The Bambara-Groundnut of Acorns

The Bambara-groundnut of Acorns is a devotional form of music originating in The Regulation of Maize. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on a budoc and three wimena. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. It is performed using the deh scale and in the pethrebinpu rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to alternate tension and repose and freely adjust the beats.

• The budoc always should feel tender and is to be very soft.
• Each wimena always does the main melody, should evoke tears and is to be moderately loud.
• The Bambara-groundnut of Acorns has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a theme, an exposition of the theme, a bridge-passage and a lengthy recapitulation of the theme.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the wimena and the rhythm of the budoc. The passage is consistently slowing. Each of the wimena covers its entire range from the raucous low register to the strident high register. The passage has mid-length phrases in the melody. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
• The exposition is voiced by the melody of the wimena and the rhythm of the budoc. The passage is consistently slowing. Each of the wimena covers its entire range from the raucous low register to the strident high register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the wimena and the rhythm of the budoc. The passage is extremely fast. Each of the wimena stays in the strident high register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• The recapitulation is voiced by the melody of the wimena. The passage is extremely fast. Each of the wimena stays in the strident high register. The passage has phrases of varied length in the melody. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
• Scales are constructed from twenty-one notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xxxx-xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
• The deh heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 7th, the 8th, the 13th, the 16th and the 18th.
• The pethrebinpu rhythm is made from three patterns: the ithut (considered the primary), the xathrato and the othdo. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
• The ithut rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beats are named iquur (spoken iq), ibalarek (ib) and uwakri (uw). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The xathrato rhythm is a single line with eight beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - - x x - - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The othdo rhythm is a single line with twenty-five beats divided into three bars in a 5-9-11 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | 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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