The Droplets of Style

The Droplets of Style is a devotional form of music originally devised by the elf Fayoba Boneswings. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A speaker recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a otoga. The musical voices are joined in melody. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the ifife scale and in the timafi rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use mordents, locally improvise and alternate tension and repose.

• The speaker always should be delicate.
• The otoga always does the main melody and should perform with feeling.
• The Droplets of Style has the following structure: one to two passages and an additional passage possibly all repeated.
• Each of the first simple passages is at a free tempo, and it is to be soft. The otoga covers its entire range from the wispy low register to the dark high register. Each passage should often include a falling melody pattern with grace notes and rapid runs, sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with sharpened fourth degree on the rise as well as trills, rapid runs and legato, always include a rising-falling melody pattern with sharpened fourth degree on the fall as well as rapid runs and legato and sometimes include a rising melody pattern with flattened second degree as well as grace notes, rapid runs and legato.
• The second simple passage is half the tempo of the last passage, and it is to be moderately loud. The otoga ranges from the quavering middle register to the dark high register. The passage should often include a rising melody pattern with glides and rapid runs and often include a falling-rising melody pattern with sharpened seventh degree on the fall as well as rapid runs, arpeggios and staccato.
• Scales are constructed from fifteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-x-x-x-xx-x-xxxx-xx-x-xO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
• The ifife heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 5th, the 6th, the 9th, the 11th and the 14th.
• The timafi rhythm is made from three patterns: the thuna (considered the primary), the otoga and the imeri. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The thuna rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named arazi (spoken ar), fidale (fi), tarathe (ta) and cuthefi (cu). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The otoga rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The imeri rhythm is a single line with twenty-four beats divided into three bars in a 9-5-10 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x - - - - x x x | x - - - - | x x x - x x x - - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events

• In early summer of 258, The Droplets of Style was created by the elf Fayoba Boneswings in Legendroot