I'm trying to think of applications of Minor magical focus: music, which fits nicely the example guideline for an Imaginem minor focus "a particular colour or sound" .
I looked up Yestin of Jerbiton in MoH, who has this focus, but I wasn't too happy about what I saw, particularly compared to Mark Lawford's usually high-quality work. Most of Yestin's "focus" spells seem to fall squarely outside of the focus.
Ballad of Orpheus, CrMe20, "creates a momentary flash of intense unnatural fear, despair, and woe". To Sing of Good Meat and Wine, CrMe 20, "has the effect of making those in the room somewhat thirsty and hungry". These are just mind-affecting spells whose only link with the focus is the name.
A Song of All These Faerie Places In(Cr)Vi(Im) is a contrived variant of Piercing the Faerie Veil that, instead of allowing the caster to see through the boundary of a regio, creates a visual illusion "powered" by a song of what lies beyond such a boundary. Anyone who sees the illusion can automatically cross through, which makes about as much sense as allowing someone to cross through just by looking at a painting of what's supposed to be on the other side. The spell has a weird "Group" target instead of following the correct guidelines for granting magical senses to groups of people, and no size modifiers for the illusion it creates (that, from the description, can include pretty large things like trees). More crucial to this post, music has absolutely no role in the spell except that the spell takes effect as the caster sings.
Only two spells of Yestin are really within the focus: one that distorts the performance of other singers, and one that turns a fire partially into music. Can you help me find other effects that would make this focus useful to a magus?
a) A spell to enhance music, as per Aura of Ennobled Presence but granting a +3 to musical performances.
b) Spells that create music that either deafens (as in An Enemy Awash in the Pure Sigil of the Magus) distracts or disorients the target (a sound based version of Confusion of the Insane Vibrations, most likely with weaker effects since sight is a stronger sense than hearing).
c) Spells that allow communication at a distance, by creating, transporting and hearing songs at Arcane Connection Range.
d) Spells that create illusions (including visual ones) by changing music into such illusions. According to HoH:S p.65 these effects have Base 2.
e) Spells that turn stuff into music. According to HoH:S (the Jerbiton chapter) this is like turning other Forms into slightly unnatural solids, liquids or gases. But what happens to something turned into music? I'd say it travels as fast as sound would, as far as sound would, before being absorbed by the environment and thus ceasing to exist, like in Scattering like Light. This is useful for destruction, short range teleportation (a D:mom spell that, by very briefly transforming the target to music, carries it as far as his voice would carry), and possibly long range teleportation through c). Could the caster transform into a stream of echoic species that remains cohesive for longer than Mom:Duration? I'd be tempted to say yes, which would make a nice "music" variant of Cloak of Mist.
f) Possibly spells changing illusions into thoughts and emotions? HoH:S says that Hermetic Magic has not yet discovered how to change illusions into solid items, but thoughts and emotions are immaterial; plus it feels thematically appropriate to me. An alternative would be to create "unnatural" songs that affect emotions - probably with a Mentem requisite and extra magnitude or two for their being unnatural (following the Aquam and Terram guidelines).
What about them? If what you mean is "An easy way into the musician-magus concept is to give him Performance Magic (Music), which encourages him to produce magical effects in the form of music", I agree. However, I'm specifically trying to brainstorm about Minor magical focus: Music here - a focus that can certainly be combined with Performance Magic for an even stronger "music theme" to a character.
Nobody suggested that In fact, I wouldn't allow it even as a major focus -- too broad.
What I'm trying to say is: leave Performance Magic and any Virtue not in the corebook out of the discussion, because the discussion is about Minor magical focus: music, and what kind of vanilla Hermetic spells it can encompass.
Not to me.
Music is one type of sound, auditive species is Major, and no more. Just like the colours.
It's one type of sound highly artificial, only related to one ability; for example, only animals with one Quiality can create, but all of them can produce any Smell and Taste, or there are many beings that are brown or dun. Only affect Music, that means that you can only use Minor Focus Music with Imaginem; Terram, Auram, Herbam or Animal to produce Music maybe need another totally different Focus - Musical Instruments. Affect the sorrow, the joy or any other - Mentem emotions. To affect the magic made with music, it's Vim, with one good Affecting Sorcerous Music themed Focus (Musical Performance Magic, Enchanted Music and Siren Song and some more powers, but with the typics problems). Those are differents Focus, for some very related objectives or part of one only Form.
Like ever, it's not the same that any Musical theme like i want to say.
Another Question: that no damage related Focus are more probable to be Minor it's fine to me. Again, i can imagine one Ghost warder based character that it's in fact one True Magical Muse and one Necessary Condition or restriction related to Music, and one Minor Focus to Music on Ex Myscellanea.
In fact, I wouldn't allow it even as a major focus -- too broad.