The Venerable Verses
The Venerable Verses is a devotional form of music originally devised by the elf Amoya Rocksglee. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A singer recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a nithara. The musical voices bring melody and counterpoint. The melody has short phrases, while the counterpoint has long phrases throughout the form. Never more than an interval sounds at once. It is performed using the lari scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to play rapid runs, alternate tension and repose and play staccato.
- The singer always does the main melody and should perform expressively. The voice stays in the high register.
- The nithara always does the counterpoint melody and should feel playful.
- The Venerable Verses has a simple structure: three to four unrelated passages.
- Each of the simple passages is at a hurried pace, and it is to be soft.
- Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
- The lari heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, the 7th and the 9th.
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