User:Peacefulness/Music for the gods

Music for the gods

Overview

Players shall make instruments, practice playing them, and form groups of musicians to please an ancient egyptian god.

Instrument Construction

As the result of performing a ritual at a common altar, a player will be assigned a particular instrument to create, in honor of a specific god. The player will be told their instrument type, and shown a picture of the finished product, but the details of how to make the instrument are left up to the player to discover.

Note: There are many ways to build each one. If a player does not receive a recipe for how to make an instrument, will there be a way for them to determine if theirs is "right"? During practice sessions, will they receive information to assist them?

1: Woodwind instruments

• Ney (long flute), hand carved from a variety of possible plant materials, of a particular length, with finger holes at various positions.
  • While carving their ney, the builder will have opportunities to trim it to a shorter length. If they trim too many times, they will receive a flyaway: This [material] is now too short to be a long flute, but can still be made into a [clarinet].
  • Suggested base materials include bamboo, river reeds. The option to harvest these materials will require a knife of level [#] and the player must have started the test.
• Arghul (clarinet), is two wind instruments placed side-by-side, each with finger holes and single reeds.
  • It may be made from two ney that have been trimmed too many times. If the arghul is shortened too many times, it is possible to convert it to a mizmar
  • The single reed may be made of several different plant-based materials and tied on with yarn or twine
• Mizmar (oboe), constructed from the same base materials as two ney, with the addition of a double reed. It may be made from two ney or an arghul that has been trimmed too many times. When a mizmar is shortened too many times it will be converted to kindling.
  • The double reed may be made from several different plant-based materials and bound with thread or raw silk.
  • possible double reed materials include sweetgrass, river reeds, finlow

2. Drums

• large drum, made from a base of a small barrel, one unit of petroleum (graphic is a barrel), or iron cookpot.
• small drum, made from a base of a brass pot, heavy lead bowl, or silver bowl.
  • drum heads may be constructed from camel leather, sheep leather, rabbit hide, canvas, or wool cloth
  • drum heads may be attached with nails, silver nails, twine, or rope
• mallets or drumsticks: historical artwork has always shown drums being played with the hands. Mallets and drumsticks were not used.

3: Trumpets

• trumpets may be made from metal sheeting. Additional variations to choose from will include metal type, trumpet length, and bell size.

4: A sistrum (rattle/tambourine)

• a sistrum can be made from metal sheeting, metal wires, and jingles of various metals. The handle is carved from wood. The various types of knife handles can be used for this instrument.
  • jingles will be a new item. They could be constructed at a forge or anvil.

5: Stringed instruments (harps, lyres and lutes)

• the body of a stringed instrument may be carved and assembled from wood and/or animal bones (camel or sheep), and glue. Optional new item: glues, made in a kettle. (String instruments are traditionally assembled with glues made from boiled rabbit hides or fish bones.)
• large harp frames can be carved from wood or bone with carving level [#].
  • Tagging a gazelle, perhaps with a large group of players, would rarely yield a horn that could be used in constructing a harp.
• lyres (small harps) can be carved from wood or fashioned from metal.
• lutes (small guitars) are carved from wood and assembled with glue (mandibular, hide, or fish). The glue must be allowed to thoroughly dry before adding strings to the instrument, otherwise the stress will cause it to fall apart and a new batch of glue must be made.
• strings can be made from leather with a very high level of carving, and perhaps tanned or treated with oil to prevent them from becoming brittle
  • Slaughtering animals could occasionally yield a byproduct of gut, which could be crafted into strings if done while the gut is fresh. It would also require a high level of carving and focus. Alternate string materials could include metal wires.
  • Carving could also produce tuning pegs for stringed instruments.
  • the ideal number of strings per instrument may vary by player. Harps and lyres can accomodate up to 12 strings, while lutes hold fewer.

Instrument Decorations

Decorating an instrument is risky, as there are many choices. An instrument that is overly decorated will score lower than one which is decorated with good taste.

1: Woodwind Instruments (ney, arghul, and mizmar) may be decorated with inlaid gems or cuttable gems. Adding these decorations requires glue and a high level of carving.

2. Drums may be decorated with paints of any color. Once a drum has been painted more than [#] times, practicing it will yield an error message about the tone becoming dull because of too many layers of paint. The drum will still be playable, but will yield a slightly lower score for that player

3. Trumpets can be decorated with feathers (from chickens or ibis) and silk ribbons of any color.

4. A Sistrum can be decorated with strings of beads. Individual beads can be made with a bead grinder from pearls, bones, and mined or cuttable gems, and then strung on thread or raw silk.

5. Stringed instruments (harps, lyres, and lutes) can be decorated with inlaid metal wires and pearls. Adding these decorations requires glue and a high level of carving.

When it comes to decorating instruments, less is more!

For each combination of player, god, and instrument, there is an ideal combination of decorations. A player will have a wide variety of decorations to choose from, and they take a risk in doing so. A poorly decorated instrument can lower a player's score, while a well-decorated one will increase the value of the performance, when played by that individual. When an instrument is decorated well for that combination of player and god, practicing will give a flyaway message about the god being pleased by the beauty of the performance. An instrument that is not decorated well may give a response referring to the instrument being too flashy, or the tone being dulled by excessive layers of paint, etc.

Idea: Should each player be required to fully craft and decorate their own musical instruments? Since there are a high number of combinations of god, decorations, and playernames, is it reasonable to allow players to trade instruments in their search for the right one for them? Perhaps making one's own instrument will increase the score.

The concept is for the "ideal" for each player to remain hidden. Will it be possible for a player to determine how well-suited the instrument is to them?

Practice Sessions

In order to proficiently play an instrument, you must practice! Practice can be done anywhere, but musical skill will be gained faster under certain conditions. Preferred practice settings may include: away from other players, neutral or positive stats, no active cooldown timers (all stat descriptiors black, not brown or red), away from distractions such as operating forges, distaffs, glazier's benches. Away from structures built by the player or their guilds.

A plain instrument can yield a high score for a player that practices regularly (daily, or during each log-in). An ornate instrument, even one perfectly matched to the player, will not score as high if it is never practiced. Through practice, the player's contributed score will be gradually increased. If a musician does not play their instrument for an extended period of time, their musical skills can degrade.

Idea: Music lessons as a purchaseable skill at the school of art and music. Level should increase with practice, like sheet glass and fly fishing.

Idea: An ideal practice setting could be at a common altar, or perhaps an altar dedicated to a specific god, such as is found for Humble Priests.

Performance and Scoring

Note: This section needs some adjustments: Info from Pluribus - Just looking over the test proposals... Music of the Gods is a non-starter... it basically is Orchestra over again (with the same issues) Sorry Peacefulness, If I could get the music synchronized properly, I could do Orchestra...

Once a musician has built their instrument, added optional decorations, and increased their skill in playing it, they are ready to create a group with other players. A player may be assigned the god of Bes, Hathor, Ptah, or Sekhmet. A group may be formed with players devoted to any god, but joining a group with musicians devoted to the same gods will result in a higher score.

Factors in calculating an individual's score

• Instrument type played (no credit given for playing the wrong kind)
• Who made/assembled the instrument, how closely do the materials used match the hidden "ideal" for the player
• Who decorated the instrument and how closely do the decorations match the hidden "ideal" for that player
• Quantity and quality of decorations
• Practice: How much time has the player spent practicing? How long ago was their last practice session? Did they choose a high-quality location for their practice, or were they surrounded by distractions?

Performance: How many musicians are in the group? How many are devoted to the same god as the player?

*Things to decide: Where should the group of musicians assemble? Should there be locations similar to Humble Priest altars, or can a common altar be used? [Will there be a mini-game of some sort to create a piece of music, like there is for Windsong towers? (game limitations may prevent this idea from being implemented)]

*How will the test pass be determined? Achieving the highest score when passes are run? Should a player be required to go through this process more than one time? Once for each god? Achieve proficiency in playing a certain number of instruments? The complexity of the test lends itself to a score-based passing system. Will a high-scoring musician playing one instrument at a professional level achieve a similar score to a musician who has trained to play several instruments but at a lower level?

"In 1939 the BBC recorded the sound of two trumpets discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb." Samples can be heard in this more modern radio recording: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010dp0s Its an interesting program, but 30 minutes long. The trumpets from can be heard at 1:10, 1:26, 5:58, 12:24, 13:23, and 28:44. The recording also presents the sounds of "the Silver Lyre of Ur, discovered by Leonard Woolley in modern-day Iraq" That reconstructed instrument can be heard in the same recording at 15:36, 19:25, and 19:42

An additional reference: https://www.slideshare.net/Camikans/musical-instruments-of-ancient-egypt