sung by common people. Historians know that a seven-
stringed zither of Chinese design was played in Korea dur-
ing the third, fourth, and fi ft h centuries c.e. Koreans also
played a uniquely Korean stringed instrument called the
komun’go starting in the fourth century; numerous tomb
paintings from that period depict the instrument. Th is in-
strument was placed in a horizontal position and played by
striking the strings and pressing them against frets. People
in central Korea played a vertical harp that may have been
infl uenced by central Asian instruments.
Southeast Asian music was infl uenced by that of India
and China. Burmese music most resembled ancient Indian
music; Burmese musicians adopted the Indian harp as a fa-
vorite instrument. In Java during the second and third centu-
ries b.c.e. smiths used bronze to create gonglike instruments
that were carried into battle by soldiers. By the fourth century
c.e. these gongs had evolved into the gamelan, a collection of
bronze gongs played by a group of musicians. People believed
that the gamelan had supernatural powers over the weather
and human emotions; they were oft en played in ceremonies
to bring rain or at weddings.
Pacifi c islanders composed many hymns and chants that
they sang a cappella, or without the accompaniment of instru-
ments. Th e people of Tahiti sang chants in a microtonal scale,
a scale that contains more notes within an octave than the
traditional 12 notes of the Western scale. Islanders also used
drums to accompany vocal music. In Australia traditional
music was part of ritual and entertainment. Songs commem-
orated the history of clans and heroic deeds, mourned the
dead, and told of religious traditions. Th e most common in-
strument was the didgeridoo, a pipe made of wood; although
the earliest historical record of the instrument comes from
cave paintings from the fi ft h century c.e., historians believe
that the didgeridoo may be the oldest wind instrument in the
world, which means Aborigines could have been playing it in
7000 b.c.e. or earlier.
EUROPE
BY SIMON O’DWYER
Music in Europe has its origins some 40,000 years ago with
the arrival of the modern human being. A number of bone
fl utes have been recovered from caves in France and Germany,
including a swan-bone fl ute found in the Geissenklösterle
Cave, Germany, dated to about 37,000 b.c.e. and generally
considered to be the oldest surviving musical instrument in
the world. Many of these early fl utes were recovered in prox-
imity to cave paintings, and audio experiments in caves in
France suggest that the paintings occur in areas of caves with
good acoustics and not in those with bad acoustics. Th us it
would appear that music and visual art were associated from
the very origins of both.
Musical instruments that survive from the European
Stone Age tend to be animal- or bird-bone whistles and
fl utes, simple stone fl utes, and rock gongs (rocks that produce
a resonant tone when struck). One notable exception is the
remarkable set of wooden tubes known as the Wicklow Pipes,
recovered from an ancient cooking place in County Wick-
low, Ireland. Th ese six cylindrical pipes of varying lengths
are fi nely carved from yew wood and presented together in
a panpipe arrangement. Carbon-dated to about 2135 b.c.e.,
the pipes each have a socket carved at one end to accept a
mouth-blown tone generator that was not present with the
fi nd. Th e sockets would allow a player to fi ne-tune the pipes
by moving the tone-generator extension inward or outward.
Such a facility is highly unusual in the Late Stone Age and
clearly demonstrates that the musicians then were achieving
accurate and complex music.
In the Middle to Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500–600 b.c.e.)
two distinct types of metal wind instruments emerged. Some
60 cast-bronze trumpets known as lurs have been found in
northern Germany, Denmark, and Scandinavia. Th ey are
made in a double opposing conical curve over 6 feet in length
with a circular decorated plate at the bell. Th us the instru-
ment, when played, curves around the upper body of the
player, and the plate is presented over the head facing for-
ward. Th e lurs were made in pairs with opposing curves so
that two paired players would make a balanced right and left
presentation. Many of the instruments have chains attached,
believed to have made sounds that contributed to the perfor-
mance. It is generally thought that lurs were played as part of
religious or royal ceremonies.
Th e second great family of metal wind instruments
emerged in Ireland and perhaps Britain around 1100 b.c.e. In
Ireland no fewer than 104 horns are known to exist, while a
fragment of one and a drawing of another survive from Scot-
land and England, respectively. Th is nu mber represents about
40 percent of the entire world collection of prehistoric metal
wind instruments. A single fi nd, known as the Dowris Hoard,
from County Off aly, Ireland, contains 26 bronze horns—the
largest such group ever found anywhere—accompanied by 39
bells or rattles.
Th e Bronze Age horns of Ireland and Britain were all
cast from a two-part clay mold with a central core held in
place by bronze pins. Th e Irish examples, found throughout
the island, occur as two distinctive types. About half had a
mouthpiece or mouth hole fi tted into the side of the horn,
while the rest employed a more conventional end-blown ar-
rangement. Th e way in which both kinds of horns were found
together suggests that they were played in pairs or multiples
of pairs of end-blown and side-blown instruments. Recent re-
search and reproduction have revealed surprisingly rich and
complex musical properties for the horns. By employing tone
variation and circular breathing techniques, a good player
can produce a variety of sound and rhythm. It is particularly
noteworthy that the horns can be used to play an overtone
series over the fundamental note. Th is is a playing technique
whereby a series of higher notes are produced above a con-
tinuous drone. Normally it can be achieved only by special-
ized singing, which is practiced in Nepal, Tuva, and Tibet. It768 music and musical instruments: Europe