The Berry of Sweetness
The Berry of Sweetness is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Confederacy of Abbeys. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A chanter recites nonsensical words and sounds. The entire performance is moderately fast. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to modulate frequently.
- The chanter always does the main melody and should feel mysterious.
- The Berry of Sweetness has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a brief exposition of the theme, a bridge-passage and a recapitulation of the theme.
- The theme is to be moderately soft. The chanter's voice covers its entire range. The passage is performed without preference for a scale.
- The exposition is to be soft. The chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage is performed using the almef scale. The passage should be performed using legato.
- The bridge-passage is to be loud. The chanter's voice stays in the middle register. The passage is performed using the umo scale.
- The recapitulation is to become louder and louder. The chanter's voice stays in the low register. The passage is performed using the ozi scale.
- Scales are constructed from twenty-four notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
- The almef hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a perfect fifth and a major third. These chords are named idla and onod.
- The idla tetrachord is the 1st, the 7th, the 9th and the 15th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The onod trichord is the 17th, the 24th and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The umo pentatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named stalcon and tunem.
- The stalcon trichord is the 1st, the 10th and the 13th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The tunem trichord is the 15th, the 19th and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The ozi hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named lastta and othag.
- The lastta trichord is the 1st, the 6th and the 13th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The othag tetrachord is the 15th, the 16th, the 23rd and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
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