Episode 3: Can Musical Instruments Reveal Human Migration?

Can a musical instrument tell us where people have travelled?

In this episode of The Musical Archeologist, Craig Dabelstein explores one of the most intriguing ideas of Belgian musicologist Ernest Closson: that musical instruments are more than tools for making music—they are historical witnesses. Their shapes, materials, playing techniques, and distribution across the world may preserve clues about migration, trade, cultural exchange, and shared human invention.

But how much can an instrument really tell us? This episode examines the promise—and the limits—of using musical instruments as evidence of the past, revealing how a simple pipe, drum, or harp can carry echoes of human movement across continents and centuries.

Source: Ernest Closson, The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document Translated by Craig Dabelstein Published by Maxime's Music

Learn more: Podcast: https://craigdabelstein.com/podcast/ Books: https://books.by/maximes-music Maxime's Music: https://www.maximesmusic.com/

Music composed by Jeffrey A. Young.

Episode 2: Why Do Bagpipes Exist All Over the World?

Most people think of Scotland when they hear the word "bagpipes." But why do remarkably similar instruments appear across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, and beyond?

In this episode of The Musical Archeologist, Craig Dabelstein explores a fascinating idea from Belgian musicologist Ernest Closson. Rather than treating the bagpipe as a uniquely Scottish instrument, Closson asks a deeper question: why have so many cultures invented the same musical solution?

The answer begins with a simple human problem. Wind players need to breathe. By storing air in a bag, musicians created an "artificial lung" that allowed melody and drone to continue uninterrupted. This episode explores how that ingenious idea emerged, why it proved so successful, and what it reveals about human creativity, cultural identity, and the shared challenges that have shaped music around the world.

Source: Ernest Closson, The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document Translated by Craig Dabelstein Published by Maxime's Music

Learn more: Podcast: https://craigdabelstein.com/podcast/ Books: https://books.by/maximes-music Maxime's Music: https://www.maximesmusic.com/

Music composed by Jeffrey A. Young.

Episode 1: What Was the First Musical Instrument?

What was the very first musical instrument?

Was it a flute carved from bone? A drum? A bow-string? Or did music begin with something even simpler?

In the first episode of The Musical Archeologist, Craig Dabelstein explores a fascinating idea from Belgian musicologist Ernest Closson. Rather than searching for a single "first instrument," Closson asks a deeper question: when does an object become a musical instrument?

From stones and seed pods to reeds, bows and the human body itself, this episode follows humanity's earliest attempts to shape sound into music. Along the way, it reveals why the origins of music may have less to do with technology than with imagination, intention, and our uniquely human desire to make meaning through sound.

Source: Ernest Closson, The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document Translated by Craig Dabelstein Published by Maxime's Music

Learn more: Podcast: https://craigdabelstein.com/podcast/ Books: https://books.by/maximes-music Maxime's Music: https://www.maximesmusic.com/

Music composed by Jeffrey A. Young.

Welcome to The Musical Archeologist: Forgotten Ideas from Music's Past. In this trailer, host Craig Dabelstein introduces a podcast devoted to old books, forgotten composers, vanished musical worlds, archive discoveries, and the strange, moving, and sometimes funny stories music history left behind.

Music by Jeffrey A. Young.