The Tar of Glassmaking

The Tar of Glassmaking is a devotional form of music directed toward the worship of Nutxubu the Zircon originating in The Ravager of Dikes. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A chanter recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a ongub. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. Never more than an interval sounds at once. It is performed in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to glide from note to note.

• The chanter always does the main melody and should bring a sense of motion.
• The ongub always provides the rhythm and should perform with feeling.
• The Tar of Glassmaking has the following structure: three to five unrelated passages and a brief coda.
• Each of the simple passages is at a free tempo, and it is to become softer and softer. The chanter's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register and the ongub ranges from the crisp low register to the piercing middle register. Each passage is performed using the gaxog scale. Each passage should be composed and performed using fills.
• The coda slows and broadens, and it is to be very loud. The chanter's voice stays in the middle register and the ongub stays in the piercing middle register. The passage is performed using the assna scale.
• Scales are conceived of as two chords built using a division of the perfect fourth interval into eleven notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
• As always, the gaxog heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named zuxaz and uturo.
• The zuxaz tetrachord is the 1st, the 4th, the 8th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The uturo tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 8th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• As always, the assna hexatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords drawn from the fundamental division of the perfect fourth. These chords are named ragu and axslor.
• The ragu trichord is the 1st, the 9th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.
• The axslor tetrachord is the 1st, the 4th, the 6th and the 11th degrees of the fundamental perfect fourth division.

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