The Quinoa-Grain of Mantises

The Quinoa-grain of Mantises is a devotional form of music directed toward the worship of Dothru originating in The Fleeting-Unification of Musing. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. Two singers recite nonsensical words and sounds. The melody has short phrases throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed using the furithali scale and in the ijaspugolet rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use grace notes, make trills and play staccato.

• Each singer always does the main melody and should be fiery.
• The Quinoa-grain of Mantises has a well-defined multi-passage structure: one to two lengthy passages and an additional brief passage possibly all repeated and a coda.
• Each of the first simple passages is at a hurried pace, and it is to become louder and louder. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range.
• The second simple passage is fast, and it is to be soft. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register.
• The coda is consistently slowing, and it is to be in whispered undertones. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register.
• Scales are constructed from twelve notes spaced evenly throughout the octave. The tonic note is a fixed tone passed from teacher to student. Preferred notes in the fundamental scale are named. The names are pumdom (spoken pu, 2nd) and dos (do, 8th).
• The furithali scale is thought of as joined chords spanning a perfect fifth and a perfect fourth. These chords are named ohural and xathrato.
• The ohural trichord is the 1st, the 3rd and the 8th degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The xathrato trichord is the 8th, the 12th and the 13th (completing the octave) degrees of the semitone octave scale.
• The ijaspugolet rhythm is made from two patterns: the oquil (considered the primary) and the aheda. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The oquil rhythm is a single line with twenty-nine beats divided into five bars in a 3-7-6-5-8 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x - | x - - x x - - | - - x - - - | x'x x - - | - x x - x x x`x |
• where ` marks a beat as early, ' marks a beat as late, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The aheda rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named ofing (spoken of) and ujel (uj). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Events