What was the first musical instrument ever made?

Question:Some kind of percussion. Probably something similar to claves: banging sticks together.

Drums would come a little later, as it's not obvious that you can stretched a tanned hide over a bowl to make a sound.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Some kind of percussion. Probably something similar to claves: banging sticks together.

Drums would come a little later, as it's not obvious that you can stretched a tanned hide over a bowl to make a sound.

Vocal chords. Then probably a stick on a rock.

Veena in the hand of Narad

Probably the drum

The Pan Flute. Made of a collection of different sizes of reeds when air passes over them makes a sound almost like blowing air over a pop bottle.

Music came long before instruments so that is a hard one. Many natural items have been used to create sound. I still like the spoons.

I like spoons too!

tip tap on the desk

the flute.

Probably sticks striking branches or rocks as alarms, then someone came up with the idea of several sticks in unison making the sound louder, provided they stayed on beat. From then on they noticed that short sticks sounded high and long sticks sounded low.

Drums came along when they started turning animal hides into apparel, but first hung them up to pound the bugs and excess hair out. They breakthrough came when they started stretching the skins to facilitate tanning, and tone took off.

The Indian Santoor is the oldest known string instrument of India.
http://www.www.worldmusicalinstruments.c...

Suggest you also look up Australian Aboriginal music and musical instruments. Native Oz culture goes back a very very long way. The ancient laws of Oz have to be remembered in the form of poety. This poety is inscribed in the form of rock paintings/carvings and the elders must learn all of this law so that by the time they are old they can judge a legal problem and put things right.

These poems are in a sung format and are very ancient. The oldest musical instrument is probably the Oz didgery-doo - this is made of wood and is never allowed to be played by a woman - it is a male only muscial instrument and used for special occasions, rituals, dance etc.

Alex D seems to have the answer Vocal cords!

I don't know, but I suppose it would probably be a percussion instrument. Interesting question x

I'm not sure.
In the Bible it talks about the flute and harp a lot (for instance King David played his harp for the king). And in Psalms theres several chapters that are just about praising God and it mentions all kind of instruments.
And the Bible dates back a long long time, and if you are a Creationist, these probably were the first instruments in time.
Hope I helped a little.

I am pretty old, but not THAT old, so I would not know.

Since percussion is not a "musical" instrument and the vocal cords are not musical "instruments", I would go with a woodwind of some sort, perhaps a Pan-flute type of insrument, or a grass-blade between the thumbs type of instrument.

That will be the grand piano,first built around 200,000 years BC but nobody was able to play it until somwhere in the 17thC,in Germany probably,it was first called an "Ugh"

The human voice.