The Sensual Aquamarine

The Sensual Aquamarine is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originating in The Hale Field. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. The music is played on a iye, a ipivi and a lethathi. The musical voices join in melody, counterpoint and harmony. The entire performance is at a walking pace. The melody and counterpoint both have short phrases throughout the form. It is performed in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to use mordents and locally improvise.

• The iye always should perform with feeling.
• The ipivi always does the main melody and should be melancholic.
• The lethathi always should feel mournful. The voice uses its entire range from the rippling low register to the muddy high register.
• The Sensual Aquamarine has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a brief introduction and a theme and a series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the ipivi, the melody of the lethathi and the harmony of the iye. The passage is to be soft. The ipivi stays in the piercing high register, the lethathi covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the muddy high register and the iye covers its entire range. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed using the thili scale. The passage should be performed using rapid runs and frequent modulation. The passage should often include a falling melody pattern with trills and legato, often include a rising-falling melody pattern with staccato and legato, often include a rising melody pattern and sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with sharpened seventh degree on the rise as well as glides, staccato and legato.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the iye, the melody of the ipivi and the counterpoint of the lethathi. The passage is to be loud. The iye stays in the muddy high register, the ipivi stays in the ringing low register and the lethathi covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the muddy high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the warere scale. The passage should sometimes include a rising melody pattern with sharpened sixth degree, sharpened fourth degree and flattened third degree as well as glides, grace notes, trills, arpeggios and legato, often include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened sixth degree on the rise as well as glides, sometimes include a falling melody pattern with flattened fourth degree, flattened sixth degree and flattened fifth degree as well as rapid runs and legato and always include a falling-rising melody pattern with grace notes, staccato and legato.
• The series of variations is voiced by the melody of the ipivi. The passage is to be moderately loud. The ipivi covers its entire range from the ringing low register to the piercing high register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed using the cebela scale. The passage should be performed using frequent modulation. The passage should often include a rising melody pattern with arpeggios and legato, always include a falling melody pattern with sharpened second degree, flattened fourth degree and flattened seventh degree as well as staccato and legato, always include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened seventh degree on the fall as well as rapid runs, arpeggios and legato and often include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened third degree on the rise as well as grace notes and trills.
• Scales are constructed from seventeen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-xxxx-x-x-x-xxx-xxxx-xxO, 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.
• The thili heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 6th, the 7th, the 10th, the 11th and the 14th.
• The warere hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 8th, the 10th, the 13th and the 16th.
• The cebela 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 12th and the 13th.

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