The Durum-Grain of Fir-Cones

The Durum-grain of Fir-cones is a devotional form of music originating in The Order of Lofts. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on a od and a noket. The music is melody and rhythm without harmony. The entire performance is at a hurried pace. The melody has long phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the iqap scale.

• The od always should perform with feeling.
• The noket always does the main melody and should be bright. The voice uses its entire range from the strident low register to the raucous high register.
• The Durum-grain of Fir-cones has the following structure: one to two passages and an additional passage.
• Each of the first simple passages is voiced by the melody of the noket. Each passage is to become softer and softer. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. Each passage is performed in the fiepo rhythm.
• The second simple passage is voiced by the melody of the noket and the rhythm of the od. The passage is to be very soft. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range. The passage is performed in the akoaz rhythm.
• Scales are constructed from thirteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1-x-x-x--x-x-xx-x-x-xx-xO, 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 axod (spoken ax), uki (uk), uok (uok), ahdid (ah), toki (to), oq (oq), dotip (do), kotoq (ko), kiqo (ki), ituq (it), piaki (pia), edo (ed) and qahpa (qa).
• The iqap hexatonic 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 and the 12th.
• The fiepo rhythm is made from three patterns: the iadok, the poqin and the oqua. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The iadok rhythm is a single line with nine beats divided into three bars in a 3-3-3 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x x | x x X | x - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The poqin rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into eight bars in a 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 pattern. The beats are named oti (spoken ot), nuod (nuo), ojip (oj) and qat (qa). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - - x - | x - - - | x X x x | x - x - | x X x x | x X - x | - - x - | - - - x |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The oqua rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named ej (spoken ej) and at (at). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | - x |
• where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
• The akoaz rhythm is made from two patterns: the oqua and the kot. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
• The kot rhythm is a single line with five beats. The beats are named toad (spoken toa), paciyq (pa), oaf (oaf), ted (te) and qeqok (qe). The beat is stressed as follows:
• | x - X x - |
• where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

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