[Nurumaiel]

I also do Irish Ceili, which has very Hobbitish-sounding music.

I must agree with you there, Orominuialwen, and add that many of the Irish dances I learned struck me as very Hobbitish. As I rose to more advanced levels of dancing I began learning solo dances, but what group dances I did learn I very much enjoyed... and I must say it was a thrill regardless listening to the music.

I had invented a few elvish dances at one point; now what did I do with them? One copy of them can be found in The Seventh Star, in Aman's congratulatory party.

Helen, I'll be sure to check up on that! Any suggested music for the dancing of it?

But forgive me for getting off topic..... I'm supposed to be discussing music, not dancing.

A friend of mine has the sheet music from the movie and I was able to look through them... they looked entirely grand, and I would love to get my hands on them, yet then again it might be great fun to figure it out myself, especially as you say there is no Concerning Hobbits!

In terms of composing your own themes for Nimrodel and Amroth (what a WONDERFUL idea)--improvisation can be a good place to start. Just get alone with your instrument, make stuff up as you go, and see what happens. Whiel I was at it, I'd pray for inspiration too (God is good at stuff like that.)

Helen, I agree heartily with your last sentence, as well as everything else. Unfortunately (or, rather, I consider it a very fortunate thing though it's hard to compose music in silence) the house I live in is bursting full with children and it's difficult to find a quiet place to sit and play. As soon as all this snow melts (which it is doing), the woods will no doubt welcome me.

Meanwhile, however, it isn't too bad a thing for me to be taking tunes I already know and applying them to Tolkien's verses. I gathered together all the songs and poems from the LotR and sat in front of the papers for awhile, taking one song at a time and humming through as many songs I could remember I remembered. I started late into the night, however, I only got one song figured out... The Lay of Luthien and Beren fits quite well into the tune of The Foggy Dew, though I wouldn't venture to say it was perfect. The tune for the latter song can be found here , and while I wouldn't say it is exactly music, the midi does portray the tune well enough.

Must run now!