The Lyrical Chestnuts

The Lyrical Chestnuts is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Child of Billon. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Two singers recite nonsensical words and sounds. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed in the itoq rhythm.

• Each singer always does the main melody and should feel mournful.
• The Lyrical Chestnuts has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a first theme, an exposition of the first theme, a second theme, an exposition of the second theme and a synthesis of previous passages.
• The first theme is fast, and it is to be moderately soft. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. The passage is performed using the dotip scale.
• The first exposition is at a free tempo, and it is to fade into silence. Each of the singers' voices stays in the high register. The passage has mid-length phrases in the melody. The passage is performed using the kiqo scale.
• The second theme slows and broadens, and it is to fade into silence. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. The passage is performed using the dodap scale.
• The second exposition slows and broadens, and it is to become louder and louder. Each of the singers' voices stays in the middle register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. The passage is performed using the edo scale.
• The synthesis accelerates as it proceeds, and it is to be very soft. Each of the singers' voices stays in the high register. The passage has short phrases in the melody. The passage is performed using the dotip scale.
• Scales are conceived of as two chords built using a division of the perfect fourth interval into eight notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance. After a scale is constructed, notes are named according to degree. The names are qahpa (spoken qa), oqua (oq), ej (ej), at (at), iadok (iad), poqin (po) and oti (ot).
• As always, the dotip hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named if and uki.
• The if trichord is the 1st, the 2nd and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The uki tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the kiqo hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named kopi and uki.
• The kopi trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the dodap hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named kopi and oq.
• The oq tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the edo hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named kiteq and ahdid.
• The kiteq trichord is the 1st, the 6th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The ahdid tetrachord is the 1st, the 3rd, the 6th and the 8th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The itoq rhythm is made from three patterns: the tipoa (considered the primary), the op and the ojip. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The tipoa 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`|
• where ` marks a beat as early, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The op rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into four bars in a 8-8-8-8 pattern. The beats are named fiepo (spoken fie), ezok (ez), qapoaq (qa), akoaz (ak), kidoi (ki), jed (je), dokot (do) and otep (ot). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x x X x - x - | - - ! - x - - x | x X`- - - - x'- | - - x X'- x x - |
• where ! marks the primary accent, X marks an accented beat, ` marks a beat as early, ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The ojip rhythm is a single line with eight beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - - x - - X - |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events