The White-Opal of Reforging

The White-opal of Reforging is a devotional form of music directed toward the worship of Qekot Naked-mole-ratsediment the Black-opal originating in The Citizen of Confederacy. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A chanter recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a kehqo and two tekuak. The musical voices bring melody, counterpoint and rhythm. The entire performance should bring a sense of motion and is consistently slowing, and it is to be soft. The melody and counterpoint both have short phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the iqap scale and in the itoq rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to alternate tension and repose.

• The kehqo always does the main melody.
• The White-opal of Reforging has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a passage and another one to two brief passages, a lengthy bridge-passage and a finale.
• The first simple passage is voiced by the melody of the kehqo and the counterpoint of the chanter reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The kehqo stays in the strained high register and the chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage should be composed and performed using trills.
• Each of the second simple passages is voiced by the melody of the kehqo and the rhythm of the chanter reciting The Wreath of Ganglia. The kehqo stays in the strained high register and the chanter's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the chanter reciting nonsensical words and sounds, the melody of the kehqo and the counterpoint of the tekuak. The chanter's voice stays in the low register, the kehqo stays in the wispy low register and each of the tekuak ranges from the pure low register to the fluid middle register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage should be composed and performed using trills.
• The finale is voiced by the melody of the kehqo and the melody of the tekuak. The kehqo stays in the wispy low register and each of the tekuak covers its entire range from the pure low register to the fluid top register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage should be composed and performed using trills.
• 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. Every note is named. The names are toki (spoken to), oq (oq), dotip (do), kotoq (ko), kiqo (ki), ituq (it), piaki (pia), edo (ed), qahpa (qa), ej (ej), at (at), iadok (iad), poqin (po), oti (ot), nuod (nuo), ojip (oj), toad (toa), paciyq (pa), oaf (oaf), ted (te), qeqok (qe), akoi (ak) and op (op).
• The iqap hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 7th, the 14th, the 18th and the 21st.
• The itoq rhythm is made from two patterns: the totop (considered the primary) and the kiki. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The totop rhythm is a single line with twenty-one beats divided into three bars in a 10-4-7 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x x x x - - x - x | x - x - | - x x x - - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The kiki rhythm is a single line with thirty beats divided into four bars in a 9-8-7-6 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x x x - x - - - | x x x x x x x x | x x x - - x x | - x x x - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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