The Bee of Coffee-Beans
The Bee of Coffee-beans is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Insignia of Socks. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. One to three singers recite nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a zothoddazen. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The melody has mid-length phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the vuthrilsim scale and in the emsa rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use mordents.
- Each singer always should be stately.
- The zothoddazen always should evoke tears.
- The Bee of Coffee-beans has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a passage and an additional passage possibly all repeated and a coda.
- The first simple passage is voiced by the melody of the singers reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the harmony of the zothoddazen. The passage gradually slows as it comes to an end, and it is to be moderately soft. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range and the zothoddazen stays in the muddy high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
- The second simple passage is voiced by the melody of the zothoddazen and the harmony of the singers reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is slow, and it is to be in whispered undertones. The zothoddazen covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the muddy high register and each of the singers' voices stays in the low register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range.
- The coda is voiced by the melody of the zothoddazen and the rhythm of the singers reciting The Psyche of Justifying. The passage is very slow, and it is to start loud then be immediately soft. The zothoddazen covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the muddy high register and each of the singers' voices stays in the low register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
- Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
- The vuthrilsim heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a perfect fifth and a major third. These chords are named mushast and ithut.
- The mushast pentachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 6th 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 emsa rhythm is made from two patterns: the sorot (considered the primary) and the pumdom. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
- 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.
- 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.
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