#askaritobard

Why thank you, Penn! Here's a little Stormwind Ark with my daughter and the Village flutist; it's recently become a bit of a holiday carol due to its newfound association with icy weather. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all of Hyrule from Rito Village!

By the way, the girls are growing out their hair and Notts and Kotts have to move up a braid hoop size. I have their old hoops here if you know anyone who'd want to try them on?

Thank you, I do know someone who would.....

I am familiar with the Gerudo pungi, but was wondering what other musical instruments you'd consider culturally Gerudo, as I wish to expand my musical palate. Regards from the road—

Ahh, greetings, Kass. I hope this message reaches you well.

We have a few different instruments considered a part of our culture. My favorites include the Ney, the Buzuq, and the Simsimiyya.

Take a listen if you can. There are some talented musicians who utilize these instruments.

We're both doing well! The rest of the village on the other wing...

Sorry about everything bursting into flames, still getting used to things hehe.

Amali dear, how old did you say this ale was?

According to my teacher, there was little time for merry-making in the months leading up to the Calamity, so there is precious little Hylian material written about anyone in particular during that time. Going further back to before Zelda was proclaimed a reincarnation of the Goddess, among the ceremonial masses and court dances there are a few pieces written about the late Queen, I suppose.

The Goron and Zora musical records remain untarnished, carved in stone or engraved in metal.

I must admit my knowledge of the Gerudo musical tradition around the time of the Calamity is lacking.

The only Rito songs to have survived are the traditional ones that every chick knows; anything contemporary had not yet entered the oral canon and sadly vanished with the bards who perished. Unless @asktheritochampion can recall anything...

It's frustrating, having such a gap in the musical record. Perhaps if things had turned out differently, we'd have songs retelling the stories of the Rito leadership of the time. Ah well, perhaps in some alternate timeline...

Aha, a very good question! Every one of my Hylian students have asked me this at some point, so you're in good company.

The answer is simple: You Hylians place the mouthpiece of the instrument in front of or between your teeth and wrap your lips around it to seal. We Rito don't have teeth in the way, so we can place the mouthpiece right up against the roof of the mouth and wrap the tongue around it instead. The cutaway diagram here isn't the best at showing this; we curl the tongue into a channel shape and press it upward to fully seal around the mouthpiece.

And while you mostly articulate notes with the free tip of your tongue (like tuh-tuh-tuh), we use more of the back of the tongue or the base of the throat to articulate (like kuh-kuh-kuh or guh-guh-guh), since we have a great deal more control over our vocal tracts.

I hope that helps! You can even give the technique a try yourself. Just note that you'll likely leak a lot of air with your teeth being in the way and all.

Not particularly, but then again, I'm more accustomed to all of you than most; my teacher was Sheikah, after all! Perhaps fingernails? No, I suppose they're similar to talons... Oh, this isn't exclusive to Hylians, but teeth are an odd one! Ugh, imagine a Rito with a big toothy grin—terrifying.