The Sweet Glimmer
The Sweet Glimmer is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the human Emeg Elderbee. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. Two chanters recite the words of The North Deterioration while the music is played on a hixur. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance should evoke tears and is moderately paced, and it is to become louder and louder. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the kasmko scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to make trills, add fills and play staccato.
- Each chanter always does the main melody.
- The hixur always provides the rhythm.
- The Sweet Glimmer has the following structure: a lengthy theme and a brief series of variations on the theme.
- In the theme, each of the chanters' voices stays in the high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
- In the series of variations, each of the chanters' voices stays in the middle 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 kasmko pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 7th, the 10th and the 12th.
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