The Rhymes of Glistening

The Rhymes of Glistening is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Confederacy of Fur. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Three speakers recite nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a ciro, a thomo and two vuthe. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance should evoke tears. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the agtha scale and in the bepa rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to make trills and alternate tension and repose.

• Each speaker always is to be moderately loud.
• The ciro always provides the rhythm and is to fade into silence.
• The thomo always does the main melody and is to be moderately soft.
• Each vuthe always provides the rhythm and is to become softer and softer.
• The Rhymes of Glistening has a simple structure: three unrelated passages.
• Each of the simple passages is at a walking pace.
• 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 agtha hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 11th, the 13th, the 14th and the 21st.
• The rhythm system is fundamentally polyrhythmic. There are always multiple rhythm lines, and each of their bars is played over the same period of time, regardless of the number of beats. The rhythm lines are thought of as one, without a primary-subordinate relationship, though individual lines can be named.
• The bepa rhythm is made from two patterns: the icmon (considered the primary) and the ozi. As stated above, they are to be played in polyrhythm.
• The icmon rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into eight bars in a 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - x - | X x x x | - - - x | - - x - | x x x X | x X x x | - x x - | - x - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The ozi rhythm is a single line with eighteen beats divided into six bars in a 3-3-3-3-3-3 pattern. The beats are named stalcon (spoken sta), nek (ne) and lastta (la). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x x | - x x | - x x | x X x | x - - | x - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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