Lord Vetinari, the supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, rather liked music.
People wondered what sort of music would appeal to such a man. Highly formalized chamber music, possibly, or thunder-and-lightning opera scores.
In fact the kind of music he really liked was the kind that never got played. It ruined music, in his opinion, to torment it by involving it on dried skins, bits of dead cat, and lumps of metal hammered into wires and tubes. It ought to stay written down, on the page, in rows of little dots and crotchets all neatly caught between lines. Only there was it pure. It was when people started doing things with it that the rot set in. Much better to sit quietly in a room and read the sheets, with nothing between yourself and the mind of the composer but a scribble of ink. Having it played by sweaty fat men and people with hair in their ears and spit dribbling out of the end of their oboe… well, the idea made him shudder. Although not much, because he never did anything to extremes.
Violin strings, and other bowed string instruments, were traditionally, and some still, made with livestock intestines. They’re called catgut strings, they’re not actually made from cat intestines, but the name has lead to the common belief that they are made from cats. I’ve been told by people who use them that they resonate better and they like the tone.
Strings for stringed instruments were at one point traditionally made out of “catgut,” which is animal intestinal material. Though to my knowledge, pretty much never actually from cats.
But remember, autism wasn’t invented until 10 years ago.
You know this is an excerpt from a fiction story written by Terry Pratchett, right? This isn’t about a real person.
The implication being that it was Terry Pratchett who created autism
Based
Autism is stored in the hat
I feel like I’m missing a huge part of music lore.
Besides the string, some instruments used cat skins as covering, like the shamisen :
https://pictures-of-cats.org/japanese-banjo-shamisen-made-of-domestic-cat-skin.html
https://community.bachido.com/t/marks-on-shamisen-skin/2621
Probably catgut
Violin strings, and other bowed string instruments, were traditionally, and some still, made with livestock intestines. They’re called catgut strings, they’re not actually made from cat intestines, but the name has lead to the common belief that they are made from cats. I’ve been told by people who use them that they resonate better and they like the tone.
Strings for stringed instruments were at one point traditionally made out of “catgut,” which is animal intestinal material. Though to my knowledge, pretty much never actually from cats.