The Sheens of Tweeting
The Sheens of Tweeting is a form of music used to commemorate important events originally devised by the elf Cata Blottwigs. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A chanter recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on one to four mirise. The musical voices bring melody with harmony. The entire performance is to be moderately loud. The melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. It is performed in the icithi rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to locally improvise.
- The chanter always does the main melody and should be triumphant.
- Each mirise always should be broad. The voice uses its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register.
- The Sheens of Tweeting has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme and a series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated and a lengthy finale.
- The theme is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting any composition of The East Guilds and the melody of the mirise. The passage gradually slows as it comes to an end. The chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register and each of the mirise covers its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed without preference for a scale.
- The series of variations is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting any composition of The Beach of Ships. The passage is slow. The chanter's voice covers its entire range. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the cebela scale. The passage should often include a rising melody pattern with glides, trills, rapid runs and arpeggios.
- The finale is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting any composition of The Beach of Ships and the harmony of the mirise. The passage is at a free tempo. The chanter's voice stays in the low register and each of the mirise covers its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the ifife scale. The passage should always include a rising-falling melody pattern with staccato.
- 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 ifife pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 8th, the 12th, the 15th and the 20th.
- The icithi rhythm is made from two patterns: the cede and the mathuva. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
- The cede rhythm is a single line with eight beats divided into four bars in a 2-2-2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
- | - x | x x | - x | x - |
- where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The mathuva rhythm is a single line with thirty-one beats divided into five bars in a 3-5-4-11-8 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x x - | - - - - x | - x - 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.
Events