Musical instrument

A musical instrument (or simply instrument), from Latin instrumentem, is a device, such as a violin, piano, or drums, for making musical sound. Since music can be made with the voice, instruments are not necessary, however, to make music--unless the voice itself is considered an instrument, as it often is. If so, then "musical instrument" can be defined simply as "anything that can be used to make music."

The tools we have to make music are remarkably diverse, and fall into some commonly-recognized and sometimes overlapping classes:

• Stringed instruments include both bowed string instruments, such as the violin, and plucked string instruments, such as the guitar
• Wind instruments, sometimes divided into brass such as the trumpet and woodwinds such as the flute
• Keyboard instruments such as piano, although this is sometimes classified as a stringed or a percussion instrument, and organ, which is also considered a wind instrument
• Percussion instruments such as drums
• Electronic instruments such as synthesizers
• (Optionally) Voice such as singing and mouth music

There is also a remarkable diversity of musical instruments across both space and time. The indigenous instruments of China, for instance, are considerably different from the indigenous instruments of Italy, for example. There has also been considerable evolution of the design of musical instruments. None of the instruments that were common in ancient Celtic music, for instance, are still being played in the same form today.

Excluding the human voice, the oldest musical instruments appear to be various forms of flute and drum. Instruments known to date back to antiquity include various stringed instruments such as the harp and--oddly enough, perhaps--the bagpipe.