The Bride of Periwinkles
The Bride of Periwinkles is a form of music used to commemorate important events originally devised by the elf Aleya Yearfell. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. Two chanters recite The Scintillating Lenses. The melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed in the emu rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use grace notes, make trills, play rapid runs, modulate frequently, play staccato, play legato and match notes and syllables.
- Each chanter always does the main melody and should stress the rhythm.
- The Bride of Periwinkles has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a theme, a bridge-passage and a lengthy series of variations on the theme and a lengthy finale.
- The introduction is consistently slowing, and it is to be moderately loud. Each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range. The passage is performed using the fomire scale.
- The theme is moderately paced, and it is to be moderately loud. Each of the chanters' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register. The passage is performed using the fela scale.
- The bridge-passage is extremely fast, and it is to be in whispered undertones. Each of the chanters' voices stays in the high register. The passage is performed using the cebela scale.
- The series of variations is extremely fast, and it is to be soft. Each of the chanters' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage is performed using the fena scale.
- The finale is slow, and it is to fade into silence. Each of the chanters' voices stays in the high register. The passage is performed using the fela scale.
- Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
- The fomire hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named ifife and warere.
- The ifife trichord is the 1st, the 6th and the 7th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The warere tetrachord is the 8th, the 9th, the 11th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The fela heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named aro and datha.
- The aro tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th and the 7th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The datha tetrachord is the 8th, the 9th, the 10th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The cebela heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named adi and warere.
- The adi tetrachord is the 1st, the 4th, the 5th and the 7th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The fena heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named aro and thili.
- The thili tetrachord is the 8th, the 11th, the 12th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
- The emu rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into eight bars in a 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 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 is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
Events