Chanting

All magic in Veiama is done via music. Without a performance of sound, no effects can be produced.
A person who uses magic is called a chanter, and the individual tunes that cause specific effects are called chants. If something has been affected by magic, it is enchanted.Thousands of years ago, before instruments were widespread, the earlier music was all done by singing. That ancient root persisted throughout the evolution and spread of instruments.
Different styles of music excel at different types of magic. Some general guidelines:

• Rhythmic percussion music, simulating a heartbeat, is best suited for healing
• Softer, slower music with glissando, in the style of lullabies and sweet melodies, is best at manipulation, such as putting someone to sleep or creating an illusion
• Upbeat folk music, usually played on fiddles with a strong beat, is best for strongly elemental magic like fire and water manipulation
• Militaristic march music, often played on horns, is best for pure energy, such as bursts of light or creating energy shields

Additionally, because each elemental god has a specific instrument associated with them, playing any style of music on their instrument makes it easier to tap into their elemental power. For example, how easy it is to evoke fire when using fiddles in traditional Veiamic folk music.
However, a skilled chanter can create just about any magical effects with any instrument, given the right ability. Famously, Silent Music is a rare branch of magic practised by the Deaf which uses percussion - with heavy focus on vibration - for all manner of effects, whereas drums are generally thought to be limited to healing magic by hearing chanters. Some chanters can create effects merely by humming a tune.
The significant part of magic is understanding. All things in the world, living and non-living, have a resonance of their own. In order to start a fire with magic, for example, one must understand all that fire is - its strengths, its limits, how it moves, how it breathes, how it alters the world around it. Only after achieving a true understanding of what fire is can a musician channel that understanding into music that captures a fire's resonance and sparks it into creation.
This is easier to do on a fiddle, which is already closer to a fire's nature thanks to its association with the god of fire, but not impossible to do on a panpipe if the chanter has both a deeper understanding of the internal song of fire and of how to express that understanding in their own work.
There are standard chants that create a predictable magical response. They are the easiest to learn, although merely playing them with no understanding of their meaning would not produce any results. However, unique music crafted by a chanter's own understanding of the world will always be more powerful

If a chant invokes the natural elements, it is helpful to use an instrument associated with the corresponding god. They are:

Fire

Fiddle

Woods, Trees

Lute, guitar

Plants, agriculture

Ocarina

Wind, sky

Bagpipe

Earth

Vocal

Freshwater

Hornpipe

Seawater

Drum

Light, time

Horn