The Petal of Macadamia-Nuts

The Petal of Macadamia-nuts is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Harp-Seal of Shying. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. The music is played on two resalebe, three tofedu and a emayini. The musical voices bring melody, counterpoint and rhythm. The entire performance is to be soft. The melody has long phrases, while the counterpoint has mid-length phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the ipila scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to use mordents, make trills and play arpeggios.

• Each resalebe always should feel calm and plays staccato.
• Each tofedu always should be passionate. The voice uses its entire range from the buzzy low register to the piercing high register.
• The emayini always should be stately and plays staccato.
• The Petal of Macadamia-nuts has the following structure: an introduction and three to four unrelated passages.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the emayini and the rhythm of the tofedu. The passage is consistently slowing. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• Each of the simple passages is voiced by the melody of the tofedu, the counterpoint of the resalebe and the counterpoint of the emayini. Each passage is half the tempo of the last passage. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
• Scales are constructed from fourteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-x-xx-x-x-x-xxx-x-x-x-xO, 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.
• The ipila hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th, the 6th, the 10th and the 12th.

Events