Create Musical Instrument SkillI am writing this in conjunction with my play musical instrument skill writeup, simply because they work well with each other.
Introduction Here I will put a brief spiel about musical instrument making.
Prerequisites and Related SkillsAlthough none of these skills are considered essential, it is helpful for a well-rounded musical practise to be able to understand, or use the following skills.
Music composition: This skill is helpful for performance, especially when trying to improvise a piece. *(Often, music composers will need to have competent or higher in at least two different kinds of musical instrument, as it is vital in composing to be able to understand the instrument you are composing for.)
Endurance: It may not look like it, but playing an instrument is hard work. Wind players especially have to develop a strong diaphragm, and in certain types of performance, the instrumentalist will need to be able to play for bells. Individuals with higher endurance will be able to play for longer, and maintain quality of sound.
Singing: This is not a necessary skill, but an instrumentalist who can sing will find it easier to pick up a tune and recognise note values.
Gadgeteering: Useful for creating higher end wind instruments, especially creating the valves and levers used in trumpets and other similar wind instruments.
Carpentry/Carving: Those making wooden instruments will rely upon this skill.
Instrument Classes[
Price List found here, with the majority of instruments listed].
These include: fiddle, pyfiddle, gamba, mandolin, lute, harp, and gea'tar, alongside regional and specific instruments that can be found in the relevant city lore page/codex.
The definition of a stringed instrument is any instrument which uses strings to produce a sound, whether that be bowed (pulling a hair bow across the strings to create a long, continuous sound), plucked (using fingers or a plectrum to create a quick, sharp sound or a short, soft sound) or strummed (dragging the fingers or plectrum across the strings to create chords - more on chords later!). Stringed instruments are usually made of a hollow wooden body, with gut or occasionally metal strings suspended over a hole in the instrument. This hole acts as a natural amplifier.
These include: bagpipes, trumpet, flute, ocarina, alongside regional and specific instruments that can be found in the relevant city lore page/codex. Instruments are usually simple, and most often wooden or metal.
Wind players create sound by blowing through some sort of tube, with finger holes or valves to create different note pitches. Wind instrumentalists create sound by blowing through a one/two reeds or by blowing through a mouthpiece usually made of metal but can be other materials, shaped like a smaller tube or cone.
These include: Buckle drums, kettle drums, clappers, war drums, and rhythm rattles, alongside regional and specific instruments that can be found in the relevant city lore page/codex.
Percussion instruments are instruments that provide rhythm, and are vital in many types of musical performance as a way of regulating the beat. As such, they are often instruments to be hit with sticks or hands. Other methods include rattles which are often shaken vigorously or gently, depending on the desired effect.
Percussion instruments come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, from the very small to the very large. Drums are usually some kind of roughly cylindrical shape designed to amplify sound, with an animal skin stretched over one end, whereas rattles and clappers are usually small and hand-held.
Most percussion instruments are made of wood, being the most common material. However, kettle drums are the exception and are made of metal.
Miscellaneous Instruments
These include any instruments which don't comfortably fit into the above three categories, such as: the bellows organ, alongside regional and specific instruments that can be found in the relevant city lore page/codex.
Instruments that don't fit in the categories are few and far between in Mizahar. However, sometimes a newly invented instrument will surface, bearing no relation to the other instruments in its family. For this reason, it is difficult to list what a 'miscellaneous instrument' is. Instead, I will describe what a bellows organ is. This instrument is a keyboard instrument, in that it plays notes assigned to different keys similar to a piano-forte. However, it could almost fit into the wind instrument category, due to its sound being produced by air blown through different pitched pipes with the use of a bellow, or bellows.
Creation and Construction of Instruments- Materials required:
>Wood, usually relatively bendy but durable.
>Animal gut.
>Horse hair, or any other long, coarse hair.
>Glue.
The majority of string instruments are created with three main ingredients: wood, hair and gut/metal. Primarily the body of the instrument is constructed in separate parts from wood, and assembled with glue. Carpentry is essential for making string instruments. Different instruments also include a wooden soundpost, a post (or dowel) that spans the distance between the top of the instrument and the bottom of the instrument that changes the sound quality (otherwise known as 'tone') dramatically. String instrumentalists might have to reset this if it falls out of place inside their instrument.
For stringed instruments creating sound by drawing a bow over the string, like fiddles and gambas, the bow is a very important tool often overlooked. Bows are long pieces of wood with long stretches of hair spanning from one end to the other. There is a tightening mechanism that allows the hair to be tightened or relaxed for performance. The hair is usually horse hair, but could indeed be human hair, if long enough. Different hairs will produce different sounds, as smoother hairs will produce less sound than a rougher hair.
The strings are made usually out of the guts of sheep or goats, but sometimes cattle or other similar animals. The gut has to be cleaned and spun into string, often using multiple guts for different sized strings. However, other types of strings can be made from other materials. Silk strings are sometimes used for a soft sound, and metal woven strings have a loud and bright sound. Both of these are rarities, especially metal strings due to the difficulty in manufacturing.
- Materials required:
>Wood.
>Metal.
>Levers.
>Glue.
There is one main principle behind the construction of wind instruments, and that is the idea of turning ones own lungs into musical instruments. Often thought to derive as aides for singing, wind instruments come in a variety of shapes and sizes. These can be split into two categories: reed instruments and mouthpiece instruments. Most wind instruments are variations on a tube, such as the short, straight tube of a flute, and the elongated, twisted tube of a trumpet. The material of these tubes differ. Myrians well know that bone flutes are particularly easy to make, and produce are decent sound. Whereas another might swear by a wooden flute. Simultaneously, flutes can also be made out of metal. This means there is a much greater diversity of materials than with stringed instruments.
Reed instruments create sound by blowing through a reed. This can either be one or two reeds, and is the same principle as blowing through blades of grass pressed between your fingers. The vibrations cause a particular kind of sound, which can then be amplified by sections of tubing- what you'd call the instrument. Most reed instruments have a particular kind of sound, sometimes quite nasal. The pitch of the sound is altered by placing one's fingers on the finger holes of the instrument.
Mouthpiece instruments work by blowing sound through a mouthpiece. [Description of how a mouthpiece works to follow]
When your feet dance across sandy beaches, or a band marches through the streets, you will invariably hear the pulsing beat of a percussion instrument. Oftentimes considered the most basic musical instrument, for those that pour all their energies into it, percussion is a lively and exciting branch of the musical instrument family. There is a diverse range of percussion instruments throughout Mizahar, from kettle drums to rattles to clappers. Percussion is a vital part of bringing music to life. Without it, many musicians would fail to play in time, and would not be able to play well as an ensemble.
Drums are one of the most common forms of percussion instrument. They can be as simple as a hollowed-out log being struck by a branch. Most drums are roughly bowl-shaped, with stretched hide across the top. This bowl shape acts as the amplifier, so the bigger the bowl, the louder the drum. They can be made of many different materials,but the usual ones are metal or wood. Wooden drums are lighter and more portable, but metal drums last longer.
Other forms of percussion are things like rattles, clappers and maracas. Although these can be used for keeping the rhythm, they are more often used for effect, providing texture and flavour to a piece of music. Theatres often employ percussionists to provide musical sound effects. Instruments such as rain sticks (long, hollowed out poles filled with dry beans or rice) can be used to provide an atmospheric rain noise, for example.
Other percussion instruments include glockenspiels, xylophones and triangles. These are more tuneful than their compatriots, and unlike their fellows can be used to play a tune.
Miscellaneous Instruments
These are the odd, the obscure, the weird and unreal instruments that don't fit in any other category. There are usually not many of them around, and what little exist are usually unique. One
Latest update as of October 19th- removed racial preferences and adaptations as it was too clunky and imo not necessary.
Info here
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IntroductionPrerequisites and related skills- Instrument classes (A brief description)
a. Stringed instruments
b. Wind instruments
c. Percussion instruments
d. Miscellaneous instruments (including keyboard and others)
- Materials and where to find them (e.g. Materials used, where to find materials, tools required)
a. Stringed instruments
b. Wind instruments
c. Percussion instruments
d. Miscellaneous instruments
- Tools and their uses (Techniques in general, especially focussing on specific musical instrument creation tools and uses)
a. Stringed instruments
b. Wind instruments
c. Percussion instruments
d. Miscellaneous instruments
- Luthiers, Wind Instrument Makers, and Percussionist Makers (Skill breakdowns)
a. Stringed instruments
b. Wind instruments
c. Percussion instruments
d. Miscellaneous instruments
- Magic, Gods, and Gnosis (Detailing how magic can be used, as well as godly instruments and a section on Rhaus
a. Use of magic in musical instrument creation
b. Godly influences and artifact list (for instance, gnosis-blessed instruments)
c. Religion and associated connections with Rhaus, other gods.
- Notable instrument creators, including PCs.
