Musical instruments in Middle-earth

[Aiwendil]

True, but horns of this sort probably don't count as musical instruments.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

True, but horns of this sort probably don't count as musical instruments.

I agree, but I certainly will mention them in my paper - I'll take any references I can get, as there are so few!

As to the laws of acoustics, if the instruments are so similar to ours, the acoustics must be similar too.

[Bêthberry]

Horns do seem to have an especially military connection, going back at least to the Battle of Jericho (OT, Joshua) where the ritualistic blowing of rams' horns by priests led to the fall of the walls of Jericho, leading to the slaughter of almost the entire populace in the city.

Now there's an echo with power.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Laws of acoustics: since the echoes keep getting louder and louder, something other than Newtonian physics is at work.

Nor would ol' Isaac have an explanation for why Orcs would find the sound painful and terrifying.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I am now working on this topic, preliminary research so far, and trying to structure the information and my thoughts. The lecture has been accepted and, barring obstacles beyond my control, will be held at the Tolkien Seminar in April. Any additional thoughts and references you'd like to contribute are very much welcome!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I guess I'm the main contributor to my own thread here! My research is turning up interesting tidbits of information that I'll share with you as I find them. As always, your comments and additions are very welcome.

The first fact comes from The History of The Hobbit; in Tolkien's early version of that passage, the Dwarves' instruments were originally somewhat magical in nature. The fiddles and flutes were brought out normally, but

...Bombur produced a drum from nowhere; Bifur and Bofur went into the hall and came back with [their] walking-sticks and turned them into clarinets...

Rateliff also mentions that later in life, when thinking about revising The Hobbit to harmonize with LotR, JRRT noted to himself,

What happened to the musical instruments used by the Dwarves at Bag-end?
Why did they bring them to B-End?

and goes on to say, "Even thirty years later, he was unable to come up with a satisfactory answer."

Actually, I have come up with the answer to the "what happened" - when the ponies were taken by the goblins, it is said:

And that was the last time that they used the ponies, packages, baggages, tools and paraphernalia that they had brought with them.

If nothing else, the instruments would surely be classified under "paraphernalia". Since I have not been able to find any references to the use of musical instruments by goblins/orcs (aside from percussive whip effects - see the animated movie's "Where There's a Whip, There's a Way"! - and similar use of weapons) I assume that the instruments were destroyed, perhaps taken apart for any materials of value that they might have contained.

More to come in the next days - I'm now working my way through pertinent references in Sil, UT, and HoME as well as LotR.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Esty,

I am enjoying your comments and insights immensely. I can't add anything helpful, but please keep posting as you progress!