A) What kind of music do you think is heard in Eberron, considering the amount of "Magic as a Technology" and the large cultural differences in the world. Would it be the same pseudo-medieval fare that we've come to expect or maybe something a bit more advanced, instrumentally and musically. Perhaps before the War there were large concert halls and city orchestras, perhaps there were young magewrights who modified instraments. What kind of music do you imagine being heard in your Eberron world?
B) What kind of music do you imagine going alongside Eberron? What evokes the best images and scenes, fits the mood of your Eberron and makes you want to play or write in it? Is it a softer, more sombre music in tune with the rebuilding of the world following great tragedy. Perhaps its a faster paced music showing the adventure following the collapse of a great controlling influence, that the powers that be are no longer as powerful. Is it more introspective music, wondering what wonders await the world or, worse yet, what perils are tearing through from the otherside?
Personally, for A) I'm imagining that the newest musics are creative young magewrights who've added a bit of magic and ritual to shows, touring as crew to a bard or group of bards. While they aren't the greatest musicians, they are a great show that the younger generation enjoys. I'm thinking sonic-enhanced instruments, the use of magic during the show to enhance it, using rituals to increase the range of the sound or its clarity. Concert halls could be built to seat millions if necessary, with a ritual making up for poor construction or the lack of it.
As for B) I can't really stick to many songs to Eberron specifically, but there is always one that I can only stick to Eberron and not to any other setting. That would be DJ Tiesto Feat. Matt Hale/Aqualung "UR." The Indiana Jones soundtrack could work well for Xen'Drik.
What kind of music do you think is heard in Eberron, considering the amount of "Magic as a Technology" and the large cultural differences in the world. Would it be the same pseudo-medieval fare that we've come to expect or maybe something a bit more advanced, instrumentally and musically.
It's been mentioned (back in the olden days) that the gnomes of Zilargo have developed an instrument that exploits their natural ability to create ghost sounds. I imagine that "gnomish" music could therefore be truly bizarre, with all sorts of incidental sound effects, odd voices, and notes one could never wring out of, say, a klavier.
I'd also expect to see "advanced" instrumentation and arrangements coming out of Cyre (known for their avant garde art), House Cannith (because they have the technical skill to create wondrous instruments), and Houses Phiarlann and Thuranni (because they have centuries of experience mucking around with illusions and the arts).
The music of Pain. Demon or Daelkyr use the screams of the tortured to create an horrific concerto.
Spirit Music - bound or willing spirits who create unearthly tones on command
I've been using soundtracks for background music - Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, The Mummy (excellent, and less obviously familiar than Raiders), Dracula, all have some great fight and mood-setting tracks.
Now, while I'm sure that there's no such thing as a Stratocaster anywhere in Eberron (that particular magic item having not made the cut from 2nd edition, along with the vending machine
), I'm less concerned with what the characters are hearing as with the players' expectations of what the characters should be hearing, so the presence of electric instruments in the soundscape doesn't bother me. If it does bother anyone, it is theoretically possible to contrive some sort of magic crystal amplifier (after all, lutes are incredibly quiet instruments, and they'd need some boosting for a concert hall setting) that distorts the sound in similar ways.---
Also, I would recommend not looking to the Sharn soundtrack as an example, as it is intended as ambient background noise. It's fine when used as that purpose, but its own intrinsic musical value is somewhat limited. For something that sounds almost exactly the same but actually works as music on its own, try the various Myst soundtracks (particularly III).
Blackmore's Night and Wolfstone.
WAH!
Begone, ye foul minions of cheese! By the power of good music, I abjure thee!
Celt Rock: The Pogues, Flogging Molly, Fiddler's Green, The Dubliners
Some more to my list:
Mediaeval Baebes
The Changelings
Värttinä
David Bowie (edited highlights only)
Circulus
.hack//SIGN soundtrack
Bits of the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children soundtrack
Well, I've given them all a try, but with the exception of Ulver and the Gathering, I don't think they've quite got what I'd be looking for as an example of music for a modern fantasy world - too identifiable as belonging to a specific, real culture (and in the case of some of them, so hard-rock that the medieval/renaissance elements are too obscured). I want singers with melodic voices that complement the instrumentals, and instrumentals that don't fall into familiar patterns (particularly when it comes to the percussion).
Hey, you mentioned medieval rock music. I only provided.
You could take a shot at Haggard and Empyrium. Also, I know quite a few bands that play medieval music (without the rock moniker): Corvus Corax, Saltatio Mortis, Wolfenmond, Poeta Magica.
Some more to my list:
Mediaeval Baebes
The Changelings
Värttinä
David Bowie (edited highlights only)
Circulus
You sure do like your music cheesy, do you? But the Bowie songs sound interesting. You got a few?
Scaring Party (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1qNXuQDG8) and O'Death (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQIZ6Bs2Xgg), especially.
But I kinda latched onto the Trains, planes, and postwariness of the place over the Classical Fantasy mixed with awesome stuff.
For ambiance period film soundtracks seem like a good idea.
Celt Rock fits too, but don't forget The Tossers.
But the Bowie songs sound interesting. You got a few?
I haven't gone through the collection for a while, but the few that come immediately to mind are 'Underground,' 'Magic Dance' (mainly the cadenzas... the actual vocal line, while fun, isn't terribly thematic) and 'As the World Falls Down' from the Labyrinth soundtrack and 'Cat People' from Let's Dance.
Lower classes are going to listen to the same sort of things they have for years a combination of simple wood winds (recorders for example), strings (a fiddle, lute or even guitar) and percussion.
Eberron is very turn of the century to the 1940's in my mind, and so I try to incorporate music from movies of the era. At least with Noir and Intrigue. With crazy fights I imagine something along the lines of the new Star Trek movie, or Indiana Jones. And when dealing with extraplanar themes I try to use horror movie sound tracks and creepy string instruments. :D
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1185180&highlight=Music+eberron
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1174810&highlight=Music+eberron
(The search function is your friend.)
But you forget magic. Magic could emulate a lot of real-world instruments.
A given, but your average village festival isn't as likely to have spent money to get magic for musical entertainment when a half dozen locals can all play some kind of instrument. Even in major cities only the most elite are likely to experience magical enhanced music. I'd expect magic from either of the Shadow Houses, or the Sharn Opera but anything in the Torchlight District of Sharn is likely going to be produced free of magic, largely because you don't need magic to be funny, coarse, or anything else the lower classes tend to find entertaining.
Even if you want to include magic in almost all performances I'd still say its there as an enhancement not the show in and of it self. If you wanted to have the Eberron version of Mozart then I'm sure that character would include magic enhancement to accompany his operas and what not, but largely as an experimental element. Your average citizen is probably more likely to encounter a traveling band of non-magical musicians than anything else.
Also, I came up with a rationale for distortion guitar to be added to the mystimedieval soundscape: assume, for a moment, that a given style that originates in Dwarf holds (hence 'rock' music) is brought to the surface - the acoustics of dwarf stadia are probably quite adequate on their own, but for an open-air performance, some sort of amplification is needed. So our Mroring Stones contract with Cannith to develop an amp - but during the tweaking there's a feedback issue that they just can't get rid of (it's a physical effect as much as a magical one and they don't know how to compensate for it). The band hears this, and rather than trying to minimize the issue, they ask the artificers to increase it.
Hmm. Well, I'm pretty sure that one of the Shadow Houses (Phiarlan, I think) is the preeminent place for music. They would probably have an inordinate amount of influence in "popular" musical trends.
Another thing is that since the Last War is but four years past, there will probably be a lot of martial songs, or songs about martial topics. Three that spring to mind are the Rogue's March, The Band Played Walzing Matilda (advisement: that's a very sad song), The Gallant Hussar, and The Bold Grenadier (also known as The Grenadier and the Lady, The Nightingale, or some combination). In Karrnath, especially, I anticipate tunes you could march to would be very prominent. Being a big fan of bagpipes, The Blood of Cuchulainn is one example of a song (without words) that you could march to; Yankee Doodle is also such a song (and is also the state song of my home, Connecticut!). Similarly, patriotic songs could still be very popular.
And in the same vein as what Ogiwan suggested, songs like "No Man's Land" (a.k.a. "The Green Fields of France" or "Willie McBride") and "The Fields of Athenry" would be good ballads for Eberron.
While patriotic songs would have been popular before Thronehold, afterward they'd be less so. As far as the general populace is concerned, the war is over, and just as in the real world the music scene exploded with new styles almost immediately after both world wars, there would be a sudden scramble in the entertainment 'industry' of Khorvaire to come up with music, theatre, and art that gets as far away from the wartime mentality as possible.
Ideally, since the Last War was a combination of WWI, WWII, the Hundred Years' War and the Thirty Years' War, you'd see something that's a combination of renaissance, baroque, jazz, and classic rock. Unfortunately, the only person I know of who does stuff like that is Alanis Morissette, and I'd really rather not put her on the list...
However, that doesn't mean that once the war ended, people would start hating patriotic songs and immediately embrace the new wave stuff. Patriotic and martial songs would still be very popular with some segments of the population, 'specially if it pulled at the heartstrings. A song about coming home from the war, written and popular before the war ended, would still be very popular, if not more so, once the war ended.
Sure, I will agree wholeheartedly that there would be all sorts of new music. Thinking about it, guys who served alongside Talentan mercs might develop a taste for a bone flute or some such and bring it back to Breland, or Aundair, and start incorporating it into existing music, or making new music around it. Repeat ad nauseum for pretty much every regional combination. However, all I am saying is that patriotic and martial music would still be popular.
It's been mentioned (back in the olden days) that the gnomes of Zilargo have developed an instrument that exploits their natural ability to create ghost sounds. I imagine that "gnomish" music could therefore be truly bizarre, with all sorts of incidental sound effects, odd voices, and notes one could never wring out of, say, a klavier. I'd also expect to see "advanced" instrumentation and arrangements coming out of Cyre (known for their avant garde art), House Cannith (because they have the technical skill to create wondrous instruments), and Houses Phiarlann and Thuranni (because they have centuries of experience mucking around with illusions and the arts).
Would the Dr. Who theme be a good representation of this? Heck any Theremin music, and maybe Zeusaphone while we are at it.