Stories of Arda - Lord of the Rings Fan-Fiction Archive


	About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

Dreamflower's Mathoms I by Dreamflower	8 Review(s)
Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 4/23/2006
Dancing, music, Frodo happy, and Esme's POV! What a treat! :) I love reading (and writing) about music and dancing (though I'm a disgraceful dancer LOL), and this was beautiful. I don't think I've ever heard "Circle of Joy," but I love Celtic music and so much of it sounds so Hobbity. I love the way you've used this! God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: "Circle of Joy" is just so perfectly hobbity, and I can so see hobbits dancing to it, every time I hear it! In my minds eye, it is a circle dance similar to an English Country Dance called "Sellenger's Round". It was absolutely lovely to wake up tonight to an inbox full of your lovely reviews, dear! Thank you ever so much! It was just wonderful fun to re-visit some of these fics!

Gryffinjack	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 10/19/2005
So much music, dancing, and joy to celebrate Frodo's birthday! How glorious! I so enjoy it when you include music and dance in your stories. It must be lovely to have so much musical talent amongst one's family and friends. I'm glad Esmerelda is so fond of the fiddle Bilbo gave her for his eleventy-first birthday. It's a good thing that Pimmie is taking up the tambour so that Merry doesn't have to. I also really like how Folco Boffin plays the flute; it's very sweet. And it's always good to see Pippin either playing an instrument or singing. I imagine him very much like Billy Boyd when he sings or plays an instrument, a huge smile on his face if it is a pub song and whole-heartedly pouring his soul into all of his music to make either his voice or instrument sing. You describe the musical and dancing scenes so well that I feel practically like I was at Frodo's birthday celebration. Hopefully I will get to read your next story (which is one of my top two or three favourites of your stories), "The Dare" tomorrow. If I don't, it will be because we are busy preparing for Hurricane Wilma, now a strong category four hurricane. Hope to review more tomorrow! Author Reply: Oh no! I didn't follow the weather tonight, I was out this evening at a meeting. Are you in the path of the hurricane? Where are you? If so, I do hope you are not planning to ride it out! crosses fingers for you I surely hope you will be OK! Author Reply: Hit the button before I could respond about the story review, LOL! I truly love the idea of music and dancing at hobbity celebrations. I love to listen to Celtic music, and much of it, I can just see in my head hobbits dancing to it. It was so with the peice "Circle of Joy". Every time I heard it, I could just imagine hobbits dancing to it, so I finally had to write it. Billy Boyd's portrayal of Pippin has definitely colored the way I write him. I don't know if Billy plays any instruments, or just sings, but I can always see his Pippin singing or playing away.

elisabeth	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 4/25/2005
Country dancing in the Shire! Country dancing in the Shire! Sorry, I'm just excited that someone else knows what hobbits dance (at least, in the not-very-humble opinion of this fan of English Country Dance). There is so much music mentioned in LotR that it's a pity there isn't more dancing, especially hobbit dancing, which undoubtedly isn't so fine as Luthien's, but would go well with their parties and feasts. (Every time I watch the party sequence of Jackson's FofR movie I wish to see hobbits dancing "Wibsey Roundabout"--I know, fat chance, what with copyright and all, but it is another very hobbity dance. If you haven't danced it, there are instructions at http://www.bacds.org/events/playfordball2003/dances.htm and a sample of the music at http://www.cds-boston.org/ecdc/vol2/.) I liked Esmeralda and her fiddle, but it is a pity there were no relief musicians so she and Pippin could take a turn on the dance floor--some of our musicians do, when there aren't enough dancers for the set but there are more than enough musicians for the tune. I also liked that Pippin has picked up another instrument--not that one cannot play dance music on bagpipes, but I think they would drown out the fiddle and flute. Here's to more music in Middle Earth! --elisabeth Author Reply: I have lots of dancing for my hobbits; I'm in the SCA, and we do a good deal of Country Dance as well as Renaissance Dance. I actually use dances we do, and give them hobbity names. (For example, the one I call "Exchanges" is actually "Hole-in-the-Wall", LOL!) I first had dancing as a major part of the plot in "A New Reckoning" at the Ball and at Sam's wedding, and then again in "It Takes a Took" and "Marigold's Wedding". My Pip plays the fiddle, lap harp, bagpipes and panpipes. (He learned that last one on the Quest, from Legolas.) So he's pretty musical overall, along with his singing. I always think that at most hobbity parties the music is provided by family and friends; only for something major, like a Ball, would paid musicians be engaged. And though Pip loves to dance, he was only 18 (equal to 12 Man years) at Frodo's 40th, so he probably would have wanted to play just as much as dance. (Though an 11 year old was once one of my favorite partners.)

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 4/7/2005
Love this one, Dreamflower. Author Reply: Thank you! I was really inspired by the music, which sounds so very hobbity to me! It's a lovely tune, so sprightly, it's very well-named.

Nina the powerwriter	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 1/1/2005
Oooo...lots of dancing! I like trying to picture them in my head. Author Reply: I love that piece. Ever since I heard it, I could imagine hobbits dancing to it. I'll have to let you hear it sometime.

shire_perian	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/14/2004
Very nice dances you depicted! I 'm glad they're all happy. I'm just glad. Author Reply: Thank you! They are oversimplified versions of actual historical or semi-historical dances, only I changed the names to make them sound hobbity. And I am glad, too! This time period of pre-Quest is probably the only time in Frodo's life that he really had to be happy at all, besides his very early childhood; I just wanted him to have a nice time.

Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/13/2004
Lovely story. I am curious. I notice that many of your fictions include music and I wondered if this were due to Tolkien's own inclusion of song or if perhaps you are musical yourself. Some of the descriptions lead me to believe that you must play something or sing because they are very vivid and they come through so well in your writing. Just wondering. Author Reply: Mostly it is due to JRRT's inclusion of music, but I love music myself. I do play (badly, LOL!) a couple of instruments--piano and recorder. Mostly I love to listen and often find myself inspired by muscical pieces. I've always enjoyed Celtic music--even before it became "popular" and so much of that sounds "hobbity" to me. And also, even though I write basically book-canon, I envision a lot of things in Middle-earth through the images PJ gave us in the films. Billy Boyd's singing in the films and his portrayal of Pippin, somehow made me think of him as being very musical. I am also inspired by Howard Shore's magnificent score: I first imagined Folco playing a flute because of that sprightly "Shire" theme, and some of the Elvish pieces I could imagine Legolas singing. I am glad you think that my descriptions of music come across well. It is easy to describe visual things in writing, but when I describe music, I always worry if I am doing it justice. But I very much like JRRT's putting in the songs and singing in the books, and wish that there were more of that in fanfic. Since I try to write the stories that I would like to read, I tend to put a lot of that in myself.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/13/2004
'sparkling joyful blue eyes' Esmeralda's right - it is good to see Frodo happy. (He's got about another 10 years before the Ring sucks the joy from his life. I hope he makes the most of them.) I can just see Pippin wanting to play and dance simultaneously - I don't think he can manage it with a lap harp. I like your Esmeralda. Author Reply: It's why I chose that particular birthday. I do like to think that he was for the most part happy during that time period of his life. Poor Pip! It's hard to want to participate in two activities at once! No, dancing and playing simultaneously would not work. I don't think he'd manage it with a fiddle or bagpipes, either, LOL! Esmeralda is one of my own favorites. I know that she loved Frodo just as if he were another son, and she was a Took herself, with all that personality implies!

Return to Chapter List