The Wisps of Incense

The Wisps of Incense is a devotional form of music originating in The Disloyalty of Crypts. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A singer recites any composition of The Grave of Crypts while the music is played on a gasnasp. The musical voices bring melody and counterpoint. The entire performance should be fiery, and it is to be moderately loud. The melody and counterpoint both have short phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the xenmu scale and in the ost rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to play rapid runs, alternate tension and repose and play staccato. The voice ranges from the middle register to the high register.

• The Wisps of Incense has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a brief exposition of the theme and a lengthy recapitulation of the theme.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the gasnasp. The passage is moderately fast. The gasnasp stays in the strident high register.
• The exposition is voiced by the melody of the gasnasp. The passage is slow. The gasnasp covers its entire range from the watery low register to the strident high register.
• The recapitulation is voiced by the melody of the singer and the counterpoint of the gasnasp. The passage is consistently slowing. The singer's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register and the gasnasp covers its entire range from the watery low register to the strident high register.
• Scales are constructed from eighteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xxxx-xx-x-x-xxxxx-x-xxxO, 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. Preferred notes in the fundamental scale are named. The names are ekxox (spoken ek, 4th), asmuk (as, 5th), ok (ok, 11th) and slulasp (slu, 12th).
• The xenmu hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 7th, the 11th, the 14th and the 15th.
• 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 ost rhythm is made from two patterns: the slusna and the nuklat. As stated above, they are to be played in polymeter.
• The slusna rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The nuklat rhythm is a single line with eight beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - x x x x x x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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