The Glimmer of Poetry

The Glimmer of Poetry 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 ela and a ipivi. The musical voices join in melody, counterpoint and harmony. The entire performance should bring a sense of motion and is at a walking pace. The melody has phrases of varied length, while the counterpoint has long phrases throughout the form. It is performed without preference for a scale.

• The iye always does the counterpoint melody.
• The ela always does harmony.
• The ipivi always does the main melody. The voice uses its entire range from the ringing low register to the piercing high register.
• The Glimmer of Poetry has the following structure: an introduction and three to five lengthy unrelated passages.
• The introduction is to fade into silence. The ipivi covers its entire range from the ringing low register to the piercing high register, the iye stays in the muddy high register and the ela ranges from the low register to the middle register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• Each of the simple passages is to be very soft. The ipivi covers its entire range from the ringing low register to the piercing high register, the iye stays in the muddy low register and the ela ranges from the floating middle register to the rich high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. Each passage is performed in the upe rhythm.
• 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 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 upe rhythm is made from two patterns: the atho (considered the primary) and the dinade. As stated above, they are to be played in polyrhythm.
• The atho rhythm is a single line with twelve beats divided into four bars in a 3-3-3-3 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | ! x x | - x x | - x - | x X x |
• where ! marks the primary accent, X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The dinade rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x |
• where x is a beat and | indicates a bar.

Events