The Nectar of Toots

The Nectar of Toots is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Dark-Tan Tribune. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A singer recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a kop. The musical voices are joined in melody. The entire performance is slow, and it is to fade into silence. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. The music repeats for as long as necessary. It is performed using the if scale and in the oti rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to make trills.

• The singer always does the main melody and should feel mysterious. The voice uses its entire range.
• The kop always should be melancholic.
• The Nectar of Toots has the following structure: a theme and one to two series of variations on the theme.
• The theme is voiced by the melody of the singer reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the melody of the kop.
• Each of the series of variations is voiced by the melody of the singer reciting nonsensical words and sounds.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance. Preferred notes in the fundamental scale are named. The names are toki (spoken to, 1st), oq (oq, 5th) and dotip (do, 10th).
• The if 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 oti rhythm is made from two patterns: the kotoq and the kiqo. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The kotoq rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The kiqo rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into four bars in a 8-8-8-8 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x 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.

Events