[RL History] What _musical_ instrument would the ladies find most appealing?

[Herobizkit]

I remembered to add 'musical' to the thread title, else I might have gotten a temp ban. :smallredface:

Historically speaking, across the European Middle Ages, what sorts of instruments were considered the most popular and appealing to the ladies? Did D&D 5e "get it right" with their PHB selection?

I know it's an odd question and maybe the answer is obvious, but I'm curious as to what 'courtship' looked like back then. In an upcoming campaign, I'm playing a Half-Elven Professor of 44 years who fancies himself a 'silver fox'. I want to pick a musical instrument that he plays in intimate (one-on-one) settings for potential suitors. While the Lute and maybe the Viol (violin?) are top choices and tastes vary, I'm trying to get an idea of what kind of music I might play that would 'woo' the fairer sex.

The intent, of course, is to then scour the internet to find examples of such music to bust out (hue) at (in?)appropriate times.

Thoughts? ^_^

[RazorChain]

That one has been known to thrill the ladies. You play your raccoon and they will swoon! Or you can badger them with your badger!


http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles2/a98118_badgermin01.jpg

[ImNotTrevor]

Obviously the instrument that stops all the ladies' hearts throughout time is the hurdy gurgy.

So hot. (https://youtu.be/QHmML7bu-iM)

[Talyn]

It has to be something:
(1) portable, so you can bring it with you when you go a-courting (no grand harps or pianos)
(2) tonal, so you can demonstrate your skill and education (no drums)
(3) expensive, so you can show off your wealth (nothing that could be made in a shack by a peasant) AND
(4) you have to be able to talk while you play it, so you can sing and/or flirt while playing (no wind instruments)

Get these together, and you get that sexiest of modern instruments, the guitar. Or, I suppose, an accordion if you are into that kind of thing.

Now, the medieval equivalent to the modern guitar would be the lute or the vihuela (or maybe the oud, if you want to go with a more Middle Eastern feel). They are portable, versatile, expensive, capable of being as loud or as soft as you want, and they are even pleasantly phallic-shaped.

[Keltest]

It has to be something:
(1) portable, so you can bring it with you when you go a-courting (no grand harps or pianos)
(2) tonal, so you can demonstrate your skill and education (no drums)
(3) expensive, so you can show off your wealth (nothing that could be made in a shack by a peasant) AND
(4) you have to be able to talk while you play it, so you can sing and/or flirt while playing (no wind instruments)

Get these together, and you get that sexiest of modern instruments, the guitar. Or, I suppose, an accordion if you are into that kind of thing.

Now, the medieval equivalent to the modern guitar would be the lute or the vihuela (or maybe the oud, if you want to go with a more Middle Eastern feel). They are portable, versatile, expensive, capable of being as loud or as soft as you want, and they are even pleasantly phallic-shaped.

What about a regular non-grand harp? Or whatever you call the small handheld version?

[khadgar567]

violin a gentleman's instrument for gentleman's age and if you go little bit eastern you can hide sword in it when needed

[Cealocanth]

It has to be something:
(1) portable, so you can bring it with you when you go a-courting (no grand harps or pianos)
(2) tonal, so you can demonstrate your skill and education (no drums)
(3) expensive, so you can show off your wealth (nothing that could be made in a shack by a peasant) AND
(4) you have to be able to talk while you play it, so you can sing and/or flirt while playing (no wind instruments)

Get these together, and you get that sexiest of modern instruments, the guitar. Or, I suppose, an accordion if you are into that kind of thing.

Now, the medieval equivalent to the modern guitar would be the lute or the vihuela (or maybe the oud, if you want to go with a more Middle Eastern feel). They are portable, versatile, expensive, capable of being as loud or as soft as you want, and they are even pleasantly phallic-shaped.

I think harpsichord also fits that description.

[Khedrac]

It has to be something:
(1) portable, so you can bring it with you when you go a-courting (no grand harps or pianos)
(2) tonal, so you can demonstrate your skill and education (no drums)
(3) expensive, so you can show off your wealth (nothing that could be made in a shack by a peasant) AND
(4) you have to be able to talk while you play it, so you can sing and/or flirt while playing (no wind instruments)

Get these together, and you get that sexiest of modern instruments, the guitar. Or, I suppose, an accordion if you are into that kind of thing.

Now, the medieval equivalent to the modern guitar would be the lute or the vihuela (or maybe the oud, if you want to go with a more Middle Eastern feel). They are portable, versatile, expensive, capable of being as loud or as soft as you want, and they are even pleasantly phallic-shaped.


I think harpsichord also fits that description.
Harpsichords are notoriously non-portable. In most classcial concert venues any piece involving one is played first - it will need re-tuning once it has been moved across the stage before/after being played. Piano pieces are usually played for for the same reason, but they are nothing like as sensitive as a harpsichord.

You want an instrument that is more delicate than loud, ruling out most brass instuments, and probably all the deeper sounds; the problem is that there were loads, and what you would choose will depend on setting (i.e. real world equivalency region and date). Also avoid the really big instuments (e.g. theorbo).
Wind instruments go so far, but depriving the player of the ability to talk or sing while playing is probably also a down-check.
This also limits how good instruments played like a violin or viola can be, while the mouth is not used the chin is which again limits how much expression one can get from the face.

Incidentally I think the viol was played more like a cello so would actually be a good choice.
Lute also, but it's an early instrument.
Smaller harps have plausibility. There are loads of other instuments, most of which have pretty much vanished (oddly enough I saw some in the Victoria and Albert museum yesterday, but the only one I remembered the name of for looking up was the baryton which does not fit your requirements imo.) if you can find a good museum with a good collection of old instuments you will find some really weird things. I have not been there, but from what I hear the Horniman museum in London has a really good collection, just somewhat over-crowded in how they are displayed/

[ImNotTrevor]

It has to be something:
(1) portable, so you can bring it with you when you go a-courting (no grand harps or pianos)
(2) tonal, so you can demonstrate your skill and education (no drums)
(3) expensive, so you can show off your wealth (nothing that could be made in a shack by a peasant) AND
(4) you have to be able to talk while you play it, so you can sing and/or flirt while playing (no wind instruments)

Get these together, and you get that sexiest of modern instruments, the guitar. Or, I suppose, an accordion if you are into that kind of thing.

Now, the medieval equivalent to the modern guitar would be the lute or the vihuela (or maybe the oud, if you want to go with a more Middle Eastern feel). They are portable, versatile, expensive, capable of being as loud or as soft as you want, and they are even pleasantly phallic-shaped.

Hurdy Gurdy is still winning on all of these.

[Xuc Xac]

It has to be something:
(3) expensive, so you can show off your wealth (nothing that could be made in a shack by a peasant) AND
(4) you have to be able to talk while you play it, so you can sing and/or flirt while playing (no wind instruments)


What about the nose flute? It's cheap and you play it with your nose so you can still sing while playing. It was a common courting instrument in Hawai`i.

[RazorChain]

Then it becomes a question of the right song to serenade the ladies. I suggest the classic song by Randy Newman:

Mama told me not to come

[Herobizkit]

Checking in to say thanks to all of the responses so far. I had originally considered a viol as the instrument of choice. Now I need to find the right "style" of music. Celtic viol can be very haunting but also beautiful and vibrant.

[Martin Greywolf]

Historically speaking, we have one great book for getting an idea about things like this - Codex Manesse, c1350, from what is now Germany. It's full of images of wooing and dating, but it has to be used with caution - it is highly idealized courtly love, so it doesn't tell us a huge amount about how folks with less money liked to get their Pope on.

As for what's in there, by and large, the overwhelmingly common instrument is poetry, or tp put it in DnD terms, Perform (oratory). There are over a dozen images of people either writing poetry on scrolls, reciting it or writing first drafts on wax tablets.

There is only one picture that is anything like one on one serenading, and it has three people in it - one of them is Reinmar the Fiddler and he seems to be playing for a young lady with a chaperone. The instrument in question is vielle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vielle), the Codex Manesse image is actually on the linked page.