The Skirts of Rhyming

The Skirts of Rhyming is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the elf Sareve Budpear. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Three chanters recite the words of My Friend Echo while the music is played on a nithara. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance should be graceful and is fast. Chords, seldom-used, are sparse -- intervals and single pitches are favored. It is performed using the imeri scale. Throughout, when possible, performers are to locally improvise. From beginning to end, when improvising, artists should often include a falling-rising melody pattern with sharpened sixth degree on the rise, flattened third degree on the fall and sharpened fifth degree on the rise as well as glides, often include a rising-falling melody pattern with grace notes, mordents, trills and staccato and sometimes include a rising melody pattern with flattened fourth degree and sharpened second degree.

• Each chanter always does the main melody and is to start loud then be immediately soft.
• The nithara always provides the rhythm and is to be soft.
• The Skirts of Rhyming has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy introduction, a theme and one to two lengthy series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated, a bridge-passage and a finale.
• In the introduction, each of the chanters' voices stays in the low register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• In the theme, each of the chanters' voices stays in the middle register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. The passage is performed in the bareca rhythm.
• In each of the series of variations, each of the chanters' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register. Each passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. Each passage is performed in the emudi rhythm.
• In the bridge-passage, each of the chanters' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register. The passage has mid-length phrases in the melody. The passage is performed in the ereni rhythm.
• In the finale, each of the chanters' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. The passage is performed in the fecaci rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
• The imeri hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named warere and fena.
• The warere tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th and the 7th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The fena trichord is the 8th, the 9th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The bareca rhythm is made from two patterns: the mathuva and the fidale. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The mathuva rhythm is a single line with seven beats. The beats are named bulifo (spoken bu), ada (ad), mamo (ma), icithi (ic), arile (ar), opa (op) and eli (el). 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.
• 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 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 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 ereni rhythm is made from two patterns: the fidale and the mafina. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• 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.
• The fecaci rhythm is made from two patterns: the mathuva and the ele. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The ele rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into six bars in a 7-6-3-6-5-5 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - X - x x - | - - x`x X - | x X`x | - - - x - - | - - x X x | - x X'- x |
• where X marks an accented beat, ` marks a beat as early, ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events

• In midautumn of 200, The Skirts of Rhyming was created by the elf Sareve Budpear in Blossomedcreeds