What constitutes a musical instrument?
Anything which vibrates, including composers and players.

What constitutes a sound as music?
I cannot conceive of sound devoid of musicality.

Why were any given combination of musical instruments chosen for musical expression?
Either on account of limitations [real or imagined] or in defiance of perceived or assumed limitations. Specific lineups: one either follows a convention or moves beyond it. One honors or reflects a change which was possibly inevitable. The wheel is reinvented every morning at dawn. And as lorca told us: the dawn never ends.

Tradition means connection. By now, thanks to technology [back to sheet music, player pianos and the first phonographic recordings] so many traditions have mingled that new forms are appearing at a hitherto unimagined rate. This is a fascinating time in which to be a listener.

John Cage: Everything we do is music.
Arwulf: Musicality is universality there is no separation all music is relative every music is a reflection of its day always there are reverberations from what came before and premonitions of what is yet to come.

thank you for asking questions arwulf arwulf feb 12 1999