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[Pyrite]

This would be only a minor addition, but I feel it would be a nice thing to have and would go towards having a use for everything the fortress makes.

Music became a labor that can be assigned, that uses an instrument in the same way a miner uses a pick, goes to a meeting hall, and plays. This gives all dwarves in the meeting hall a minor happy thought, with better thoughts for dwarves who prefer a certain instrument (harp or flute or drums). A dwarf with this skill would be called a bard.

Perhaps bands could be formed by 2-4 musical dwarves, one with each type of instrument, who together would produce higher quality music. possibly a new type of room/area called "stage" could be designated, which bands would prefer to perform at.

Songs could have elements from history in them, especially tales of the slaying/capture of megabeasts, in a similar way to engravings.

[Heron TSG]

woohoo! You just came up with an idea that could actually work! maybe you could upload music for them to play? maybe the stage can be designated from an 'instrument' stand that holds a whole bunch of instruments.

[jaked122]

 I'd love to see urist playing the piano and all the other dwarves not taking breaks from the euphoria generated by that

[Silverionmox]

I'd love to see urist playing the piano and all the other dwarves not taking breaks from the euphoria generated by that

Pah! Dwarves don't play elvish instruments like piano, violin and flute. Dwarves play metal, industrial and techno. Urist plays a drum solo, and the crowd goes headbanging wild!

[Pyrite]

woohoo! You just came up with an idea that could actually work! maybe you could upload music for them to play? maybe the stage can be designated from an 'instrument' stand that holds a whole bunch of instruments.

I like the idea of personal instruments better, but I suppose they could also work as a component in a furniture item.

[Dakira]

There's a decent number of large instruments like; standing harps, pianos, and dare I say bass' which could be treated as furniture. Hell a giant horn would be awesome too. Yet there are also numerous smaller and easier to manage instruments. I don't really have a good way to say for or against either one right now so moving on.

If it's furniture, any instrument placed in a room could have bards playing in that room giving a happy thought to all within the room boundaries.

If it's otherwise, bards organize in the meeting areas and play for all those within designated meeting areas. Bards organize much like they're having a party, and anyone walking within the room hears of the lovely melodies.

For simplicity, I think it'd be better to stay away from anything that has a "within 20 spaces" or such. Probably much easier to limit it to existing rooms but then again dwarves see and get happiness from mist, so perhaps there's a way to have it so that if they "hear" the music being played much like dwarves "see" mist.

Also, singers. No instrument required.

[Pilsu]

Personally I see it more as a hobby they practice in their rooms if they happen to like an instrument. Of course, festivities need music but I don't really agree with any resident bands playing all day

Whether they want to perform could hinge on their personality. Then again, we'd need a more stable longer day rhythm to facilitate things like Cog playing a private clarinet solo for his girl since he dislikes crowds or just going to play during lunch hour on occasion. Then again, drum solos aren't very interesting in their own right so some instruments would probably require a team to perform properly. Should parties ever become less random, the ornery antisocial lute player could be forced to perform and get a heavy bad thought from having no one to replace him. Small things really

[Dakira]

I'm a big fan of the idea and it (for me at least) gives dwarves another potential job. Though I realize that taking every idle dwarf and turning them into a bard is not the answer.

[SirHoneyBadger]

I like this idea, very much, and I'll second the idea of a band/choir (Dwarf opera for the win).

Some of them might be private about it, but music and bands have always been a good way to entertain everyone, and even to record historical moments.

Songs could maybe be a little like engravings? "Urist McDrum sings a song about a dwarf surrounded by goblins. The goblins are taunting the dwarf. This relates to the seige of so and so, that occurred in the year whatever."

Also, if there's bands, they could be organized in the same fashion that we organize military squads, with different bandmembers assigned different instruments.

They could get their own randomly generated name, and be assigned to play in certain areas. Not all the time though. Maybe they'd just gather once a week for an hour or something.

And to further the link between bands and squads, maybe sometimes a squad that's been in existence for a while could just up and decide to become a band on their days off. If nothing else, it would improve cameraderie, morale, and their ability to function as a unit.

I've also thought that it would be awesome if it were possible to build a Fortress around an immense, skyscraper-sized, magma-powered, pipe organ, built into/out of a mountain, with the deepest pipes going down through all the Z levels. Classical organ music seems fairly "dwarfy" to me, especially in combination with the idea of an insane Philosopher Noble playing it in the middle of a busy fortress.

[bjlong]

^^^Only if the noble wears a half-mask to hide his horrible disfigurement.

Perhaps a better description would be something like "Urist McDrum sings a song with a haunting melody and complicated lyrics. The lyrics talk about a dwarf fighting goblins. This relates to the the siege of (...)"

We'd have to track songs and give them titles (Oh noes! RNG names!). It should be possible for dwarves to decide they like this song or that song, and get an extra happy thought if they hear that song.

Also, would there be quality levels of songs? And performances? How would these combine with the quality levels of instruments?

[Heron TSG]

Hell a giant horn would be awesome too.

I've also thought that it would be awesome if it were possible to build a Fortress around an immense, skyscraper-sized, magma-powered, pipe organ, built into/out of a mountain.

New megaproject! building a ginormigantic horn, made completely of gold and platinum! we will harness the power of ten thousand Colossi, and shake the world with the reverberations from our horn of loudness!

[mickel]

Music and other forms of culture definitely need to go in. I can see how dwarves, being on a constant alcoholic buzz, might survive for years without going to a play or the opera, but humans? Never. And a stereotypical elf village isn't complete without half naked bards prancing around strumming on their lyres and reciting poetry about pretty flowers.

[SirHoneyBadger]

mickel: Our dwarfs don't just need wine. It's wine, (hairy) women, and song...

[Craftling]

A dwarfs level of skill could matter too. If the dwarf sucks at playing its instrument the crowd could heckle him or throw rotten food at him but if he is awesome at it then he could have the crowd erupt in cheers and gain respect among his fellow dwarves. Also playing at parties, funerals, weddings. Practising by itself in some remote portion of the map if they arent very good.

[Foa]

If it is a way to make a happy thought, I'll take it, Purples are too hard to lighten up on the Hammerings.
I'll take musicians.


Oh, and hey, it has been known that music make warriors stronger, and plant better.

Oh, and banshees are derived from the Wailer troop, they wail, and it scares the fuck out of everyone!
It'd be funny to see goblins run for their lives, and maybe they could herd them into the meat grinder!!!