The Glimmer of Satin
The Glimmer of Satin is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the elf Cana Springblizzards. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A speaker recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a litha. The musical voices are joined in melody. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. Pitches are densely packed in clusters as music moves from chord to chord.
- The speaker always should perform with a light touch.
- The litha always does the main melody and should be broad. The voice ranges from the fluid low register to the rich middle register.
- The Glimmer of Satin has the following structure: a theme and one to two series of variations on the theme.
- The theme is slow, and it is to become softer and softer. The passage is performed using the fena scale and in the mathuva rhythm.
- Each of the series of variations is very slow, and it is to become softer and softer. Each passage is performed using the aweme scale and in the lari rhythm.
- Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
- The fena hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named adi and fathinu.
- The adi tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd and the 6th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The fathinu trichord is the 8th, the 11th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The aweme hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named datha and fomire.
- The datha trichord is the 1st, the 4th and the 6th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The fomire tetrachord is the 8th, the 10th, the 11th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The mathuva rhythm is made from two patterns: the lari and the thafatha. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
- The lari rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named aratha (spoken ar) and imeri (im). The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x x |
- where x is a beat and | indicates a bar.
- The thafatha rhythm is a single line with twenty-five beats divided into five bars in a 5-5-5-5-5 pattern. The beats are named etini (spoken et), ile (il), atha (ath), alo (al) and aveya (av). The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x X - x - | - x x - X | x - x x X | x X 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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