The Fruitless Tomato

The Fruitless Tomato is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Bamboo of Enlarging. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A singer recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on three ilireta, a ulabe and a athaza. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance is to become softer and softer. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed in the fefa rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to glide from note to note, use grace notes, alternate tension and repose and modulate frequently.

• The singer always does the main melody and should perform with feeling.
• Each ilireta always provides the rhythm and should evoke tears.
• The ulabe always does the main melody and should be passionate.
• The athaza always does harmony and should perform with a light touch.
• The Fruitless Tomato has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a brief theme, an exposition of the theme, a bridge-passage and a lengthy recapitulation of the theme.
• The theme is extremely fast. The singer's voice stays in the low register and the athaza ranges from the sparkling low register to the muddy middle register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed using the ipila scale. The passage should be performed using arpeggios.
• The exposition is at a free tempo. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register and the athaza ranges from the muddy middle register to the strong high register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed using the iwarivuli scale. The passage should be performed using arpeggios.
• The bridge-passage is slower than the last passage. The singer's voice covers its entire range and the athaza covers its entire range from the sparkling low register to the strong high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed using the bone scale.
• The recapitulation is at a hurried pace. The singer's voice ranges from the middle register to the high register and the athaza ranges from the muddy middle register to the strong high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the everinopefa scale.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-x--x-x-x-x-xx-x-x--x-xO, 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 ipila hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th, the 7th, the 8th and the 10th.
• The iwarivuli pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 6th, the 7th and the 11th.
• The bone hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 6th, the 8th, the 9th and the 11th.
• The everinopefa heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, the 7th and the 8th.
• The fefa rhythm is made from two patterns: the tafalofi (considered the primary) and the emayethi. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
• The tafalofi rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The emayethi rhythm is a single line with ten beats divided into five bars in a 2-2-2-2-2 pattern. The beats are named ithi (spoken ith) and seyawi (se). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - | x`x | x - | x'- | x - |
• where ` marks a beat as early, ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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