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I have a setting where a nomadic man lives alone in a forest. Presume the wildlife is similar to a typical subtropical or temperate forest. I had the idea that before he sits down to cook, he would always play music using a small instrument like a flute, a small drum, or something of the sort he could easily carry with him to scare away any predators or scavengers near by so that they would not be lured in by the smell of cooking food.

Would this work, and if it does, what instrument should he use?

The instrument needs to be something that can be crafted using only simple hand tools.

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    $\begingroup$ Q: does your character use open fire to cook ? predator will be scared off anyway.. sound or not.. $\endgroup$
    – Goodies
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 17:08
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    $\begingroup$ Misread on HNQ as "...to repel wildfires," and came here to see how anyone thought a musical instrument could possibly do that. $\endgroup$
    – Michael come lately
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 16:11
  • $\begingroup$ @Michael FYI: Orpheus' lyre was said to be able to make the trees uproot themselves and dance around him; so, I suppose one could use it to pull a Pied Piper and lure trees out of the way of a wild fire creating a dead zone stopping its spread. $\endgroup$
    – Nosajimiki
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 17:44

4 Answers 4

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Last summer I was talking with a friend who plays taiko (a Japanese type of drum, which was often used in the past for communication during battles or to call the villagers to a gathering): they were telling me that they were in a remote farm to practice, hoping to not bother anybody. Well, not even after 10 minutes of practice, the farmer from the neighboring farm, on the other side of a small hill, came asking if they could stop because they were scaring their horses.

Considering also the effect which New Year fireworks have on dogs, cats and other domestic animals, it corroborates the idea that loud and sudden sounds are effective at scaring animals, in particular those with a sensitive hearing.

So, you can go for a drum, which can be made by simply carving a tree trunk, and maybe tensioning a skin on one end.

However, mind that it can turn against you: an animal can easily associate the noise with food, and then it would act as a call. For example crows in my garden have learned that the door opening around lunch time means crumbles on the tiles and are not scared any more. Therefore you would need to avoid creating a pattern.

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    $\begingroup$ Agreed! Different instrument each time. Be creative. Keep those animals guessing. Banging pot with spoon counts. Inchoate yowling counts too. $\endgroup$
    – Willk
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 17:16
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    $\begingroup$ You could indeed establish a pattern, but you would need to be consistent in expressing outward that this pattern means "stay away" be it by going on the assault to any animals that approach when they appear, or introducing some hazard that would encourage animals to vacate for their own good on hearing the sound. As it has to do with food, perhaps leave a poisoned or painful food after leaving the area so that despite the smells etc, the sound warns that the food should be avoided anyway on account of the sound. $\endgroup$
    – Danger Lake
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 19:02
  • $\begingroup$ @DangerLake exactly this. IF OP were to assault/hurt some crows every time they opened the door it would still be a pattern, but have the opposite effect $\endgroup$
    – Hobbamok
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 11:12
  • $\begingroup$ I don't recommend doing this with crows: they tend to remember insults. And faces. $\endgroup$
    – Yorik
    Commented Mar 18, 2022 at 15:27
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Scottish folk music

Cats (also big ones) and dogs (wolves) have a frequency range much wider than humans. Dogs can hear sine wave sounds to about 54kHz, cats 64kHz. Cats also have a very sensitive hearing.

Whistles may keep the wolves away

Dogs can get really stressed when you're playing a tin whistle.. they resent the loud sound. I wouldn't be surprised if wolves react the same to tin whistles ! Dogs can also be conditioned with a soccer whistle or a dog whistle, but these are not really musical instruments.

Hissing or very loud sounds scare cats

Cats don't like noise, especially noise with high frequency components like hissing. Pan flute produces a lot of noise, but that is low frequency. Snare drums may be more annoying. And cats don't like loud shouting, or loud sounds in general.

https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/10327/what-effect-do-loud-drums-have-on-cats-hearing

Try bagpipes, tin whistle and banjo?

A common denominator seems to be loudness. The loudest flute-like sound I know of is bagpipes. To get noise and loudness, play the banjo. When you play these instruments indoors, it will even annoy people, except when they are fans, of course.

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    $\begingroup$ Your answer also seems to have covered the unspecified question of WHY this is a single, nomadic individual - banished from his village for offensive bagpipe / banjo playing :-) $\endgroup$
    – KerrAvon2055
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 22:20
  • $\begingroup$ @KerrAvon2055 yeah alas, there won't be a band in the forest.. but he knows how to play his instruments.. tigers and wolves will stay away. I can appreciate Scottish folk actually lol $\endgroup$
    – Goodies
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 22:26
  • $\begingroup$ The higher pitch of the tin whistle might be better than the pipes, but clearly if he's hiding in the woods playing bagpipes, tin whistle, and drums annoyingly loud, he's probably been banished for trying to start a folk metal band. $\endgroup$
    – Chris H
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 14:57
  • $\begingroup$ @ChrisH tin whistle was the first option I thought of.. I know from experience, my parent's dog (Belgian shephert) used to really hate the tin whistle sound. It could have been my poor skill, of course :d $\endgroup$
    – Goodies
    Commented Mar 18, 2022 at 13:44
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Dissonant panpipes

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Flutes and panpipes are very old instruments that can be created from materials available in a forest. Normally panpipes are created with each pipe tuned to a note in a scale, to make playing pleasing music easier. You could, however, use dissonant intervals like the tritone, or even microtuning, to make the sound harsher and unsettling. Flutes can also be overblown to make squeakier shriller sounds.

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Use Classical Conditioning

Easier to do if the person stays around the same territories.

Before and during cooking, play the music to make it known that a consistent signal is being sent out as a recognizable pattern. This can cause fear in itself, but we want to persuade anything curious that yes, this does mean to stay away.

When animals approach, attack them on sight in the area. If they watch from afar, no worries that where we want them to be.

AFTER you are done cooking, pack up your stuff, but rather than leaving food, leave poisoned or otherwise painful food that doesn't have to kill, simply teach the animal that even though the food smells good, it's very much worth their while to avoid it at all costs. As mentioned in the comments, animals may be turned off from foods with a number of simple spices (coffee, cumin, peppers) rendering it inedible to them.

Over time when the sound is played, intrusions occur less, and scavengers learn to avoid any food left behind. It may take some time to establish, but the animals may teach their young to avoid the sounds going forward.

Consistency will be required until this new natural order is established. Any instrument could be used most likely, but deep notes, drums, and the like will carry further than something high and sharp like a flute. Though perhaps they only want the sound to go out so far, consider how far reaching the smell of food would be, the same wind will also be carrying the sound to tell animals not to get interested in it.

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    $\begingroup$ Hmmm... it occurs to me that cats and dogs don't stomach certain human foods very well. Onions, garlic, chives, and coffee are all somewhat toxic to them; so, certain choices of seasoning could be used to intentionally taint your leftovers. $\endgroup$
    – Nosajimiki
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 20:04
  • $\begingroup$ True, and there may be other methods of keeping the coast clear. Plants that emit smells that animals avoid can be arranged, there are people irl who use fences of thorn bushes to keep predators away as well. Ultimately the animal is after food, and easy food if possible. If you make it no longer considered easy to obtain, and that even when they do it's not even considered food to them, they'll find somewhere else to find an easy meal. $\endgroup$
    – Danger Lake
    Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 23:18

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