The Rhythmic Skirt

The Rhythmic Skirt is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originally devised by the elf Mifava Adoredrobust. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A speaker recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on two mirise, a umola and a icithi. The musical voices join in melody and counterpoint, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance is consistently slowing. The counterpoint melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. It is performed in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to locally improvise and play legato.

• The speaker always should bring a sense of motion.
• Each mirise always should be broad.
• The umola always should evoke tears.
• The icithi always should perform with feeling.
• The Rhythmic Skirt has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy introduction, a lengthy verse and a lengthy chorus all repeated one times, a bridge-passage and a verse and a chorus.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the umola, the harmony of the mirise and the speaker reciting any composition of The East Guilds. The passage is to start loud then be immediately soft. Each of the mirise covers its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register. The passage has long phrases in the melody. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the adi scale. The passage should be composed and performed using glides. The passage should always include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened fifth degree on the rise as well as mordents and sometimes include a rising-falling melody pattern with mordents and rapid runs.
• The first verse is voiced by the melody of the mirise, the melody of the umola, the rhythm of the icithi and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to become louder and louder. Each of the mirise covers its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register and the icithi ranges from the wispy low register to the rippling middle register. The passage has short phrases in the melody. 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-falling melody pattern with sharpened third degree on the rise as well as grace notes and staccato and sometimes include a falling melody pattern with flattened fifth degree as well as glides and staccato.
• The first chorus is voiced by the melody of the icithi, the counterpoint of the mirise and the speaker reciting any composition of The East Guilds. The passage is to become louder and louder. The icithi stays in the rippling middle register and each of the mirise stays in the strident low register. The passage has long phrases in the melody. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed using the datha scale. The passage should be composed and performed using glides. The passage should always include a rising melody pattern with sharpened second degree as well as arpeggios and always include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened third degree on the fall as well as mordents, trills and rapid runs.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the umola, the counterpoint of the icithi, the harmony of the mirise and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to be moderately loud. The icithi ranges from the rippling middle register to the sparkling high register and each of the mirise stays in the strident low register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the ifife scale. The passage should often include a rising melody pattern with grace notes and trills, always include a falling melody pattern with mordents and rapid runs and often include a rising-falling melody pattern.
• The second verse is voiced by the melody of the umola, the rhythm of the mirise and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to be very soft. Each of the mirise covers its entire range from the strident low register to the shrill high register. The passage has short phrases in the melody. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed using the eyo scale. The passage should always include a rising-falling melody pattern with arpeggios and staccato, sometimes include a falling melody pattern with flattened third degree as well as grace notes, trills and arpeggios and sometimes include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened second degree on the fall, sharpened fourth degree on the rise and flattened third degree on the fall as well as grace notes, rapid runs and staccato.
• The second chorus is voiced by the melody of the mirise, the harmony of the umola and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to be moderately loud. Each of the mirise stays in the shrill high register. The passage has short phrases in the melody. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the warere scale. The passage should sometimes include a rising melody pattern with sharpened third degree, flattened fourth degree and sharpened fifth degree as well as grace notes and sometimes include a rising-falling melody pattern with flattened third degree on the rise as well as glides and trills.
• 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 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 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 datha hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 9th, the 13th, the 17th 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 eyo pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 11th, the 17th and the 24th.
• The warere hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 8th, the 13th, the 16th and the 23rd.

Events

• In midsummer of 156, The Rhythmic Skirt was created by the elf Mifava Adoredrobust in Heavyqueen after a nightmare