I have recently published No Earthly Sounds, a study of the nature of faery music. In a previous book, The Faery Faith in British Music, I examined how myths and stories of faery have shaped British classical, rock and pop compositions.
This new book concentrates on the music composed by the faeries themselves. This has influenced human culture in a variety of ways. We have heard faery music and seen the faeries dancing to it for hundreds of years: such encounters are reported from the Borders of England and Scotland, from Oxfordshire and Sussex, amongst many other places.
Faery music can, however, much more directly influence human culture. They can provide us with instruments, as happened (for example) on the Hebridean island of Shona Beag, where the McDonalds possessed a magical set of bagpipes equipped with a special faery chanter, which had an extra hole made on the advice of a friendly faery man. They produced “music never before heard.” These pipes were played at Bannockburn and have ever since ensure victory if played in battle. Faery tunes have also penetrated the human repertoire, heard and copied by musicians.
For more detail of both titles, see the Folklore page and read the posting on my British Fairies blog on WordPress.
John Kruse 