The relationship betwen Music/Singing and Magic

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by skip spence

Music or singing seems to be closely associated with what one might call magic in Middle Earth...

And what is the deal with music and magic?

Music and magic have been closely associated throughout history. Music as a source to draw closer to a deity is a very biblical point of view, which Tolkien obviously drew from. The O.T. abounds in song/prayer -- the Psalms of David, for instance, and Solomon's Song of Songs. From a more Pagan point of view, incantations are often rhymed and hummed or sung (Santería, aboriginal tribes, New Age Wiccan dimestore variety witches, etc.). There is a cadence to Buddhist chants, as well as Islamic prayers. Music abounds in Religions, most of whom eschew the term 'magic', yet who practice the same liturgical spells in their rituals as did the first Shamans of the Cro-magnon.

Tolkien merely harnessed this age-old process as a fundamental tenet of Middle-earth's creation and its ongoing creativity. In fact, Tolkien reaches the point of lunacy when folks start singing or reciting poems at the drop of a hat, sometimes at the most inopportune times throughout the story.