The Fragrances of Adoration
The Fragrances of Adoration is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the elf Nemo Soundsatins. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on a amafi, a darala and a mevena. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. The music is broadly layered with chords spanning the range. It is performed using the fena scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to play rapid runs, locally improvise, syncopate, alternate tension and repose, modulate frequently and play legato.
- The amafi always does the main melody and should perform with a light touch.
- The darala always should feel calm.
- The mevena always should evoke tears. The voice uses its entire range from the strident low register to the nasal high register.
- The Fragrances of Adoration has the following structure: one to two passages and another one to two passages possibly all repeated.
- Each of the first simple passages is voiced by the melody of the amafi and the rhythm of the darala. Each passage becomes calmer as the end is approached. The amafi stays in the quavering high register. Each passage should sometimes include a falling melody pattern with flattened second degree as well as grace notes and staccato.
- Each of the second simple passages is voiced by the melody of the amafi, the harmony of the darala and the rhythm of the mevena. Each passage is consistently slowing, and it is to be moderately soft. The amafi covers its entire range from the nasal low register to the quavering high register and the mevena covers its entire range from the strident low register to the nasal high register. Each passage should often include a falling melody pattern with glides and grace notes, often include a rising melody pattern with flattened third degree as well as staccato, sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern and always include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened fourth degree on the fall as well as trills and arpeggios.
- Scales are conceived of as two chords built using a division of the perfect fourth interval into eleven notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance. Preferred notes in the fundamental scale are named. The names are thuna (spoken thu, 1st), arazi (ar, 4th), fidale (fi, 7th) and tarathe (ta, 9th).
- As always, the fena hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named eyo and fathinu.
- The eyo trichord is the 1st, the 5th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
- The fathinu tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
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