This is a dialogue between Nicole Scherzinger & Simon Cowell on the XfactorUSA  2011 recently.

Nicole Scherzinger:             You have an amazing instrument?

Simon Cowell:                        To me an instrument is a guitar or piano.

Nicole Scherzinger:             Her voice is an instrument.

Simon Cowell:                        I disagree.

Nicole:                                      You disagree because….

Simon Cowell:                        You don’t go into an instrument shop and say, ‘Can I buy a voice?’

Nicole:                                      This shows how much you know….

Simon Cowell:                        Is there an instrument shop that sells voices? I’ll have 3 medium voices, 2 large ones and a little one as a takeaway please.

Simon, as we all know, is British. The English language is his native language. So you don’t stand a chance of winning an argument on English grammar. And Nicole is American.

I looked it up myself. Here’s my search results  on the web.

As far as results wikipedia and yahoo answers are concerned, the voice is regarded as an instrument.

How does this instrument transmit the sounds which reach it, sending them along the tiny nerve fibrils to that point in the brain where the special centers are located for their reception?

Maria Montessori, The ABSORBENT MIND, page 118

The ear, regarded as a human body organ, is also being referred to as an instrument. If there was any dispute about this, MMI (Mondern Montessori International London) wouldn’t have allowed Montessori educators to use it as such.

Definition: Instrument

Definition: Voice

Then again, it is queer if Nicole had used the word ‘organ’ instead. “You have an amazing organ.”

What do you think? Would you regard your voice that speaks, ear that hears, nose that smells, eyes that see and hands that touch, as body instruments?