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3.3
How Musical Instruments Work
(Including the Voice)
3.3.1
What Is a Resonator? Musical Instrument Definition
The voice was certainly the first musical instrument, followed by percussion instruments, then melodic instruments, then chordal instruments.
Musical instruments are probably as old as modern humans. At least a couple of hundred thousand years old, in all likelihood. Possibly much older.
So, what’s a musical instrument?
All musical instruments are resonators, or resonating machines. A resonator is a contraption (in this case, all or part of a musical instrument) that vibrates in sympathy with (i.e., as a result of similar vibrations of) another nearby part of the instrument that you set in motion.
So, with most musical instruments (not all, as you’ll see), two different things vibrate:
- The initial sound source that you, the musician, set in motion, and
- A resonating body connected to the first sound source.