Musical Instruments [1908]

"Musical Instruments" by Carl Engel is a detailed exploration of music's history through the instruments humans created across different cultures and eras. The book starts by emphasizing how universally people enjoy music and establishes that musical instruments are some of the oldest inventions we have. Engel explains the materials used to make these instruments, pointing out that even primitive tribes have their own unique ones. He also looks at how these instruments have cultural meaning, showing how they reflect the identity of the societies that created them through examples like African drums that include human skulls. The opening builds the foundation for a thorough historical journey, displaying music's diverse global history shown in later chapters.