Worldbuilding: Music and Instruments
Not a huge text wall this time; just some scattered thoughts I blurbed into Discord a while ago and have updated a tiny bit. As with the last posts, I could be very wrong since I'm basing this heavily on real life. Which Runeterra is very, very, VERY different from. This is probably gonna date me, but I may as well say it: YOLO. Here we go.
Demacia - Renaissance classical for court music (not super technically advanced). Fairly close to real world 1500s-ish music as a whole, probably mostly strings/winds/maybe some brass/not a lot of percussion. This is the type of stuff you'd hear in a high fantasy universe... Noxus - Lots of percussion (war drums), probably brass, unsure exactly what types of either and also unclear what else there might be. (we don't have a very good idea of what Noxian music would sound like...) Ionia - Presumably something resembling traditional Chinese and Japanese instruments, but some influences from India and/or Middle East. There's certainly a lot of shakuhachi and other flutes used in various login screens. The only realistic percussion that springs to mind is the hang drum from Akali's login. Vastayan vocals sound pretty Middle Eastern, but are also possibly magically charged; imagine Mama Elodie from the Zaun story singing Xayah/Rakan's login screen and you get an idea of why it would touch the hearts of her audience. Zaun - Found objects (trash can drums for instance) and crude instruments made from them. Some electronic instruments may exist e.g. guitar - we're not sure if Ekko's air guitar is anachronistic or an actual Zaunite invention. Piltover - More modern and organized than Demacia; think 17-1800s classical. You'd probably expect to hear a hextech player piano playing popular tunes in a tavern or similar. Shurima - Strong Middle Eastern influence so probably instruments from there e.g. lute (oud), flute + reed winds (duduk), smaller drums (riq, doumbek). Bilgewater - Fiddles, guitar/lute, barrel type drums. Doesn't instantly sound pirate-y but at the very least folksy. Serpent Isles - I may be too stereotypical here but it's probably gonna end up sounding pretty "tribal." Drums, flutes (nose flutes?!?!?), and chanting or singing. Illaoi's login screen is kind of a souped up version with a weirder time signature and more strings. Freljord - Larger drums and bowed strings (the real-life Hardanger fiddle is used for Freljordian login screens these days) would probably be the most common instruments. Lots of epic songs sung by a storyteller/bard to the beat of a drum and/or a fiddle drone - think of Ornn's teaser and login. Targon - Rakkor are probably even more drum heavy than Noxus; I'm assuming they have primarily drums and chanting/singing.
is my favorite champion, after reading she had successful Concerts i wondered, is she playing Solo or she is accompanied by team of other instruments? what kind of Instrument would they be? do they have things like Piano or Riot have unique instrument designed for Runettera based on real life ones?
was also mentioned to have some flashy performances where music might have been played there as well. when his log-in screen came out i always imagined that's how Vastayan music would sound like which is an interesting one. i take it he would be one of the few people who can really appreciate a good Song.
. i'm not sure if these champions would be enough reasons for world building team to focus on Music/Instrument of Runettera as well, but i hope they do give us a small bit of info at somepoint. after more essential parts of course.