Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-31507215-20170318022650

I am sure someone has talked about this earlier, but if they did, I can't find it.

One of the many mesmorizing things about Tolkien's literature is the music. Even though (as far as I can tell) he has not written out any melodies, when reading the lyrics for his songs - especially the Elven ones - I almost hear some sort of music in my head. I am sure that most readers of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings have at one time or another.

I LOVE this mod, but after playing it for a while, I was a little bothered by the lack of music. I do enjoy the classic Minecraft background music, but it doesn't really seem to fit, especially when wandering around Lindon. Yes, I do know there are Music Packs, but I think it would be nice if the average player playing the normal, unmodified (for lack of a better term) LotR mod could make their own music.

I propose that Instruments be added. (I apologize. This is definitely starting to sound like a persuasive essay.  Dratted school! :P )

These mechanics would allow players to make instruments, write music, and then play it on said instruments! Here is how it would work.

For starters, you would need instruments. For now, I am just suggesting two instruments. An elven harp for good players, and an orc horn for evil players.

The Elven Harp would be crafted like this:

The Orc Horn would be crafted like an ale horn, but with orc steel ingots:

Now that you have the instruments, you need the music. First of all, you would create a music stand. It would be crafted like this:

I will explain all this in a minute.

Then you would create sheet music, like this:

THEN, you would craft an ink bottle and quill:

That is the extent of the new items for now.

Usage

First, you would place the Music Stand. It would probably be a two block tall, not fully solid block. Then you would place a Music Sheet on the stand. There would probably be a change in the stand's model to show that a sheet is on it. Now, you can either right click it with a bare hand to remove the music, or right click it with an Ink Bottle and Quill.

Once you right click it with the ink bottle, a GUI would show up with (on unedited music) a text box for titling the music, and either a blank music staff, or a blank text box. If the blank staff was used, you could click on the lines and spaces to add notes. If the empty text box was used, you could type in the letter designations of the notes you want to play. There would also be a "Close" button and a "Sign" button, like Books and Quills. The those buttons would work the same way as they do in Books and Quills.

Once you have written the music, you can hold an instrument in your hand, and right click on the stand (with the Music Sheet on it). If you do so, it will open a simple GUI with the question "Do you want to assign this music to this ?" and with the buttons "Yes" and "No". If you click yes, the notes on the sheet music will be stored in the data of the instrument, and the name and creator of the music will be stored in the Lore of the item. This would work with both signed and unsigned music.

Now, you can hold the instrument and right click with it. I am not sure as to whether the music would play as soon as you right click, or if it plays as long as you hold the instrument and right click. I will think more about it.

That is how the mechanics would work. I may add more faction-specific instruments, and other things at a later time.

Criticisms and Suggestions welcome! Thanks for your time! 