Host: Craig Dabelstein
Music: Composed by Jeffrey A. Young
Series: The Musical Archeologist: Forgotten Ideas from Music’s Past
Episode Summary
Why do cultures separated by oceans, deserts, and thousands of years so often create remarkably similar musical instruments?
In this episode of The Musical Archeologist, Craig Dabelstein explores one of the most thought-provoking questions raised by Ernest Closson in The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document. When we discover similar flutes, drums, stringed instruments, or bagpipes in distant parts of the world, what should we conclude? Did the idea travel from one culture to another? Or did different peoples simply arrive at the same solution independently?
Closson argues that the answer is not always straightforward. Sometimes an instrument really does preserve evidence of migration, trade, or cultural contact. At other times, people working with similar materials and responding to the same musical needs invent strikingly similar instruments without ever meeting one another.
Ultimately, this episode explores one of the great themes of music history: that while cultures develop in wonderfully diverse ways, human creativity often follows surprisingly similar paths. Musical instruments remind us not only of our differences, but also of the shared ingenuity that connects people across continents and centuries.
Source Book
The idea for this episode comes from:
Ernest Closson, The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document
Translated by Craig Dabelstein
Published by Maxime’s Music
Originally published in Brussels in 1902 as L’Instrument de musique, Closson’s book explores musical instruments as evidence of human history, migration, invention, and cultural exchange. Throughout the work, he encourages readers to see instruments not merely as tools for making music, but as historical witnesses that preserve clues about the societies that created and transformed them.
Buy the book: https://books.by/maximes-music
Podcast webpage: https://craigdabelstein.com/podcast/
In This Episode
This episode considers:
- why similar musical instruments appear in many different cultures;
- the difference between cultural transmission and independent invention;
- how geography, materials, and human needs influence instrument design;
- the relationship between migration, trade, and musical ideas;
- why similar solutions often emerge independently;
- Ernest Closson’s broader view of musical instruments as evidence of human history.
Links
Craig Dabelstein: https://craigdabelstein.com/
Maxime’s Music: https://www.maximesmusic.com/
Maxime’s Music YouTube: https://youtube.com/@maximes-music
Credits
The Musical Archeologist is written and presented by Craig Dabelstein.
Music composed by Jeffrey A. Young.
This episode is based on ideas from Ernest Closson’s The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document, translated by Craig Dabelstein and published by Maxime’s Music.
Suggested Citation
Dabelstein, Craig. “Why Do So Many Cultures Invent the Same Instruments?” The Musical Archeologist: Forgotten Ideas from Music’s Past, Episode 005.