There are many opinions as to what instrument has the right to be considered the history’s first musical instrument. Many consider it to be termnevox, while others claim that the first in the class of electronic instruments was the electric harpsichord built by Jean-Baptiste de Laborde in Paris in 1761. In reality, it is quite difficult to say whose invention was the first electronic instrument because any instrument that in one way or another uses the physical processes with the participation of an orderly movement of electrons (i.e., electric current) can be considered electronic. In this case it is essential to examine in more detail the process of excitation and conversion of oscillations inside a musical instrument, as well as clearly define the notions used. For example, in the aforementioned electric harpsichord static electricity only played the role of a trigger, while sound oscillations resulted from the mechanical impact on the bell. Speaking of the evolution of electromechanic and electronic musical instruments, from the viewpoint of truly electronic generation of oscillations, the first electronic musical instrument was the Singing Arc.
In the late 19th century, Europeans widely used the method of lighting the streets with an electric arc lighted between coal electrodes. The shortcomings of this method included a characteristic noise produced by the discharge. The British physicist William Du Bois Duddell (1869 – 1942), who worked on reducing the noise of street lights, discovered the possibility to modify the tone of the sound. He discovered that by varying the parameters of the power supply circuit of the arc lamp he could control the noise timbre and volume. To light the arc (A), Duddell used a shunt circuit powered from a direct current source (G), by means of which alternating current was generated. Depending on relative values of capacitance (C) and inductance (L), the sound timbre changed, while its volume was influenced by the value of active resistance (R). In the resulting instrument, the tone of the sound directly depended on the frequency of electromagnetic oscillations in the L-C contour, i.e., the nature of oscillations was truly electronic in nature. For convenience, the inventor used a piano keyboard, which warrants his innovation that title of the “world’s first keyboard-operated electronic musical instrument”.