The Musicianly Olive

The Musicianly Olive is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Cooperation of Umbras. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. The music is played on a kahdap. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. Pitches are densely packed in clusters as music moves from chord to chord. It is performed using the kotoq scale. Throughout, when possible, performers are to use grace notes and alternate tension and repose.

• The kahdap always does the main melody and should be delicate.
• The Musicianly Olive has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a lengthy passage and a coda.
• The introduction is fast, and it is to be very soft. The kahdap is confined to the fluid top register. The passage is performed in the ej rhythm.
• The simple passage is at a hurried pace, and it is to become louder and louder. The kahdap ranges from the floating high register to the fluid top register. The passage is performed in the ted rhythm. The passage should be performed using trills.
• The coda is at a walking pace, and it is to be in whispered undertones. The kahdap ranges from the rich middle register to the floating high register. The passage is performed in the iadok rhythm. The passage should be performed using trills.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
• The kotoq heptatonic scale is thought of as two disjoint chords spanning a tritone and a perfect fourth. These chords are named iqap and oq.
• The iqap tetrachord is the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd and the 7th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The oq tetrachord is the 8th, the 9th, the 10th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The ej rhythm is a single line with eight beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x - - X x - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The ted rhythm is made from two patterns: the oti and the ej. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The oti rhythm is a single line with twenty-five beats divided into five bars in a 5-5-5-5-5 pattern. The beats are named nuod (spoken nuo), ojip (oj), qat (qa), kot (ko) and toad (toa). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - - - - | x - - x X | X x x - - | ! x - x x | x - x - - |
• where ! marks the primary accent, X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The iadok rhythm is a single line with four beats divided into two bars in a 2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x | - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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