The Pine-Nuts of Chiming

The Pine-nuts of Chiming is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Custom of Shoulders. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A singer recites any composition of The Wooded Custard-Apple while the music is played on a ewtu. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance is consistently slowing. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the ohug scale. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to glide from note to note and syncopate.

• The singer always should feel mysterious.
• The ewtu always should feel mournful.
• The Pine-nuts of Chiming has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy theme, an exposition of the theme, a recapitulation of the theme and a coda.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the singer and the harmony of the ewtu. The passage is to fade into silence. The singer's voice covers its entire range and the ewtu ranges from the wavering middle register to the strained high register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• The exposition is voiced by the melody of the singer and the melody of the ewtu. The passage is to be soft. The singer's voice stays in the low register and the ewtu ranges from the dark low register to the wavering middle register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in the aheda rhythm.
• The recapitulation is voiced by the melody of the ewtu. The passage is to fade into silence. The ewtu is confined to the strained high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed in the pethrebinpu rhythm.
• The coda is voiced by the melody of the ewtu and the rhythm of the singer. The passage is to become louder and louder. The ewtu ranges from the wavering middle register to the strained high register and the singer's voice covers its entire range. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student.
• The ohug 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 8th.
• The aheda rhythm is made from two patterns: the furithali (considered the primary) and the ithut. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The furithali rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named vuthrilsim (spoken vu) and desle (de). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The ithut rhythm is a single line with sixteen beats divided into eight bars in a 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - | x - | - x | - x | x x | x x | x - | x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The pethrebinpu rhythm is a single line with thirty-one beats divided into four bars in a 8-11-5-7 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | 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.

Events