The Rose of Durians

The Rose of Durians is a form of music used during marches and military engagements originating in The Saltpeter of Rhapsodies. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. The music is played on a gifathufatha. The entire performance is at a hurried pace. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. The music repeats for as long as necessary. It is performed using the ifiyo scale and in the mila rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to modulate frequently.

• The gifathufatha always does the main melody and should feel agitated.
• The Rose of Durians has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a first theme, an exposition of the first theme, a bridge-passage, a lengthy second theme, an exposition of the second theme, a brief bridge-passage and a lengthy synthesis of previous passages.
• The introduction is to be moderately soft. The gifathufatha ranges from the flat low register to the even middle register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
• The first theme is to become softer and softer. The gifathufatha ranges from the flat low register to the even middle register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
• The first exposition is to start loud then be immediately soft. The gifathufatha ranges from the even middle register to the dull high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
• The first bridge-passage is to be loud. The gifathufatha stays in the dull high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
• The second theme is to become louder and louder. The gifathufatha covers its entire range from the flat low register to the dull high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
• The second exposition is to fade into silence. The gifathufatha ranges from the even middle register to the dull high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• The second bridge-passage is to become louder and louder. The gifathufatha stays in the even middle register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• The synthesis is to be in whispered undertones. The gifathufatha ranges from the even middle register to the dull high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
• Scales are constructed from twenty-two notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xxxxxxxx-x-xxxxxxxxxxxxO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance. After a scale is constructed, the root note of chords are named. The names are emayethi (spoken em) and ithi (ith).
• The ifiyo pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 10th, the 16th and the 22nd.
• The mila rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x |
• where x is a beat and | indicates a bar.

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