The Smile of Flutes
The Smile of Flutes is a form of music used for entertainment originally devised by the elf Fima Wavedfocused. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on three thawa, a foli and three efiva. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance is to be soft. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the cede scale and in the cida rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use grace notes and syncopate.
- Each thawa always does harmony and should be delicate.
- The foli always provides the rhythm and should feel mysterious.
- Each efiva always does the main melody and should be stately.
- The Smile of Flutes has the following structure: one to two passages and an additional passage possibly all repeated.
- Each of the first simple passages slows and broadens. Each of the thawa covers its entire range from the heavy low register to the raspy high register and the foli ranges from the heavy low register to the even middle register.
- The second simple passage is moderately paced. Each of the thawa ranges from the watery middle register to the raspy high register and the foli ranges from the even middle register to the flat high register.
- Scales are constructed from twenty-four notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student. After a scale is constructed, the root note of chords are named. The names are otoga (spoken ot) and dinade (di).
- The cede pentatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named datha and thili.
- The datha trichord is the 1st, the 8th and the 11th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The thili trichord is the 15th, the 23rd and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The rhythm system is fundamentally polymetric. There are always multiple rhythm lines, and the beats are always played together, even if one rhythm line completes (and then repeats) before the other is finished. The rhythm lines are thought of as one, without a primary-subordinate relationship, though individual lines can be named.
- The cida rhythm is made from two patterns: the cenopu (considered the primary) and the etini. As stated above, they are to be played in polymeter.
- The cenopu rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into four bars in a 4-4-4-4 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x - - x | - - - x | - - x x | x - - - |
- where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The etini rhythm is a single line with four beats divided into two bars in a 2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x - | - x |
- where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
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