The Garland of Coffee-Beans

The Garland of Coffee-beans is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Diagonal Sea-Monster. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. One to five singers recite any composition of The Philosophical Passion-Fruit while the music is played on a abam and a omusmagu. The musical voices bring melody and counterpoint. The entire performance should bring a sense of motion, and it is to become louder and louder. The melody has short phrases, while the counterpoint has mid-length phrases throughout the form. Throughout, when possible, performers are to make trills and play arpeggios.

• Each singer always does the counterpoint melody.
• The abam always does the main melody.
• The omusmagu always does the counterpoint melody.
• The Garland of Coffee-beans has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, three to five lengthy unrelated passages and a lengthy coda.
• The introduction accelerates as it proceeds. Each of the singers' voices covers its entire range. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the uturo scale and in the sangob rhythm.
• Each of the simple passages is at a walking pace. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. Each passage is performed using the gaxog scale and in free rhythm.
• The coda is consistently slowing. Each of the singers' voices ranges from the low register to the middle register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the zuxaz scale and in the snas rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from eighteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1x-xxx-xx-x-xxxxxx-xx-xxO, 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. After a scale is constructed, notes are named according to degree. The names are bagurod (spoken ba), sastospu (sa), assna (as), xuzestra (xu), roxstat (ro), tekug (te) and odo (od).
• The uturo heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 5th, the 7th, the 8th, the 9th and the 12th.
• The gaxog heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th, the 7th, the 9th, the 10th and the 13th.
• The zuxaz heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th, the 7th, the 8th, the 11th and the 13th.
• The sangob 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 x | x - x x x x x - | x - x - - - - - |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The snas rhythm is made from two patterns: the obst (considered the primary) and the kestraruga. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The obst rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The kestraruga rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into four bars in a 11-10-6-5 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x x - x - x - x - | - x x - - - - - - - | - x - - x - | x x x x x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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