The Pristine Pregnancy
The Pristine Pregnancy is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the dwarf Rith Copperdusks. 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 bol, a belbez and two betan. The musical voices join in melody, counterpoint and harmony. The entire performance should be made sweetly. The counterpoint melody has long phrases throughout the form. The music repeats for as long as necessary. It is performed in the ngarak rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to play legato.
- The bol always does the main melody.
- The belbez always does harmony. The voice uses its entire range from the pure low register to the heavy high register.
- Each betan always does the counterpoint melody and plays staccato.
- The Pristine Pregnancy has the following structure: three to four unrelated passages and a finale.
- Each of the simple passages gradually slows as it comes to an end, and it is to be very loud. Each passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. Each passage is performed using the kulet scale.
- The finale is very slow, and it is to be soft. The passage has mid-length phrases in the melody. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed using the bemong scale.
- Scales are constructed from twenty-four notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student. After a scale is constructed, the root note of chords are named. The names are feb (spoken fe) and berim (be).
- The kulet hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named anam and sedil.
- The anam trichord is the 1st, the 9th and the 11th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The sedil tetrachord is the 15th, the 17th, the 19th and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The bemong hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning two perfect fourths. These chords are named nicol and mabdug.
- The nicol trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 11th degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The mabdug tetrachord is the 15th, the 18th, the 22nd and the 25th (completing the octave) degrees of the quartertone octave scale.
- The ngarak rhythm is made from two patterns: the ermis (considered the primary) and the roder. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
- The ermis rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into eight bars in a 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
- | x - | x - | - x | x x | x - | x - | - x | - x |
- where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
- The roder rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into four bars in a 8-8-8-8 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 - |
- where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
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