Do you mean “bongo” out “gong” ?
Lots of non traditional instruments get called for in concerts. I played a song that called for drumming on upturned metal trash cans in high school.
I was in band, and marching band was mandatory.
I did not try out, as I did not want to participate in that part of the band experience.
So I was part of the “front ensemble” which is shit you can’t march with. Timpani drums, etc.
We had an L frame rack with wheels that had all sorts of crap on it, half of it made in some garage before I joined.
We called it the ghetto rack.
I had a solo on what were essentially tanks that had the bottom cut off and an attachment point welded on top hung by rope.
So yeah, if you can hit it and make a sound, it becomes a percussion instrument.
I’m something of a bong soloist myself.
Yes. It is a percussive instrument similar to cymbals.
Yes. It is an instrument used in the consumption of drugs.
Or do you mean musical instrument? TL;DR: It can be.
It comes down to how wide you want the definition of “musical instrument” to be. Is a drumstick a musical instrument? Is it what makes a drum designed to be played with sticks an instrument? What is such a drum without at least one stick?
“Well I could hit the drum with something else.” Sure, but does that make the “something else” the instrument?
What is a woodwind (musical) instrument without the player’s breath? A saxophone without a reed?
“I could smack it on something.”
Well, yes, that’s the crux of it.
In the loosest sense, anything that can be used to make a noise is a musical instrument. Take the popular joke of mayonnaise: if you put a straw in it and blow, I’m willing to bet some sort of noise can be had.
This then brings in the other argument: what counts as musical?
