The Pregnant Saffron

The Pregnant Saffron is a devotional form of music originating in The Inky Growths. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A chanter recites any composition of The Lens of Brains. The entire performance should be made with feeling and is very fast, and it is to be moderately loud. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the atho scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use mordents, play rapid runs and locally improvise.

• The chanter always does the main melody.
• The Pregnant Saffron has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a lengthy bridge-passage and a lengthy series of variations on the theme.
• In the theme, the chanter's voice covers its entire range. The passage should often include a rising-falling melody pattern, always include a falling melody pattern with flattened fourth degree, flattened third degree and sharpened fifth degree and sometimes include a rising melody pattern.
• In the bridge-passage, the chanter's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register. The passage should sometimes include a falling melody pattern with sharpened sixth degree as well as grace notes and staccato and often include a rising melody pattern with flattened third degree.
• In the series of variations, the chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage should sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with staccato.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
• The atho hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named aro and fela.
• The aro trichord is the 1st, the 2nd and the 6th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The fela tetrachord is the 8th, the 11th, the 12th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.

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