The Bride of Song

The Bride of Song is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originating in The Robust Berry. 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 mirise and a umola. The musical voices bring melody with harmony. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed in the eli rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to modulate frequently and play legato.

• The mirise always does the main melody and should perform sweetly.
• The umola always does harmony and should be melancholic.
• The Bride of Song has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy introduction and a verse and a chorus all repeated two times.
• The introduction gradually slows as it comes to an end, and it is to be soft. The mirise stays in the shrill high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the cebela scale.
• The verse is very fast, and it is to become louder and louder. The mirise covers its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed using the adi scale.
• The chorus accelerates as it proceeds, and it is to be soft. The mirise stays in the strident low register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed using the cebela scale.
• Scales are constructed from twenty-four notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxO, 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. After a scale is constructed, notes are named according to degree. The names are fathinu (spoken fa), thili (thi), fomire (fo), fela (fe), aweme (aw) and yaniye (ya).
• The cebela pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 11th, the 15th and the 21st.
• The adi hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 10th, the 13th, the 17th and the 21st.
• The eli rhythm is made from three patterns: the otoga, the upe and the atho. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The otoga rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named dinade (spoken di), cenopu (ce), ele (el) and timafi (ti). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The upe rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named amama (spoken am) and thafatha (tha). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The atho rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into two bars in a 8-8 pattern. The beats are named datome (spoken da), lari (la), aratha (ar), imeri (im), thuna (thu), fidale (fi), tarathe (ta) and cuthefi (cu). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x'x x - - X - | - x - X x x - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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