The Umber Bell

The Umber Bell is a devotional form of music originating in The Dungeon of Verses. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. One to four chanters recite nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a olsmu and a utol. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance should feel mysterious and is consistently slowing. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. It is performed in the tuxxu rhythm.

• Each chanter always does the main melody.
• The olsmu always plays staccato.
• The Umber Bell has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy introduction and a theme, a bridge-passage and a series of variations on the theme.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds, the rhythm of the olsmu and the rhythm of the utol. The passage is to be in whispered undertones. Each of the chanters' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the ost scale. The passage should be performed using mordents.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the rhythm of the olsmu. The passage is to become softer and softer. Each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the slusna scale.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the rhythm of the olsmu. The passage is to be in whispered undertones. Each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the urdu scale.
• The series of variations is voiced by the melody of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the melody of the utol. The passage is to fade into silence. Each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed using the usmdas scale. The passage should be performed using locally improvisation. The passage should sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened fourth degree on the rise as well as grace notes, mordents and staccato.
• Scales are conceived of as two chords built using a division of the perfect fourth interval into eight 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 uto (spoken ut), nol (no), dab (da), agun (ag), ung (ung), stotho (sto) and bor (bo).
• As always, the ost heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named ogo and asmuk.
• The ogo tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The asmuk tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the slusna hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named usnusp and ekxox.
• The usnusp trichord is the 1st, the 2nd and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The ekxox tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the urdu hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named lasm and ekxox.
• The lasm trichord is the 1st, the 5th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the usmdas hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named abo and ekxox.
• The abo trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The tuxxu rhythm is a single line with six beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x`- - x |
• where ` marks a beat as early, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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