The Role of Mortals in the Aurbical Musical

And Music Traditions Throughout Tamriel

Also, as is the trend with musical posts now, listen to this. While these posts describe the metaphysical properties of music in the TES universe, I decided to pull the concept a little more down to earth (also because of my love of and experience with anthropology), and try to fit it in with the role of mortals in Mundus.

First off, I wanted to discuss the exact roles mortals take in the metaphysics. As already discussed by MK and myrrlyn, the Towers form the maestros (to those of you who aren’t familiar with the build-up of an orchestra, maestro is an honorary title for a musician of excellence), and myrrlyn added more exact roles to the Towers, with the two divine Towers being the conductor and drums. As you might understand, an orchestra is more than just the maestros and this is where mortals come in. While the maestros are the ones guiding the musicians, the Towers cannot take on this role literally, as they lack consciousness. What they do do, however, is that they make it possible for the “musicians” (mortals) to perform, as they keep Mundus from dissolving back into Oblivion.

Now that we have briefly discussed the metaphysical role of mortals, Let’s get down to Nirn a little bit more.

The next part will focus around the note structure as listed in myrrlyn’s first post; if you still haven’t read it yet, I strongly advise you to do so.

As stated by myrrlyn, in the standard 16 Daedra — 8 Divines build-up, the A note, which is the core note in Western music, is given to Akatosh, who is the most important deity in Cyrodiilic, and with that Tamrielic, religion. Now, with this in mind, it would not be more than logical that other cultures would have different note scales, and different core notes. I will try to summarise my view of the application of music by the many different races of Tamriel. Before doing this, however, I would like to point out that the difference in deities by mythopoeic forces are also brought into the musical scales (for instance: Imperial music is slightly different from Nordic).

RACES OF MEN (excluding Redguards)

TONES

  • C Mara
  • D Zenithar
  • E Arkay
  • F Kynareth
  • G Stendarr
  • A Akatosh
  • B Julianos
  • C Dibella

This is the general scale, and the most popular one in Tamriel. I also take this as a starting point to discuss the other cultures due to its popularity and dominance. One thing of note, is that the races of Men would most likely not use the accidentals as much, as they have strong connotations to the Daedra. Nordic and Breton music would sound slightly different from Cyrodiilic, due to the mythopoeic forces on some deities. Along with this, Nordic music would use more drums, due to their relation to Shor/Lorkhan, while Bretons would avoid it.

REDGUARDS

TONES

  • C Morwha
  • D Zeht
  • E Tu’whacca
  • F Tava
  • A Ruptga

Redguard music would appear very exotic to us. As with most musical traditions in Tamriel, the Redguards focus on the A note, although slightly of to our hearing. Furthermore, apart from using some notes common in Cyrodiilic music (C, D, E, F, A. the notes G, B and C do not correspond to a deity in the Yokudan religion), the Redguards would most likely use notes unrecognisable to us, representing their own deities, like HoonDing, Diagna, and Onsi. Seeing the mostly militaristic traits in Redguard religion, and the way they like fighting and weapons, their music would most likely follow very strong and violent patterns, yet harmonic, as their martial arts show. Drums might be avoided, due to the Redguards having a negative relation with Lorkhan, or tentatively used, being still human.

ELVEN (excluding Dunmer)

TONES

  • C Mara
  • D Xen
  • E (Arkay)
  • F (Kynareth)
  • G Stendarr
  • A Auri-El
  • B (Julianos)
  • C (Dibella)

Elven music would not use any form of accidentals, as the Bosmer and especially the Altmer do not want any form of association with the Daedra, and stick to the full notes, which are not subgradients, and the full, Aedric tones, in their opinion. As with Redguard music, Elven music would appear alien due to their own gods. However, taking in mind the fact that some of these gods were ascended mortals, it would create a strange sensetory experience both alien and mundane. Bosmeri music, however, would likely experiment more with tones, occasionally using accidentals, seeing their more liberal stance against religion and custom.

DUNMER

TONES

  • E♯ Azura/Sotha Sil
  • G♯ Boethiah/Almalexia
  • B♯ Mephala/Vivec

The Dunmer musical system would surround the notes corresponding to the Three Good Daedra, and in later traditions to their ALMSIVI correspondents. Their tradition would focus on the accidentals E♯ (Azura), G♯ (Boethiah), B♯ (Mephala). Note that the central note of their music would be Boethiah, who convinced the Velothi to leave Aldmeris and settle Dwemereth by eating Trinimac. With these three notes in mind, we can assume Dunmeri music would sound relatively simple (which fits their hardened, no-bullshit warrior culture), also since they would most likely avoid the notes from the House of Troubles, C♯ (Malacath), D♯ (Mehrunes Dagon), F♯ (Molag Bal), A♯ (Sheogorath).

ORCISH

TONES

  • C♯ Malacath

The Orcs do also have a simpler musical tradition than the other races, with all of their music centred around the C♯, the tone of Malacath, who is their chief deity. Their music would most likely appear very monotone and simple, which is excellent for war music.

KHAJIITI

TONES

  • C Mara
  • D♯ Merrunz
  • E♯ Azurah
  • F Khenarthi
  • F♯♯ Hircine
  • G S’rendarr
  • G♯♭ Sangiin
  • A Alkosh
  • A♯♭ Hermorah
  • A♯ Sheggorath
  • B♯ Mafala

Khajiiti music would appear slightly alien to us, as with all other forms of music. Their central tone would be E♯, seeing their connection to the moons, and the fact that that is Azura’s note. Along with this, the Khajiit would have the notes C (Mara), D♯ (Mehrunes Dagon), F (Kynareth), F♯♯ (Hircine), G (Stendarr), G♯♭ (Sanguine), A (Akatosh), A♯♭ (Hermaeus Mora), A♯ (Sheogorath), and B♯ (Mephala). They would avoid the use of C♯♭ , as it represents Namira, a Daedra Khajiit hold a bad image of. These tones seem somewhat disorganised, but this is very fitting with Khajiiti culture, which is based around many different groups of Khajiit subspecies, and an altogether carefree nature.

ARGONIANS

Since Argonians do not recognise anything supernatural besides the Hist and Sithis, it is unlikely that they would have a form of music anywhere near recognisable to our music. Indeed it is described in “The Infernal City” that Argonian chanting sounds cacophonic to the rest of Tamriel.