The Flowery Glitter
The Flowery Glitter is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the elf Masami Dessertplan. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A singer recites any composition of The Natural Bud while the music is played on a thilama, a nithara and one to five ice. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. The music is broadly layered with chords spanning the range. It is performed using the adi scale. Throughout, when possible, performers are to alternate tension and repose.
- The singer always does the main melody and should be graceful.
- The thilama always does harmony and should be graceful.
- The nithara always provides the rhythm and should perform with a light touch.
- Each ice always does the main melody and should feel tender.
- The Flowery Glitter has the following structure: a theme and one to two lengthy series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated.
- The theme is very slow, and it is to be moderately soft. The singer's voice covers its entire range and each of the ice covers its entire range from the crisp low register to the dull high register. The passage is performed in the emudi rhythm. The passage should be performed using fills.
- Each of the series of variations is at a walking pace, and it is to fade into silence. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register and each of the ice ranges from the crisp low register to the watery middle register. Each passage is performed in the thiwa rhythm.
- Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
- The adi hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named datha and thili.
- The datha trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 7th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The thili tetrachord is the 8th, the 10th, the 11th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The emudi rhythm is made from two patterns: the fidale and the cida. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
- 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 cida rhythm is a single line with seven beats. The beats are named lolama (spoken lo), itho (ith), lebeyu (le), efeye (ef), abure (ab), camaba (ca) and afatha (af). The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x - X x - - - |
- where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The thiwa rhythm is made from three patterns: the timafi, the etini and the mafina. 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 etini rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named ile (spoken il), atha (ath), alo (al) and aveya (av). The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x - x - |
- where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The mafina rhythm is a single line with seven beats. 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.
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