Music & Simple Instrument Making

8 min read

Music & Simple Instrument Making

Music is not a luxury. It is one of humanity’s oldest technologies — older than agriculture, older than writing, possibly older than spoken language. In every culture ever documented, music exists. It persists because it serves deep neurological, social, and practical functions that no other activity can replace. In a post-collapse community, music-making is one of the highest-return investments of time you can make.

Why Music Matters

Neurological Effects

Music directly affects brain chemistry:

  • Dopamine release — pleasure and motivation
  • Cortisol reduction — stress relief
  • Oxytocin increase (when making music together) — social bonding
  • Endorphin release (especially rhythmic group music) — pain reduction and euphoria

These are not metaphors. These are measured neurochemical changes. A 30-minute group music session produces mood improvements comparable to moderate exercise.

Social Function

Group music-making synchronizes people — literally. When people sing or play rhythm together, their brain waves synchronize, their breathing aligns, and their sense of group identity strengthens. This is why every military in history has used marching songs, every religion uses communal singing, and every culture has group musical traditions.

Work Songs

Historically, work songs served three practical functions:

  1. Coordination — synchronized movement for tasks like rowing, hauling, hammering
  2. Pacing — maintaining steady work rhythm prevents both rushing and dawdling
  3. Morale — making repetitive work less soul-crushing

Revive this tradition. Create songs for repetitive community tasks: grinding grain, building walls, walking long distances, gardening.

Percussion Instruments

Percussion is the easiest family of instruments to build and the most immediately satisfying. Anyone can maintain a rhythm — it requires no training in pitch or melody.

Log Drums

The simplest drum: Find a hollow log or trunk section. Strike it with sticks.

Better version: Take a solid log (30-60 cm diameter, 40-60 cm tall). Hollow it out by controlled burning and carving. Leave walls at least 3 cm thick. Different wall thicknesses produce different pitches. A hollowed log with walls of varying thickness produces 2-3 distinct tones.

Skin Drums

Frame drum (like a tambourine without jingles):

  1. Bend a strip of green wood into a circle (20-40 cm diameter). Overlap the ends and lash or peg them.
  2. Stretch an animal skin (deer, goat, rabbit) across one face while the skin is wet.
  3. Lash the skin to the frame tightly with cordage threaded through small holes punched near the skin’s edge.
  4. Let dry. The skin tightens as it dries, producing a taut playing surface.
  5. Play with hands or a padded stick.

Goblet drum (like a djembe):

  1. Hollow a section of tree trunk — narrow at the bottom, wider at the top.
  2. Stretch skin over the wide end, lash tightly.
  3. The hollow body amplifies the sound.

Skin preparation: Scrape all flesh and fat from the hide. Soak in water overnight. Stretch while wet. For best results, use a thin skin (rabbit, goat) rather than thick (cow, deer).

Shakers and Rattles

Gourd shaker: Dry a small gourd. Place pebbles, seeds, or small bones inside. Seal the opening with wax or clay.

Container rattle: Any small container (coconut shell, carved wood box, tin can) filled partially with hard objects.

Ankle/wrist rattles: String shells, bones, or seed pods on cordage. Tie around ankle or wrist for dance percussion.

Claves (Rhythm Sticks)

Two pieces of dense, dry hardwood, 20-25 cm long and 2-3 cm diameter. Strike together. Produces a sharp, cutting tone that penetrates other sounds — ideal for keeping time for a group.

Wind Instruments

Reed Flutes and Whistles

Simple whistle from reed or bamboo:

  1. Cut a section of hollow reed (or bamboo, elderberry, willow) about 15-20 cm long.
  2. At one end, carve a notch (“fipple window”) about 2 cm from the end — a rectangular opening in the tube wall.
  3. Shape a plug that fits inside the tube from the end to just before the window. The plug should leave a narrow air channel between itself and the window.
  4. Insert the plug. Blow into the end. Adjust the plug position until you get a clear tone.
  5. For different notes, drill finger holes along the tube. Start with 3 holes, spaced roughly evenly.

Bone Flutes

Bone flutes have been made for at least 40,000 years. They produce beautiful, clear tones.

Material: Large bird bones (turkey, goose, eagle) or animal leg bones (deer, sheep). The bone must be hollow with walls strong enough not to crack.

Construction:

  1. Clean and dry the bone thoroughly.
  2. Cut to length (15-25 cm). Smooth the ends.
  3. Create a blowing edge at one end — either a V-notch (end-blown) or a fipple system like the reed flute.
  4. Drill finger holes with a heated metal point or careful stone drill. Start with 3-4 holes.
  5. Tune by adjusting hole size — enlarging a hole raises its pitch.

Panpipes

The simplest multi-note wind instrument:

  1. Cut 5-8 sections of reed or bamboo at graduated lengths (longest = lowest note, shortest = highest).
  2. Seal the bottom of each tube with wax, clay, or a natural node.
  3. Bind them together side by side in order of length.
  4. Blow across the top of each tube.

Tuning: Adjust tube length by cutting from the top. Shorter = higher pitch. A rough scale can be achieved by ear — cut, test, cut more if needed.

Bull Roarers

Not melodic but deeply atmospheric — a flat piece of wood (30-50 cm long, 5-8 cm wide, 0.5-1 cm thick) attached to a long cord. Swing it in a circle overhead. The spinning wood creates a deep, pulsing hum that carries over long distances. Historically used for ceremonies, signaling, and creating atmosphere.

Stringed Instruments

Stringed instruments are harder to build but produce the widest range of musical expression.

One-String Diddley Bow

The simplest possible stringed instrument:

  1. Take a board or plank (60-100 cm long).
  2. Drive a nail or peg at each end.
  3. Stretch a wire, cord, or gut string between the pegs.
  4. Place a bridge (small piece of wood or bone) under the string near each end to lift it off the board.
  5. Pluck or strum the string.
  6. Change pitch by pressing the string against the board at different points (like a slide guitar) using a stone, bone, or bottle neck.

If you mount the board over a hollow container (gourd, pot, box), the container acts as a resonator and amplifies the sound significantly.

Simple Lyre

  1. Frame: A Y-shaped branch (or two branches lashed to a crossbar). The opening should be about 30-40 cm.
  2. Crossbar: A strong, straight stick spanning the top of the Y.
  3. Sound box: Attach the base of the Y to a hollow container (tortoise shell, gourd half, wooden box).
  4. Strings: 3-5 gut strings (or wire, or plant fiber cord) stretched from the crossbar to the base of the sound box.
  5. Tuning: Wrap strings around the crossbar with enough turns to adjust tension. Higher tension = higher pitch.

String Materials

  • Animal gut: The traditional and best option. Clean intestines, twist tightly, dry under tension. Produces warm, resonant tone.
  • Sinew: Animal tendon, dried and twisted. Usable but less resonant than gut.
  • Wire: Any salvaged metal wire. Produces bright tone. Difficult to produce from scratch.
  • Plant fiber: Tightly twisted linen, hemp, or nettle fiber. Usable for low-tension instruments but breaks easily under high tension.
  • Hair: Horse hair or human hair, bundled and twisted. Low volume but functional.

Teaching Music in Your Community

Start with Singing

Every human can sing. Most won’t believe this. It doesn’t matter. Group singing does not require individual talent — it requires willingness.

Start with:

  • Songs people already know — any songs from before the collapse
  • Simple call-and-response: leader sings a line, group repeats
  • Work songs with easy, repetitive choruses

Do not criticize anyone’s singing. The moment someone is told they “can’t sing,” they stop participating forever. The goal is participation, not performance.

Rhythm Training

Clap together. Start with a simple beat: clap-clap-clap-rest, clap-clap-clap-rest. Once everyone is synchronized, add complexity: half the group claps the base rhythm while the other half claps a counterrhythm.

Body percussion: stomping, thigh-slapping, chest-patting, finger-snapping. These require no instruments and produce surprisingly rich rhythmic textures when combined.

Building a Music Culture

  • Designate music time. After the evening meal, during rest days, during celebrations.
  • Celebrate music-makers. The person who builds instruments, who teaches songs, who leads singing — these people are doing essential community work.
  • Create new songs. Don’t just preserve old ones. New songs about your community’s experience — the journey, the losses, the victories — bind people to their shared story.
  • Include children. Give children instruments early. Children who make music develop faster cognitively and socially.

See also: group-morale-motivation, games-recreation-sport, oral-history-preservation, community-rituals-rites