The Pantomime of Saffron

The Pantomime of Saffron is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originating in The Confederacy of Fur. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A chanter recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a nek and two unir. The musical voices bring melody, counterpoint and rhythm. The entire performance should feel agitated and is moderately fast. The melody has mid-length phrases, while the counterpoint has phrases of varied length throughout the form. It is performed using the ilpi scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to make trills, locally improvise and alternate tension and repose.

• The chanter always does the counterpoint melody.
• The nek always does the main melody.
• Each unir always provides the rhythm.
• The Pantomime of Saffron has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a theme, an exposition of the theme and a lengthy recapitulation of the theme.
• The introduction is to become louder and louder. The nek stays in the wispy high register, the chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register and each of the unir ranges from the reedy middle register to the shrill high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage should be performed using mordents. The passage should often include a rising melody pattern and always include a falling melody pattern with staccato.
• The theme is to be soft. The nek covers its entire range from the liquid low register to the wispy high register, the chanter's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register and each of the unir stays in the shrill high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage should often include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened fourth degree on the fall and often include a falling-rising melody pattern with sharpened fifth degree on the rise as well as glides, rapid runs and staccato.
• The exposition is to start loud then be immediately soft. The nek covers its entire range from the liquid low register to the wispy high register, the chanter's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register and each of the unir ranges from the reedy middle register to the shrill high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage should sometimes include a falling melody pattern with sharpened fifth degree as well as arpeggios, always include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened third degree on the rise as well as mordents and rapid runs, always include a rising melody pattern with grace notes and mordents and often include a rising-falling melody pattern with sharpened third degree on the fall as well as mordents.
• The recapitulation is to be loud. The nek stays in the liquid low register, the chanter's voice covers its entire range and each of the unir stays in the reedy middle register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage should always include a falling-rising melody pattern with mordents, often include a falling melody pattern with rapid runs and always include a rising melody pattern with sharpened third degree, flattened fourth degree and sharpened fifth degree as well as rapid runs.
• Scales are constructed from twenty-three notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance. After a scale is constructed, notes are named according to degree. The names are kasmko (spoken ka), woge (wo), idla (id), othag (oth), dik (di), tunem (tu) and ramet (ra).
• The ilpi pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 7th, the 11th, the 15th and the 22nd.

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