The Instrumental Lilac Spathe

The Instrumental Lilac Spathe is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Bamboo of Enlarging. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on three vecethi and a athaza. The musical voices are joined in melody. The entire performance should be delicate and is slow, and it is to be soft. The melody has mid-length phrases throughout the form. Pitches are densely packed in clusters as music moves from chord to chord. It is performed using the ucame scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to play staccato.

• Each vecethi always does the main melody.
• The athaza always uses mordents. The voice ranges from the sparkling low register to the muddy middle register.
• The Instrumental Lilac Spathe has the following structure: an introduction and a passage.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the vecethi.
• The simple passage is voiced by the melody of the vecethi and the melody of the athaza. The passage should be composed and performed using grace notes.
• 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 ucame 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 6th and the 7th.

Events