Thread: Do you consider the laptop to be a musical instrument?

Originally Posted by BurningDesire

Why do you persist even after the battle is over?

What are you trying to say BD? In the face off all of the arguments presented are you finally admitting that the computer is not a musical instrument?

Originally Posted by Andante

What are you trying to say BD? In the face off all of the arguments presented are you finally admitting that the computer is not a musical instrument?

..........nope

I realise it was a tough question but it took a long while for you to work out a reply. I am going to play tennis to day with my PC which is a racquet.

Its technically both. To someone that knows how to utilize it as such it is an instrument.

What would happen if you gave a caveman a violin? he would probably try to use it as a tool to hunt wild life. Did you know that the implied purpose of computers has evolved over the past 50 years?

Originally Posted by Igneous01

Its technically both. To someone that knows how to utilize it as such it is an instrument.

And what instrument do you play ?

What would happen if you gave a caveman a violin? he would probably try to use it as a tool to hunt wild life.

I doubt he would be so thick

Did you know that the implied purpose of computers has evolved over the past 50 years?

I shall ignore that it is condescending.

Originally Posted by Andante

And what instrument do you play ? I doubt he would be so thick

I shall ignore that it is condescending.

a) piano, laptop

and I will admit, i was a bit brutal in my wording there. My apologies, i was trying to stress subjectivity on the matter.

Good..... how do you play your laptop?

Originally Posted by Andante

Good..... how do you play your laptop?

by pressing keys and clicking buttons

That's great, I have just tried that on my PC but get nothing at all so how do you manage it?

Originally Posted by Andante

That's great, I have just tried that on my PC but get nothing at all so how do you manage it?

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to understand a simple idea.

Originally Posted by BurningDesire

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to understand a simple idea.

Him???? Pray explain this simple idea

Being the father of Electronic music- I thought I should make comment here - as I once said

"I don't want to write any more for the old Man-power instruments and am handicapped by the lack of adequate electrical instruments for which I now conceive my music." and also said
"I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm."

I think I had a theme here and was frustrated by the lack of electronic instruments to realize his aural visions- so I would have to say Yes to the question....

It depends on the definition of "musical instrument". I don't really understand the point of this question, nor how this topic has 17 pages of arguing.

Originally Posted by MJongo

It depends on the definition of "musical instrument". I don't really understand the point of this question, nor how this topic has 17 pages of arguing.

Maybe I can help you understand the 17 pages ....... for a start the definition.....
"A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture. The purpose of early musical instruments was ritual: a hunter might use a trumpet to signal success on the hunt, or a shaman might use a drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures later developed the processes of composing and performing melodies for entertainment.[citation needed] Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications.

The date and origin of the first device considered a musical instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some scholars refer to as a musical instrument, a simple flute, dates back as far as 67,000 years. Consensus begins to form about early flutes dating to about 37,000 years old. However, most historians believe that determining a specific time of musical instrument invention is impossible due to the subjectivity of the definition and the relative instability of materials that were used in their construction. Many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable materials.

Regardless of how the sound in an instrument is produced, many musical instruments have a keyboard (like computers) as the user-interface. Keyboard instruments are any instruments that are played with a musical keyboard. Every key generates one or more sounds; most keyboard instruments have extra means (pedals for a piano, stops for an organ) to manipulate these sounds. They may produce sound by wind being fanned (organ) or pumped (accordion),or by electronic means (synthesizer- computer),or in some other way, ie PC.
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Whether you think the laptop is an instrument or not, it has certainly helped cause a musical revolution. Its capabilities have brought the concept of an electronic studio into the hands of the everyday user, and this has lead to people creating full albums and creating entire genres around this.

Would you consider a wooden block a musical instrument? What about various percussion instruments that didn't originate in musical places? You also have to understand that laptops (more electronic music in general) are helping us create sounds and beats and timbres that simply aren't physically possible in our world. Saying it isn't an instrument is speaking from a strictly acoustic perspective...and, whether you like it or not, doubting the fact that it creates music from many different standpoints isn't an opinion, it's literally not factual. Isn't that the criteria for an "instrument" after all?