There were musical concerts that included lyre playing as well as singing. These were not as popular as mimes and plays, however. Music was also used at times in initiations and rites which some Romans disapproved of. The violence was concealed, however, because the shrieks of those Tortured by deviant sex or murder could not be heard over the loud Wails and the crash of drums and cymbals. In processions, tightly stretched drums thunder out as they are struck by The hands of her attendants.
Curved cymbals clash, and horns threaten With their harsh wailing.
And the hollow flute stirs the heart with Phrygian Tune. Finally, here is a description of an initiation into the cult of Isis, an Egyptian goddess who came to be worshipped in Rome. Flutes and pipes and piccolos sounded a very soothing harmony. An attractive choir of carefully chosen boys, radiant in their white Vestments, followed, singing a hymn which had been composed by a skillful poet, inspired by the Muses, and which explained the precessional rites of this important ceremony. Then came the pipe players dedicated to the cult of mighty Serapis.