The Periwinkle of Verse

The Periwinkle of Verse is a devotional form of music originating in The Maligned Devil. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Three singers recite nonsensical words and sounds. The entire performance should be made with feeling. The melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed in the sputo rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to use mordents and locally improvise.

• Each singer always does the main melody and is to become softer and softer.
• The Periwinkle of Verse has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy introduction, a lengthy first theme, an exposition of the first theme, a second theme, an exposition of the second theme and a synthesis of previous passages.
• The introduction is at a walking pace. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register. The passage is performed without preference for a scale. The passage should be performed using glides.
• The first theme slows and broadens. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage is performed using the ngub scale. The passage should be performed using glides. The passage should often include a falling-rising melody pattern with trills, arpeggios and legato, often include a falling melody pattern with flattened sixth degree and flattened second degree as well as rapid runs, sometimes include a rising-falling melody pattern with sharpened third degree on the rise as well as arpeggios and staccato and often include a rising melody pattern with flattened third degree as well as grace notes and arpeggios.
• The first exposition accelerates as it proceeds. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage is performed using the ok scale. The passage should be performed using glides. The passage should always include a falling melody pattern with staccato, often include a rising melody pattern with grace notes and legato and sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened third degree on the fall and sharpened sixth degree on the rise.
• The second theme is extremely fast. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register. The passage is performed using the xenmu scale. The passage should be performed using glides. The passage should sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened fourth degree on the fall as well as grace notes, sometimes include a falling melody pattern with flattened third degree as well as arpeggios, always include a rising melody pattern with sharpened fifth degree as well as trills and always include a rising-falling melody pattern.
• The second exposition is at a hurried pace. Each of the singers' voices stays in the high register. The passage is performed using the ogo scale. The passage should be performed using glides. The passage should often include a falling melody pattern with trills, arpeggios and staccato.
• The synthesis slows and broadens. Each of the singers' voices stays in the low register. The passage is performed using the ogo scale. The passage should often include a falling melody pattern with flattened second degree as well as grace notes and rapid runs, sometimes include a rising melody pattern with flattened second degree as well as arpeggios and legato, often include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened fifth degree on the fall as well as arpeggios and legato and sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with trills.
• Scales are constructed from seventeen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-x-x-xxxx-x-xxxx-x-xxxxO, 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 slulasp (spoken slu), ozse (oz), sasne (sa), odu (od), nuklat (nu), ost (ost) and urdu (urd).
• The ngub hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 9th, the 12th, the 13th and the 15th.
• The ok heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th, the 7th, the 9th, the 11th and the 12th.
• The xenmu hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 9th, the 10th, the 13th and the 17th.
• The ogo pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 9th, the 11th and the 17th.
• 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 sputo rhythm is made from three patterns: the ugas, the usmdas and the zudol. As stated above, they are to be played in polyrhythm.
• The ugas rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named ustrok (spoken us), gosma (go), kabu (ka) and ron (ro). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The usmdas rhythm is a single line with nine beats divided into three bars in a 3-3-3 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x x | - x x | x x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The zudol rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x x'|
• where ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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