Digital electronics has profoundly changed musical instrument design. From toy keyboards to performance-grade pianos, synthesizers, and drum sets, to name a few, instruments that once would have been ...

“Musical Bodies,” a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, revels in the blurry boundaries between humans and instruments. By Joshua Barone Visuals by Ye Fan Clap your hands. Tap a foot.

“What is music?” my friend asked me. I explained how we, as humans, instinctively react to music by moving our bodies in weird ways, just dancing, and that’s universally understood. I thought that was ...