The Barley-Grain of Guavas

The Barley-grain of Guavas is a devotional form of music originating in The Insignia of Socks. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Two chanters recite nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a ozithrez, a nubporu and a nesa. The musical voices join in melody and counterpoint, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance should bring a sense of motion. The melody has short phrases, while the counterpoint has mid-length phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the desle scale.

• The Barley-grain of Guavas has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a bridge-passage and a series of variations on the theme, a lengthy finale and a lengthy coda.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the nubporu, the rhythm of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds, the rhythm of the ozithrez and the rhythm of the nesa. The passage is at a hurried pace, and it is to become softer and softer. Each of the chanters' voices stays in the high register and the ozithrez ranges from the muddy high register to the watery top register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed in the warosp rhythm.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the chanters reciting The Psyche of Justifying, the melody of the ozithrez, the melody of the nubporu and the rhythm of the nesa. The passage accelerates as it proceeds, and it is to be very soft. Each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range and the ozithrez ranges from the wispy middle register to the muddy high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in the siv rhythm.
• The series of variations is voiced by the melody of the ozithrez, the counterpoint of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the rhythm of the nubporu. The passage slows and broadens, and it is to be very soft. The ozithrez is confined to the sparkling low register and each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in the hath rhythm.
• The finale is voiced by the melody of the nubporu and the rhythm of the nesa. The passage is twice the tempo of the last passage, and it is to be very soft. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in the pumdom rhythm.
• The coda is voiced by the melody of the nubporu, the harmony of the chanters reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the harmony of the ozithrez. The passage is at a hurried pace, and it is to become louder and louder. Each of the chanters' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register and the ozithrez covers its entire range from the sparkling low register to the watery top register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in the sorot rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
• The desle heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a perfect fifth and a major third. These chords are named oxuskor and ithut.
• The oxuskor pentachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 5th and the 8th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The ithut trichord is the 9th, the 11th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The warosp rhythm is a single line with eight beats. The beats are named vope (spoken vo), ciki (ci), ehim (eh), iquin (iq), ijaspugolet (ij), duleklonit (du), wut (wu) and iddik (id). 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.
• The siv rhythm is made from two patterns: the warosp (considered the primary) and the ocgothrom. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The ocgothrom rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into four bars in a 8-8-8-8 pattern. The beats are named ingdaspod (spoken ing), gad (ga), anar (an), imesathi (im), iwarolera (iw), oquil (oq), bokem (bo) and inal (in). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x - - - x X x | X - - - x - x x`| - - x X - x - x | - x X - x'- - - |
• where 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 hath rhythm is made from two patterns: the jonal (considered the primary) and the ofing. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The jonal rhythm is a single line with thirty-one beats divided into five bars in a 2-8-5-9-7 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - | - x - - - - - - | X - x x`x`| - - - - - X`x x - | - x - - - - - |
• where X marks an accented beat, ` marks a beat as early, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The ofing rhythm is a single line with six beats. The beats are named ujel (spoken uj), bushcirne (bu), emsor (ems), naccak (na), vishages (vi) and kungujith (ku). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x x - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The pumdom rhythm is a single line with eight beats divided into four bars in a 2-2-2-2 pattern. The beats are named dos (spoken do) and aheda (ah). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x | - x | x x | - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The sorot rhythm is a single line with six beats divided into two bars in a 3-3 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.

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