Musical Instruments in Middle Earth

[Rocmistro]

Anyone have any thoughts or evidence on what the closest musical intrument resembling a piano might be in Middle Earth?

Harpsichord, Clavichord, Pipe Organ, etc?

I'm thinking for Numenorean culture/nobility. Feasible? Anachronistic? Game breaking?

[mirkwoodfalcon]

In the Silmarillion, in the Ainulindale, it is said: "Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashion the theme of Iluvatar to a great music;..."

If the stories/mythos of the Silmarillion are interpreted as being passed down from generation to generation of elves/men to their children, then they must at least have some idea of what an organ is; if, on the other hand, the Silmarillion is only for us as readers and the stories/mythos present are for our sake only and unknown to the denizens of Middle Earth, then the question is still up in the air.

Hope this helps.

[zedturtle]

I think a forced air organ is a perfectly suitable instrument; probably invented and built by the Noldor but adopted by the Númenóreans. It seems like a very Ulmoesque instrument; I might associate them with the Ulumúri.

[Arthadan]

From pianonet.com:

Mankind’s knowledge that a taut, vibrating string can produce sound goes back to prehistoric times. In the ancient world, strings were attached and stretched over bows, gourds, and boxes to amplify the sound; they were fastened by ties, pegs and pins; and they were plucked, bowed or struck to produce sounds.

Eventually, a family of stringed instruments with a keyboard evolved in Europe in the 14th century. The earliest of these was a dulcimer, a closed, shallow box over which stretched wires were struck with two wooden hammers.

I guess the dulcimer is the closest thing to a piano you may expect to find in Middle-earth.

[Glorelendil]

I think a forced air organ is a perfectly suitable instrument; probably invented and built by the Noldor but adopted by the Númenóreans. It seems like a very Ulmoesque instrument; I might associate them with the Ulumúri.

I agree with the organ. Feels very Numenorean to me. Not necessarily in origin, but something they would like and adopt.

[Throrsgold]

Although this post does not answer the posed question, it (somewhat) fits the subject line.

When referencing the question of choice of musical instruments for player-heroes in my campaign, I use the following site to provide examples for my players:

http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html

It contains pictures and sound files.

Hope this is of use.

[shipwreck]

Moar reads!
http://www.cep.unt.edu/~hargrove/music.html

[Rocmistro]

Thank you for your responses, guys. I'm still looking into this and thinking about it.

[Cripple X]

I'm beginning a play-by-post campaign where I'm playing a particularly musical Hobbit and I'm wondering exactly what sorts of musical instruments one might expect to find in the Shire. Tolkien makes a point of listing the dwarves' instruments in The Hobbit, but I cannot seem to find an account of the sorts of thing Hobbits might play.

[zedturtle]

I'd expect that they'd be very similar to the dwarves (as that's their most likely trade partner for this kind of stuff) with the possibility for slightly more anachronistic stuff. Got a category of instrument in mind?