Did you ever walk in a forest and suddenly come upon a little brook bubbling merrily along its path? Didn’t it sound like music? When the rain pitter-patters against a roof, or a bird sings heartily — aren’t these like music?

When man first began to notice his surroundings, there was a kind of music already here. And then when he wanted to express great joy, when he wanted to jump and shout and somehow express what he felt, he felt music in his being, perhaps before he was able to express it.

Eventually, man learned to sing, and this was the first man-made music. What do you think would be the first thing man would want to express in song? Happiness? Yes, the happiness of love. The first songs ever sung were love songs. On the other hand, when man was face to face with death which brought him fear, he expressed this, too, in a different kind of song, a kind of dirge or chant. So love songs and dirges were the first music man ever made!

Another kind of music came with the development of the dance. Man needed some sort of accompaniment while he danced. So he clapped his hands, cracked his fingers, or stamped on the earth—or beat upon a drum!

The drum is probably one of the oldest instruments man invented to produce sound. It’s so old that we can never trace its beginnings, but we find it among all ancient peoples everywhere in the world.

The earliest wind instruments created by man were the whistle and the reed pipe. The whistles were made of bone, wood, and clay. From them, the flute was developed. The flute is so ancient that the Egyptians had it more than 6,000 years ago!

Stringed instruments probably came soon afterward. Did you know that the ancient Egyptians had them, too?