The Sweetnesses of Sparkling

The Sweetnesses of Sparkling is a devotional form of music originating in The Confederacies of Habit. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A chanter recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on one to three ledir and a orid. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance is moderately paced. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the icmon scale and in the osp rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to add fills and alternate tension and repose.

• The chanter always should bring a sense of motion.
• Each ledir always should be merry.
• The orid always should be vigorous.
• The Sweetnesses of Sparkling has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a theme, a bridge-passage and one to two series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated, a bridge-passage and a finale.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the rhythm of the ledir. The passage is to be very loud. The chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting nonsensical words and sounds, the melody of the orid and the rhythm of the ledir. The passage is to fade into silence. The chanter's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• The first bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the orid. The passage is to become louder and louder. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
• Each of the series of variations is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the rhythm of the ledir. Each passage is to be loud. The chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. Each passage should be composed and performed using staccato.
• The second bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the melody of the orid. The passage is to start loud then be immediately soft. The chanter's voice stays in the middle register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
• The finale is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting any composition of The Learned Glosses, the melody of the orid and the rhythm of the ledir. The passage is to be in whispered undertones. The chanter's voice stays in the high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage should be composed and performed using locally improvisation and melismatic phrasing. The passage should sometimes include a rising-falling melody pattern with sharpened fifth degree on the fall as well as staccato and always include a rising melody pattern with flattened fifth degree as well as mordents.
• Scales are conceived of as two chords built using a division of the perfect fourth interval into eleven notes. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student. After a scale is constructed, the root note of chords are named. The names are lastta (spoken la) and cish (ci).
• As always, the icmon hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named rom and kasmko.
• The rom tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The kasmko trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• 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 osp rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named arin (spoken ar), umo (um), rostfen (ro) and hiner (hi). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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