The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-07-18
THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC
Monuments in Egypt Contain instruments Proving
That the Art is at Least 1000 Years Old
By Frank N. Lyndon, n The Chyiian Family

Tor the secret OF melody had not
yet dawned on man.
The most common instrument of
primitive races still is the drum,
which has not changed essentially
since its invention. 1t was especi-
ally used to summon the scattered
warriors of a tribe, to announce
the beginning of a battle. and to
confuse the enemy. The present
use of the military drum still shows
this old purpose.
Of course their are no historical
records about these first instru-
ments among the aborigines, and
we can only make a guess from the
instruments we find among the saw
ages today. All who have ever
listened to the deafening noise
produced by troops of Ashantis or
other native tribes of the South
Sea, or the Philippines, in our
cities, must have gotten the i'm
preston, that their chief aim is to
produce various noises, marked,
however, by a strong rhythm
which easily catches the ear. In
general we must say, the lower a
people in civilization, the louder
and noisier it's musical instruments,
and in this connection it seems
proper to state that the general
American prediction for ragtime
music, in which the rhythm is
made the dominant feature. at the
expense of melody and harmony,
indicates a rather low standard.
The transition from savagery to
civilization invariably implies a
refining of sentiments and their
outward expression. So we do not
find it strange that religion and
music early joined hands. In all
the primitive religious cults we dis
cover the use of musical instru-
ments. Besides drums, gongs,
blow and string instruments came
into vogue, which enabled man to
produce a greater variety of sounds
and add greater splendor to re-
ligious feasts, but also to banquets
and other festive occasions.
From this time we have more
definite historical information about
the development of music among
the nations of the earth. The
Pyramids of Memphis often show
a harp, which consequently must
have been one of the earliest in
struments. In a sarcophagus at
Fayum a few decades ago old
Egyptian flutes were discovered
which showed our present day
scale, and the age of the sarco-
phagus is dated back to 5000 B. G.
The art of singing was also high
ly developed among the Egyptians.
An old papyrus contains mocking
poem on a singer who was much
given to the joys of the table:
More beautiful than the night
ingale and the shepherd-bird is thy
voice. but to thee mighty jug of
Merissa beer means more than thy
song; they invite thee to the feasts
of the princes, thee. the son of a
brickmaker, and the servants sa-
Lutte thee like a lord. A maid
places thy harp near the soft
couch, but thy eyes do not see the
harp, and thy heart does not think
of golden songs; thy eyes only
stare. to see what meals are COM
ing to the table, and thy stomach
is as unsuitable as thy throat is
dry"
Most famous among the old
Egyptians were the great musical
feasts, to which thousands of peo-
ple gathered from all sides. Her
odotus, the Greek historian, who
lived 500 years B. c., speaks of
such feast, in which 700, 200 per-
sons participated. He says: "On
the ships are men and women. The
women have rattles in their hands
and beat the rattle woods together