The Adorable Larks

The Adorable Larks is a form of music used for entertainment originally devised by the elf Thithu Seasonmurk. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A singer recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a ile. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance should be fiery and accelerates as it proceeds. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the atho scale and in the lemathe rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to glide from note to note, use mordents, add fills and modulate frequently.

• The Adorable Larks has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy introduction, one to two passages and an additional passage and a coda.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the singer reciting any composition of The Bud of Wind and the rhythm of the ile. The passage is to fade into silence. The singer's voice covers its entire range. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage should be performed using syncopation.
• Each of the first simple passages is voiced by the melody of the ile and the rhythm of the singer reciting any composition of The Bud of Wind. Each passage is to be moderately loud. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range.
• The second simple passage is voiced by the melody of the ile and the harmony of the singer reciting the words of The Regal Conjurers. The passage is to become louder and louder. The singer's voice stays in the high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• The coda is voiced by the melody of the ile. The passage is to be in whispered undertones. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range.
• Scales are constructed from twelve 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 imeri (spoken im) and thuna (thu).
• The atho hexatonic scale is thought of as joined chords spanning a perfect fifth and a perfect fourth. These chords are named thili and aweme.
• The thili pentachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th, the 6th and the 8th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The aweme trichord is the 8th, the 10th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone 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 lemathe rhythm is made from two patterns: the arazi (considered the primary) and the upe. As stated above, they are to be played in polymeter.
• The arazi rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into two bars in a 8-8 pattern. The beats are named fidale (spoken fi), tarathe (ta), cuthefi (cu), cede (ce), otoga (ot), dinade (di), ele (el) and timafi (ti). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x X x x x - - x | - - - - - x - - |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The upe rhythm is a single line with eight beats. The beats are named amama (spoken am), thafatha (tha), etini (et), ile (il), atha (ath), alo (al), aveya (av) and mafina (ma). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x X x - - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events

• In midspring of 247, The Adorable Larks was created by the elf Thithu Seasonmurk in Racedskirt