First Nation’s Musical Instruments
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
Music as the basis of all form of modern entertainment is deeply rooted in the national tradition of every country. I will take a very common example, by simply pointing to the ancient source modern music springs from. Among the first nation’s musical instruments was the flute, and its sound can still be heard in many countries. Beside the flute there were also rattles, drums and whistles. The local cultural influence finds manifestations in the various shapes and sizes of the first musical instruments of a nation.
The variety of cultures matches the great number of instruments specific to the different nations. But, in essence they are similar, it is only the local aspect that lays its imprint on their design. All first nation’s musical instruments were made of natural elements that were easily found, particularly wood and animal skin. For instance the stringed Apache instrument is one case of the first nation’s musical instrument, it was similar to a fiddle, and thus shared common features to other string instruments on other parts of the globe.
Then, let’s consider the very important and common drum. This primary first nation’s instrument marked all continents equally. It came in many shapes and sizes depending on the performed ritual. The interesting part of it is that the Africans for example used their hands to play it, whereas in some other parts of the world sticks were used. There were many types of drums from the small ones that were kept in hand to the much larger ones, around which people usually stayed as part of any ritual. This musical instrument was made out of wood and animal skin, or sometimes they were filled with water to get an echo effect.
Being a commonly found instrument, the drum had an essential role in every tribal community. We mention it as part of the first nations musical instruments because of the role it had in the religious and cultural lives of the early peoples. Another original drum was created from a deep hole in the ground covered with a proper material, the sound it created made the ground tremble. Drums were never played just by themselves they were accompanied by dancing or singing or any other ritual that needed the drum beat. Consequently, we use the same instruments as our ancestors but without the ritual function that originated them from the beginning.
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