I am writing a piece about easy-access musical instruments and would welcome your input. Over the last decade a range of new instruments and innovations on existing instruments have appeared which sound great and can be enjoyed immediately. This is an exciting time as it offers more people simple ways to get in touch with their creativity, especially those who have felt excluded from the musical world.
As founder of Music Another Way and co-developer of the M1 Shruti Box I am looking at what other instruments fall into this category and why. There are a number of questions that I wish to explore e.g., Can the instrument be played pretty much immediately and/or with the minimum amount of tuition?; What are the possibilities for expression: does the instrument have enough scope to maintain our interest and support musical development?; Can it be used as an accompaniment for the voice?; Does it need to be tuned and if so how easy is it to tune?; Does the sound inspire you to make music?.
Here's just a few instruments which I feel can be classified as true easy-access musical instruments. I look forward to hearing which instruments you feel fall into this category.
Tongue Drum
Singing Bowl
Shruti Box
Frame Drums
Sansula
Kalimba
African Balafon
Gong
