The Melodic Berry

The Melodic Berry is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Longing Country. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A speaker recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a ozith and a ejeg. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance is moderately fast. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the shudash scale. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use mordents.

• The speaker always should be passionate.
• The ozith always does the main melody and should be jumpy.
• The ejeg always should stress the rhythm.
• The Melodic Berry has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a first theme, an exposition of the first theme, a second theme, an exposition of the second theme, a lengthy bridge-passage and a lengthy synthesis of previous passages.
• The first theme is voiced by the melody of the ozith, the rhythm of the ejeg and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to fade into silence. The ozith covers its entire range from the raucous low register to the buzzy high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in the oruslumcopo rhythm.
• The first exposition is voiced by the melody of the ozith, the rhythm of the ejeg and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to become louder and louder. The ozith ranges from the raucous low register to the piercing middle register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• The second theme is voiced by the melody of the ozith and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to become louder and louder. The ozith covers its entire range from the raucous low register to the buzzy high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in the udal rhythm.
• The second exposition is voiced by the melody of the ozith, the rhythm of the ejeg and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to be in whispered undertones. The ozith stays in the raucous low register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the ozith, the rhythm of the ejeg and the speaker reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage is to become louder and louder. The ozith ranges from the piercing middle register to the buzzy high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed in free rhythm.
• The synthesis is voiced by the melody of the ozith and the speaker reciting any composition of The Hemp Ilmenite. The passage is to be moderately loud. The ozith ranges from the raucous low register to the piercing middle register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed in the ujel rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from nineteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-xx-xxxxxxx-xxx-xxx-xxxO, 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. Preferred notes in the fundamental scale are named. The names are oxuskor (spoken ox, 2nd), ohug (oh, 7th) and equanamsespe (eq, 14th).
• The shudash hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 7th, the 10th, the 12th and the 14th.
• The oruslumcopo rhythm is a single line with eight beats divided into two bars in a 4-4 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - X x x | - - - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The udal rhythm is made from two patterns: the ujel (considered the primary) and the ithut. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
• The ujel rhythm is a single line with nineteen beats divided into two bars in a 8-11 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - x - - - - - | - - x - x x x x x`X x`|
• where X marks an accented beat, ` marks a beat as early, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The ithut rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named iquur (spoken iq), ibalarek (ib), uwakri (uw) and xathrato (xa). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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