The Sweetness of Wonder

The Sweetness of Wonder is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Pink Realms. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on a olek and a ikar. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The melody has mid-length phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the thad scale and in the itlud rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to make trills.

• The olek always does the main melody and should perform with feeling.
• The ikar always should perform expressively.
• The Sweetness of Wonder has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a bridge-passage and a series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the olek and the rhythm of the ikar. The passage is consistently slowing, and it is to start loud then be immediately soft. The olek covers its entire range from the ringing low register to the dull high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the olek and the melody of the ikar. The passage is consistently slowing, and it is to be soft. The olek covers its entire range from the ringing low register to the dull high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
• The series of variations is voiced by the melody of the olek. The passage gradually slows as it comes to an end, and it is to fade into silence. The olek stays in the ringing low register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
• Scales are constructed from thirteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-x-x-x-x-x--xx-x-xx-x-xO, 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 dik (spoken di, 5th), tunem (tu, 7th), ramet (ra, 8th), icmon (ic, 9th) and ozi (oz, 11th).
• The thad hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th, the 7th, the 8th and the 11th.
• The itlud rhythm is made from two patterns: the stalcon (considered the primary) and the tod. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
• The stalcon rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into eight bars in a 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x X x | - x - x | x - - - | x - x - | - x - - | x x x X | x x X x | X x x - |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The tod rhythm is a single line with twenty-seven beats divided into five bars in a 5-8-7-3-4 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x X x x | x X - - x - x x | x - x - - - - | x x X | - - x - |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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