The Amethyst of Verse

The Amethyst of Verse is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Amusing Nations. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Two singers recite nonsensical words and sounds. The entire performance slows and broadens. The melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the icmon scale and in the ushav rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to alternate tension and repose.

• Each singer always does the main melody and should be passionate.
• The Amethyst of Verse has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a verse and a chorus all repeated one times, a lengthy bridge-passage and a chorus and a verse.
• The introduction is to be very loud. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage should be performed using staccato.
• The first verse is to be soft. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register.
• The first chorus is to be moderately soft. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range.
• The bridge-passage is to become louder and louder. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range.
• The second chorus is to be loud. Each of the singers' voices stays in the low register.
• The second verse is to start loud then be immediately soft. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage should be performed using staccato.
• Scales are constructed from twenty-four notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance. Every note is named. The names are nek (spoken ne), lastta (la), cish (ci), ani (an), shato (sha), almef (al), onod (on), osp (osp), arin (ar), umo (um), rostfen (ro), hiner (hi), ohe (oh), nazweng (na), tod (to), zomuth (zo), bepa (be), noloc (no), kes (ke), suku (su), musda (mu), uzu (uz), onaf (on) and agthreb (ag).
• The icmon pentatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named ilpi and idla.
• The ilpi trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 11th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
• The idla trichord is the 15th, the 22nd and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
• The ushav rhythm is a single line with seven beats. The beats are named asri (spoken as), odu (od), ijat (ij), iquob (iq), cadem (ca), shibbi (shi) and aro (ar). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x - - X x x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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