The Poetic Bell

The Poetic Bell is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the elf Fewetha Blazebanners. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A singer recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a raniya. The musical voices are joined in melody. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the datome scale and in the thuna rhythm.

• The singer always does the main melody and is to be moderately loud.
• The raniya always does the main melody and is to start loud then be immediately soft.
• The Poetic Bell has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme and a lengthy series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated and a brief coda.
• The theme should feel heroic and slows and broadens. The singer's voice stays in the low register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
• The series of variations should be delicate and accelerates as it proceeds. The singer's voice covers its entire range. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range.
• The coda should feel agitated and is moderately fast. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
• The datome heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named ifife and warere.
• The ifife tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th and the 6th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The warere tetrachord is the 8th, the 9th, the 12th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The thuna rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named arazi (spoken ar) and fidale (fi). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events

• In midautumn of 143, The Poetic Bell was created by the elf Fewetha Blazebanners in Casketfists after a dream