Instrument/Music Code

[benegesseritwitch]

Unless instruments can be used as weapons! Hehe?

*crickets*

[boog]

I thought I posted here.

No. Just, no. No thank you.

[valeria]

Unless instruments can be used as weapons! Hehe?

*crickets*

We were having pretty much this exact conversation at my Pathfinder group this week.  Spear flute!!

But really, I'm with boog.  I wouldn't want people playing instruments to turn flavorless and boring (like combat is to me, to borrow an analogy).

[musashi]

Unless instruments can be used as weapons! Hehe?

*crickets*

We were having pretty much this exact conversation at my Pathfinder group this week.  Spear flute!!

But really, I'm with boog.  I wouldn't want people playing instruments to turn flavorless and boring (like combat is to me, to borrow an analogy).

Heh, we need a music-emote command.

You can only use it while holding an instrument, and when you do the instrument checks your relevent instrument skill ... and then treats your emote like language code. So someday ... after years and years of practice ...

Code Select Expand

the tall, muscular man plays f jfyrei chsii meodpy os jdw ldte.

Can finally turn into

Code Select Expand

the tall, muscular man plays a pretty chill melody on his lute.

[Lizzie]

I find music emoting awkward and basically impossible in the first place. I think it'd be even weirder with a code behind it.

Try this exercise:
Watch a youtube video of someone performing a song. Like, a live performance video, where you can watch the musician playing his/her instrument.

Now - open a text editor and describe what you saw. In detail.

Describe his fingers on the fretboard - which fingers went where on which hand, the expression on his face with each shift of chord - which chord it was - major or minor? Was it a full step or a half-step up or down from the previous? Was it a full-on super-bass-led chord, an anticipitory diminished 7th, or a schmaltsy augmented 5th?

See what I mean? It's impossible to *describe* in text, instrumental performances. You can put a whole lot of adjectives into an editorial and describe the overall sound, and describe the audience's reaction, and describe the musician's intensity. But you can't describe the notes, or the actual physical movements of the musician's play on his instrument. I mean, you CAN - but it'd be a pretty dumb thing to try in game, because most people will get glossy-eyed before you finish describing the first stanza. The only people who are likely to stick around to watch, would be people well versed in the circle of fifths, musical notation, can read C, F, and G clef fluently, and know which fingers go on which strings, and what those strings are called. If there are 10 people playing Armageddon who know all these things, I'd be surprised.

(I know of me, Nyr, and Musashi who would likely fall into the category of "people who would actually understand the significance of the circle of fifths" - I don't know if there are 7 other people in the game who would understand that. Music is an unusual language).

[musashi]

I know at least 2 more. Reiloth and MarshallDFX.

[Beethoven]

Add Beethoven to the list.

[RogueGunslinger]

Mmmmm. I don't think it's as hard as Lizzie suggests. It's possible to describe music well in the game without resorting to complicated terminology. It's just really hard.

[Marauder Moe]

It's not too hard to emote music.  Using actual music terms (barring those that are commonly known) isn't necessary.

All you have to do it construct a few metaphors and, dare I say, be a little more subjective than you might normally emote.

[Lizzie]

It's not too hard to emote music.  Using actual music terms (barring those that are commonly known) isn't necessary.

All you have to do it construct a few metaphors and, dare I say, be a little more subjective than you might normally emote.

So, how do you express, using only text, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVadl4ocX0M ?

Assume it's two musicians, each playing a renaissance lute, which exists in the game, according to the instrument's mdesc (it's not *named* a renaissance lute, but the description matches one).

And just so you don't cop out and say it's a complex piece of music - it's just a fugue. I had to play those when I was taking piano lessons, at age 10. They're very simplistic melodies, even though the resulting sound is complex and rich.

[RogueGunslinger]

It's not too hard to emote music.  Using actual music terms (barring those that are commonly known) isn't necessary.

All you have to do it construct a few metaphors and, dare I say, be a little more subjective than you might normally emote.

So, how do you express, using only text, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVadl4ocX0M ?

Assume it's two musicians, each playing a renaissance lute, which exists in the game, according to the instrument's mdesc (it's not *named* a renaissance lute, but the description matches one).

And just so you don't cop out and say it's a complex piece of music - it's just a fugue. I had to play those when I was taking piano lessons, at age 10. They're very simplistic melodies, even though the resulting sound is complex and rich.

I suppose my point is you describe the intention of the song, the mood it elicits, it's tempo, its tone, pitch, its feeling, and a lot more. But describing the actual sounds such that someone would understand what sort piece you're trying to mimic? Why? That does seems awkward, but I've never seen anyone try to pull it off in game.

[Nyr]

It's not too hard to emote music.  Using actual music terms (barring those that are commonly known) isn't necessary.

All you have to do it construct a few metaphors and, dare I say, be a little more subjective than you might normally emote.

So, how do you express, using only text, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVadl4ocX0M ?

Assume it's two musicians, each playing a renaissance lute, which exists in the game, according to the instrument's mdesc (it's not *named* a renaissance lute, but the description matches one).

And just so you don't cop out and say it's a complex piece of music - it's just a fugue. I had to play those when I was taking piano lessons, at age 10. They're very simplistic melodies, even though the resulting sound is complex and rich.

That's probably the biggest strawman I've seen outside of a cornfield.  "How do you express this thing that has no analog in the world that we play in?"  The players that may desire to see a player use only text to express something "musical" with no lyrical content can probably be counted on one hand, starting and ending with the middle finger.  If I want to watch someone solo RP, I'll turn on monitor and echo something unusual in the room with them; this usually causes even the most jaded veteran to perk right up and start emoting at the least fun tasks.  When we create a bardic circle devoted solely to duets of instrumental renaissance lute wanking bereft of any lyrical content, then we can figure out what is needed here.  There's something to be said for events requiring the background music of a bard (and no singing), but the key point there is background music.  You're not reproducing melodies via text.  You're an extra emote between someone else's conversation that is way more important than what you're doing.

You're right, I do get the musical allusions and can speak to circle of fifths stuff.  However, I am able to put that aside and recognize that the general idea of music in the game is to back up storytelling and the lyrical content that players have put together.  In Tuluk, that means a song or a story with both overt and second meanings.  In either city-state, it might mean a fairly amusing song that you can laugh at in-game and also in real life.  In a tribe, you might have someone knocking on some drums as background music for a celebration where people are dancing to the music instead. 

This isn't to say that the emotes around a bard's musical endeavors are unnecessary.  They are important.  They just aren't so important that you have to adequately reproduce real-life music theory in every painstaking emote that you craft.  Use some resources to learn about music, read up on music on the website here, and make a good effort if that is what you want to do with your PC.  However, don't worry so much about making your music emotes annoyingly perfect, and don't agonize over the fact that you can't think of the best way to explain the trill you did on your flute.  In fact, if you are having trouble coming up with an emoted analog for what you're doing on the instrument your PC is playing...and you really find it impossible...don't do it.  "It" might be that emote, that part of the song, that song, or playing a musical character in the first place.

[Marauder Moe]

It's not too hard to emote music.  Using actual music terms (barring those that are commonly known) isn't necessary.

All you have to do it construct a few metaphors and, dare I say, be a little more subjective than you might normally emote.

So, how do you express, using only text, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVadl4ocX0M ?

Assume it's two musicians, each playing a renaissance lute, which exists in the game, according to the instrument's mdesc (it's not *named* a renaissance lute, but the description matches one).

And just so you don't cop out and say it's a complex piece of music - it's just a fugue. I had to play those when I was taking piano lessons, at age 10. They're very simplistic melodies, even though the resulting sound is complex and rich.

Let's take a quick stab at it...

Code Select Expand

The tall muscular man starts to pluck a stately, but faintly somber, melody from his lute.

The tall muscular man's brow knits in concentration as the notes rise and fall gracefully and with greater frequency.

The lithe, blue-eyed woman starts to play her lute as well, echoing the song's stately beginning.

For a brief time, the tall muscular man switches roles with the lithe, blue-eyed woman, playing the counterpoint while her swift fingers take the lead.

The thick swarthy dwarf takes up his bass lute, his rich notes adding a layer of grandeur to the piece.

The tell muscular man leans back as he trills some of the higher notes from his instrument, then starts to pinch both melody and counterpoint from the strings.

Clear notes rise and fall elegantly from the lithe, blue-eyed woman's lute.

After a pause, the thick swarthy dwarf's bass sounds out again, underscoring the intertwining melodies of the tall muscular man and the lithe, blue-eyed woman.

The tall muscular man's instrument hums with sound, the music dancing around the lithe, blue-eyed woman's own performance.

The thick, swarthy dwarf's majestic notes join in the dance, all three musicians taking turn as lead melody.

The lithe, blue-eyed woman sways as her fingers flit across the strings.  Her music rises and falls, dashes as the lead and retreats into harmony.

After another rest, the thick, swarthy dwarf joins back in for the finale.

The tall muscular man's lute rings with sound, the notes dancing precisely.  All three players unify for the stately theme of the song ending on a majestic chord.

Though as a bard I'd try and prepare my best performances ahead of time, being a bit more poetic and descriptive.

[Nyr]

Great depiction, MM.

[hyzhenhok]

Yeah, it's totally possible. At my university, in the Arts 101 class that every freshman is required to take, one of the major assignments was to attend any of the concerts held on campus and to write a description/analysis. This is a university primarily known for its computer science/engineering programs. If those guys could pass an assignment where they had to write a paper describing a piece of music, emoting a music performance is definitely within reach of probably every Armageddon player.