Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment. Early musical instruments may have been used for rituals, such as a horn to signal success on the hunt, or a drum in a religious ceremony. The history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. A person who plays a musical instrument is known as an instrumentalist. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument-it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. This still life painting depicts a variety of French Baroque musical instruments, such as a natural horn, transverse flute, musette, pardessus de viole, and lute.Ī musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. Anne Vallayer-Coster, Attributes of Music, 1770.