end a small hole has been bored, probably by a sharp piece of
hard stone, like flint. By applying the lips to this hole and blowing
strongly a shrill whistling sound is produced. This was no doubt used
in hunting, or as a call. In a cave at Lombrive in the department of
Ariège several dog-teeth with similar holes for whistling have likewise
been discovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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