Musical instruments: Culture and Travel Context

Musical instruments are the tools used to make music; due to differences in musical instruments, similar musical ideas can sound different. Some acoustic instruments, such as drums and flutes, have existed since prehistoric times, but in the last few hundred years the number of instruments has grown to a multitude, and they have been supplemented by a variety of electronic instruments since the 19th century. This travel topic mentions destinations related to musical instruments.

There are a few instruments that have existed in various forms and seem to be international: forms of the flute, harp, and drums all have long histories (and for the flute and percussion instruments, prehistories) as instruments, and may appear under other names in ancient works like the Bible and Indian music theory treatises and lots of iconography from ancient Egypt, China and many other civilizations. Many other instruments have been developed since then. The Industrial Revolution helped spur additional musical inventions and controversial technical improvements that made it possible to play louder, higher and lower but gave up some subtleties in exchange. Electronics have added a wide variety of additional scopes to even the concept of musical instruments: for example, a computer can itself be a musical instrument. In addition, many innovative techniques have been introduced, probably since time immemorial, but this is documented since at least the turn of the 17th century in Western music. However, alongside all the change and innovation, many traditional instruments have remained in more or less their traditional forms and some performance styles have even remained broadly similar for centuries or more, while other old instruments have enjoyed revivals.

In short, while many musical instruments have gone out of fashion, this is nevertheless probably the time in history with the largest variety of instruments to see and hear. This topic hopes to give you just a little direction in such a potentially inexhaustible quest; the rest is up to you.

The flute is one of the most ancient instruments, with flutes made of bone having been found in digs well into prehistory. Today, instruments of the flute/recorder family are widespread and found in many varieties around the world.

China is one country where traditional flutes (dizi) are for sale. As with anything else there, be careful about quality, as wooden flutes can crack, for example.

The town of Paracho in Michoacan, Mexico calls itself the "guitar capital of the world". More than 200 workshops specialize in guitars, some call themselves luthiers, others prefer the term guitarerros.

Cremona is where the famous maker of violins and other string instruments, Stradivari, had his workshop.

Steinway has factories in Astoria, Queens, New York and Hamburg, Germany. You can tour these factories and also buy pianos there.

West African countries are great places to find drums. Brazil is also an excellent source, in the case of Afro-Brazilian percussion instruments among others.

Many national and regional museums have a small selection of local musical instruments. Some more specialist museums are listed here.

This cultural overview is an excerpt of a community travel guide. Confirm current access, schedules and prices with the venue before planning a visit.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Musical instruments by Wikivoyage contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.