The Instrumental Ginkgo-Seeds Foxtail-Millet-Grain

The Instrumental Ginkgo-seeds-Foxtail-millet-grain is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Faded Petticoat. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A singer recites any composition of The Fire-Clay Chrysoprase. The entire performance is to fade into silence. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed in the sak rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to make trills and locally improvise.

• The singer always does the main melody, should be spirited and glides from note to note.
• The Instrumental Ginkgo-seeds-Foxtail-millet-grain has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, a bridge-passage and a lengthy series of variations on the theme.
• The theme is fast. The singer's voice covers its entire range. The passage has short phrases in the melody. The passage is performed without preference for a scale.
• The bridge-passage is at a free tempo. The singer's voice stays in the high register. The passage has mid-length phrases in the melody. The passage is performed using the kam scale. The passage should always include a falling-rising melody pattern with flattened third degree on the fall.
• The series of variations is at a free tempo. The singer's voice stays in the high register. The passage has long phrases in the melody. The passage is performed using the kekorith scale. The passage should be performed using melismatic phrasing. The passage should always include a rising-falling melody pattern with rapid runs and often include a rising melody pattern with glides and grace notes.
• Scales are constructed from twenty-three notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxO, 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 kam pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 11th, the 17th and the 23rd.
• The kekorith heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 6th, the 11th, the 13th, the 17th and the 19th.
• The sak rhythm is made from two patterns: the madensham and the un. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The madensham rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into two bars in a 8-8 pattern. The beats are named imkekir (spoken imk), rekom (re), ozisash (oz), tamosh (ta), muzlom (mu), mer (me), zulal (zu) and kistek (ki). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - - x x x X x | - x - x X - x - |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The un rhythm is a single line with eighteen beats divided into six bars in a 3-3-3-3-3-3 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x - | X x x | x - - | x - - | - - x | x x X |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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