Musical instruments in Middle-earth

[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.