The Tolkien Coming of Age Club 2

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Y'know, that's one of the things I always found odd about the mention of organs in the Ainulindale. It's the only keyboard instrument I can recall being mentioned anywhere in Tolkien's work, and it seems quite strangely anachronistic. Myself, I began with organ and piano, then voice, guitar, harp, flute... oh, a lot of instruments. It was encouraged for anyone going into conducting or composition. Most I have only dabbled with, the understand how they are played and how they make their individual sounds, but I've managed proficiency with a fair number. A while back, someone asked me why I never used saxophone in my Tolkien-inspired orchestral works, and I couldn't quite get them to understand that I found it much too "modern" sounding to fit what I heard in my head. Wasn't even invented until the mid-1800s, if I recall correctly, so no matter what, I just couldn't hear a sax being played in, say, Rivendell, or Gondolin, or Valinor. Maybe someone might be wailing on a sax in Mordor...