The Cashew of Chanting

The Cashew of Chanting is a form of music used to commemorate important events originating in The Spine of Hives. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A speaker recites The Carnival of Granaries while the music is played on a usa, a zanodagal and three kolthuk. The musical voices bring melody, counterpoint and rhythm. The entire performance should be spirited, and it is to fade into silence. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. Pitches are densely packed in clusters as music moves from chord to chord. It is performed in the anar rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to make trills and play staccato.

• The speaker always plays legato.
• The usa always plays legato.
• The zanodagal always does the main melody and plays legato.
• The Cashew of Chanting has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a passage and a brief finale.
• The introduction is voiced by the melody of the zanodagal, the counterpoint of the kolthuk, the rhythm of the usa and the speaker. The passage is very slow. The zanodagal ranges from the flat low register to the harsh middle register and each of the kolthuk covers its entire range from the raucous low register to the strident high register. The passage has short phrases in the counterpoint melody. The passage is performed without preference for a scale. The passage should be performed using grace notes.
• The simple passage is voiced by the melody of the zanodagal, the counterpoint of the kolthuk and the speaker. The passage accelerates as it proceeds. The zanodagal stays in the harsh middle register and each of the kolthuk covers its entire range from the raucous low register to the strident high register. The passage has long phrases in the counterpoint melody. The passage is performed using the ohural scale.
• The finale is voiced by the melody of the zanodagal, the rhythm of the usa, the rhythm of the kolthuk and the speaker. The passage is slower than the last passage. The zanodagal stays in the flat low register and each of the kolthuk stays in the strident high register. The passage is performed using the equanamsespe scale. The passage should be performed using grace notes.
• Scales are constructed from twenty notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1xx-x-xxxxx-xxxxxxxx-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. Every note is named. The names are othdo (spoken othd), ithut (ith), iquur (iq), ibalarek (ib), uwakri (uw), xathrato (xa), furithali (fu), vuthrilsim (vu), desle (de), pethrebinpu (pe), uthrogumat (uthr), sorot (so), pumdom (pu), dos (do), aheda (ah), ofing (of), ujel (uj), bushcirne (bu), emsor (ems) and naccak (na).
• The ohural heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 7th, the 11th, the 12th, the 17th and the 18th.
• The equanamsespe pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 9th, the 14th and the 16th.
• The anar 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.

Events