The Goldenrod Tone
The Goldenrod Tone is a form of music used to commemorate important events originally devised by the human Ohe Hailfocused. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A chanter recites The Adorable Luxuries while the music is played on a sad and a anga. The musical voices join in melody, counterpoint and harmony. The entire performance should be melancholic and slows and broadens. The melody has short phrases, while the counterpoint has long phrases throughout the form. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use mordents and alternate tension and repose. The voice ranges from the low register to the middle register.
- The sad always locally improvises.
- The Goldenrod Tone has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a lengthy passage and a finale.
- The introduction is voiced by the melody of the sad and the melody of the anga. The passage is to be moderately soft. The anga stays in the vibrating low register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed without preference for a scale and in the enu rhythm. The passage should be composed and performed using arpeggios and legato.
- The simple passage is voiced by the melody of the chanter, the counterpoint of the anga and the harmony of the sad. The passage is to be soft. The chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register and the anga covers its entire range from the vibrating low register to the strident high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the slusna scale and in the tobog rhythm. The passage should be composed and performed using legato.
- The finale is voiced by the melody of the sad and the harmony of the anga. The passage is to be soft. The anga stays in the vibrating low register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the ost scale and in the tuxxu rhythm.
- Scales are conceived of as two chords built using a division of the perfect fourth interval into eight notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
- As always, the slusna hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named ogo and asmuk.
- The ogo tetrachord is the 1st, the 4th, the 5th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
- The asmuk trichord is the 1st, the 2nd and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
- As always, the ost hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named lasm and ngub.
- The lasm tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
- The ngub trichord is the 1st, the 7th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
- The enu rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into eight bars in a 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 pattern. The beats are named stol (spoken sto) and zak (za). The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x - | x - | x - | - x | - x'| x'x | x x | x x`|
- where ` marks a beat as early, ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The tobog rhythm is made from two patterns: the kabu (considered the primary) and the enu. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
- The kabu rhythm is a single line with five beats. The beats are named ron (spoken ro), zudol (zu), zaxo (za), ospo (os) and strog (stro). The beat is stressed as follows:
- | - x x - - |
- where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The tuxxu rhythm is a single line with twenty-one beats divided into three bars in a 7-7-7 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
- | - - - x'x - x | x - x x x - - | x x - x x x - |
- where ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
Events