Verse:Mwail/Bjeheond/Music

Created by Praimhín

Hlou-Ku music

The first orchestras (Ve Rein, literally 'musical groups') in Bjeheond were invented by ancient Hlou-Ku speaking musicians.

A popular instrument in Hlou and Ku music is the blad which is a curled up banana leaf that when blown, produces a shrill, high pitched sound. Different pitches can be produced by pulling on the blad.

Other commonly used instruments are the jaw harp (Schön Ried), the tromba marina (Trlöb Schmie), the bowed psaltery (Trlaub), the slide guitar (Dru), rebecs (Ntzein) and violins of various sizes, and various kinds of prepared piano and guitar. Inharmonic and unpitched percussion instruments like chimes, woodblocks and rasps are also common.

A common folk instrument originating from Liai music is the kantele (Zeig Pfaß), tuned to harmonics from 4 to 16.

Tuning

Hlou musicians don't confine themselves to fixed tuning systems, except on fixed pitch instruments, which are typically tuned to JI scales based on the tonic G = 404 Hz.

Melodies in Hlou music are inspired by the contours of speech.

Later Hlou music uses tunings that consist of many overtone scales on different fundamentals; often the fundamentals themselves form an undertone series, producing a Partchian "tonality diamond" structure.

Some common tunings in the Romantic period:

• overtone scales up to the 16th harmonic on the fundamentals G 1/1, Eb 8/5, C 4/3, A 8/7 and F 16/9.
• overtone scales up to the 12th harmonic on the fundamentals G 1/1, Eb 8/5, C 4/3, A 8/7, Ab 16/15, F 16/9, D 32/21, Bb 32/27 (higher harmonics above these fundamentals are technically allowed; they're just not used on fixed pitch instruments)

When working with the second tuning, composers often work with subsets of the set of possible fundamentals (called Rag); e.g. they might only work with overtone series on G, Eb, C, Bb and Ab (a Rag called Kläb Schwan).

Rhythm

Hlou music makes use of complex rhythmic cycles, called Tal, often consisting of more than 10 beats per "measure". Hlou rhythms are typically subdivided into groups (Xeib) of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9. Groups of beats divisible by 3 are called schwei (complete); and the others are called lä schwei (incomplete).

The syllables dön, de, ka, tehl, tei and dau are used to vocalize drumbeats. A common Tal consists of the syllables dön de ka tehl ka dön de ka tehl de ka.

Styles

Hlou music uses many forms familiar from European classical music: canon, fugue, sonata, Lied (art song; the word comes from an archaic Hlou word meaning "to express"), symphony, and concerto.

The Hlou Lied is typically accompanied with a slide guitar (Dru) and its vocal style is much closer to speech than the German Lied.

Notation

Hlou music, unlike most other musical systems in Tricin, is notated on a staff. Staff notations vary from instrument to instrument.

Famous composers

Aodh Bach - medieval Ku composer

Rene du Fay - medieval Clooa composer

Don bin Chois - medieval Clooa composer

Lou de la Croix - romantic Clooa composer

Wiobian music

The theoretical basis for Wiobian music is very similar to that of Hlou romantic music, except that the terms used are different. The Rag and Tal are known as Zrehnt and Hiod.

Miscellaneous ideas

A Gregorian chant analog?