The Cardinal Phrases

The Cardinal Phrases is a form of music used for entertainment originally devised by the elf Imere Presentsuitor. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A speaker recites any composition of The Wondrous Song while the music is played on two irami. The musical voices are joined in melody. The melody has mid-length phrases throughout the form. Pitches are densely packed in clusters as music moves from chord to chord. It is performed in the alo rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to play arpeggios.

• The speaker always should feel tender.
• Each irami always does the main melody and should be delicate.
• The Cardinal Phrases has a simple structure: three lengthy unrelated passages.
• Each of the simple passages is very fast, and it is to be very soft. Each passage is performed using the lari scale. Each passage should be composed and performed using staccato.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
• The lari hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named datha and aweme.
• The datha trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 6th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The aweme tetrachord is the 8th, the 9th, the 10th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The alo rhythm is made from two patterns: the arazi and the cede. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The arazi rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beats are named fidale (spoken fi), tarathe (ta) and cuthefi (cu). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The cede rhythm is a single line with eight beats divided into four bars in a 2-2-2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - | x - | x - | - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events

• In late summer of 201, The Cardinal Phrases was created by the elf Imere Presentsuitor in Marketblossoms