The Festive Verses

The Festive Verses is a form of music used for entertainment originally devised by the elf Ilime Growlbasin. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Three speakers recite nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a nithara. The musical voices are joined in melody. The entire performance should feel mysterious and is very fast. The melody has mid-length phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the thuna scale. Throughout, when possible, performers are to play rapid runs.

• The nithara always does the main melody.
• The Festive Verses has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a lengthy exposition of the theme, a bridge-passage and a recapitulation of the theme.
• The theme is to be loud. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• The exposition is to be loud. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in the ene rhythm.
• The bridge-passage is to be in whispered undertones. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in the soya rhythm.
• The recapitulation is to be in whispered undertones. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
• The thuna hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 5th, the 7th, the 9th and the 11th.
• The ene rhythm is made from two patterns: the timafi and the fidale. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The timafi rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named emu (spoken em), upe (up), amama (am) and thafatha (tha). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x`x - - |
• where ` marks a beat as early, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The fidale rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named tarathe (spoken ta) and cuthefi (cu). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The soya rhythm is made from two patterns: the pama and the mathuva. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The pama rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The mathuva rhythm is a single line with seven beats. The beats are named bulifo (spoken bu), ada (ad), mamo (ma), icithi (ic), arile (ar), opa (op) and eli (el). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x x X - - x`|
• where X marks an accented beat, ` marks a beat as early, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events

• In early winter of 119, The Festive Verses was created by the elf Ilime Growlbasin in Fedlobster