Almeomusica

[sasasha]

Series Index

Ban Svetle

The Antau Šerianei contains 21 heptatonic (bispatis) modes, arranged into three mode families. (There are also hexatonic and octatonic modes, which belong to these families too.) The Aďivro, completed in 2350, gives a partial overview, because the modes were used in chant, but it is missing some information and is unclear in places. A fuller exposition was created around 2440 by Vissanava of Claiies Oscais, namely the Bineia Timoreie or ‘Register of Scales’, though its dissemination was interrupted by nomadic incursions. The Bineia Timoreie was reworked and greatly expanded (a future post will explain how) in both Caďinor and Old Verdurian in the 2640s at the University of Šerian. A Kebreni version of Vissanava’s original, Zenihite Bina, appeared in the 2700s.

Each mode family (which we could also call a scale) is called in Verdurian a ban ‘way, path’. The principal is the Ban Svetle, named after the Svetla river, on which sits Ctésifon.

This is derived by taking a starting note (which is called Enäron) and tuning three perfect fifths (cumî ‘hearths’) either side of it ‒ you will find 7 distinct notes. (Green is for our letter-names; the dots on the Verdurian ones indicate octaves.)

F
B̤

Boďneay

C
K̤

Řavcaëna

G
Ạ

Ažirei

D
Ė

Enäron

A
Ḟ

Fidra

E
C̈

Caloton

B
S̈

Eši

Resolve these into the same octave, and add the root note again in the higher octave, and you will find the diatonic scale of our own system (in its Pythagorean incarnation).

D
Ẹ

Enäron

E
C̣

Caloton

F
Ḅ

Boďneay

G
Ạ

Ažirei

A
F̣

Fidra

B
Ṣ

Eši

C
Ḳ

Řavcaëna

D
Ė

Enäron

We have not only created a mode family, but also the first of the seven rotational modes within it. The mode family is, to us, the diatonic. This is the best translation of ban Svetle.

To us the mode is called the Dorian mode (on D). To Verdurians it is the čimora Svetle, the Svetla mode. It is, in terms of cultural importance, the C major of Eretald: the scale which you would assume as default without other instruction.

The fingerholes of woodwind instruments generally play this scale as default. (Actually, there are two types of kena / flute: the Dorian and the Aeolian. More on why later.) Picking up a harp (soî glindrelî) or a zither (dičura), one would expect it to be tuned this way. Brass instruments are usually tuned in Řavcaëna (C) ‒ because of the harmonic series, this means that they also play the Svetla mode on Enäron by default.

If you know a bit about intervals, you might notice an interesting detail: this mode is symmetrical. We can express the intervals in it as numbers ‒ we’ll use 1 for the small interval (semitone, half-step, Ver. metuy or šeli) and 2 for the large one (tone, whole step, Ver. čima). The interval size up to the next note is placed beneath the note itself.

Ẹ

(2

C̣

1

Ḅ

2)

Ạ

2

F̣

(2

Ṣ

1

Ḳ

2)

This symmetry will turn out to be important.


Modal rotations

There are 6 further modes based on the rotations of this scale. (None of them have the same feature of symmetry.) They are named after major tributaries of the Svetla, heading downstream from the source. We have this nomenclature in Caďinor, Verdurian and Kebreni, though it can be assumed to exist in other wider-Eretaldan languages too, usually as the regular reflex of the Caďinor term.

The modes are presented with their Melakarta number (from the Carnatic system of South India) and their most common name in the West.

Notes	Intervals	Caďinor	Verdurian	Kebreni	Mk	Western
ẸC̣ḄẠF̣ṢḲ	2122212	SPE̗TELAE	Svetle	Soboderte	22	Dorian
C̣ḄẠF̣ṢḲẸ	1222122	LIMINTAE	Limete	Linadate	8	Phrygian
ḄẠF̣ṢḲẸC̣	2221221	ME̗HONAE	Meune	Hymbote	65	Lydian
ẠF̣ṢḲẸC̣Ḅ	2212212	ARAUNIREI	Aränëi	Akentate	28	Mixolydian
F̣ṢḲẸC̣ḄẠ	2122122	HAEDELEI	Adelei	Melezute	20	Aeolian / natural minor
ṢḲẸC̣ḄẠF̣	1221222	NEULAE	Nöle	Nylate	-	Locrian
ḲẸC̣ḄẠF̣Ṣ	2212221	ME̗NELAE	Menle	Menylte	29	Ionian / major

These modes are the most familiar to us in the Eretaldan system, and due to their straightforward derivation process they are cross-culturally common across Earth (and Almea). In the next posts I will lay out the other two mode families, and then describe the AŠ’s hexatonic and octatonic variants.

[zompist]

Thank for laying all this out!

Just one Almeological note:

Zomp might notice a new usage of the word royi, which I hope he’ll forgive as I patiently sift through the terminology we have already discussed and find out the limits of what it all means in practice for the Almean musician. Suffice to say royi is a complex umbrella term. I also reborrowed SONSANDOS, if that is ok?

Reborrowings usually Verdurianize the grammatical ending, e.g. VIONDOS > viond, ďasc - ĎASCOS > ďasc, GUESOS > gués, PTOCOS > ptoc. So I'd put this as sonsánd in Verdurian. To a Verdurian, treating -OS as part of root would lead to ugly results in other cases, e.g. pl. gen SONSANDIE / sonsandosië as opposed to sonsandië.

(There are exceptions but they all end in -AS: Caďinas, aluatas, meas.)

[sasasha]

Thank for laying all this out!

Just one Almeological note:

Zomp might notice a new usage of the word royi, which I hope he’ll forgive as I patiently sift through the terminology we have already discussed and find out the limits of what it all means in practice for the Almean musician. Suffice to say royi is a complex umbrella term. I also reborrowed SONSANDOS, if that is ok?

Reborrowings usually Verdurianize the grammatical ending, e.g. VIONDOS > viond, ďasc - ĎASCOS > ďasc, GUESOS > gués, PTOCOS > ptoc. So I'd put this as sonsánd in Verdurian. To a Verdurian, treating -OS as part of root would lead to ugly results in other cases, e.g. pl. gen SONSANDIE / sonsandosië as opposed to sonsandië.

(There are exceptions but they all end in -AS: Caďinas, aluatas, meas.)

Ah, brilliant, thank you! I will amend.

[sasasha]

Series Index

Interlude: Scales as Rivers

Eīledan endowed all natural things with musical properties, and perhaps most musical of all are the streams which strike, unceasing, a high, clear squabble of notes, while the great river pulses like the speech of a giant.

attributed to Einātu, through Vissanava —

The Cuzeian theorist Einātu (c.650) is credited with the origin of the metaphor of musical scales as rivers, though it is possibly older.

The idea equates his ‘great river’ with a length of string. It identifies the river’s source and its mouth as notes two octaves apart. As the river takes its journey downstream, confluences represent harmonic nodes on the string: places where the river’s overall length is in a harmonic relationship with its segmented length, and where a half-stopped string will produce a bright, clear harmonic note.

Half of the total length of the river along, a major confluence represents the ratio 2:1, or the interval of one octave. At one third of the total length, another major confluence represents 3:2, or the interval of a perfect fifth. This pattern continues, as Einātu describes smaller and smaller ratios, donating smaller and smaller intervals. The tributaries themselves are described as proportionately long: thus the first is half the length of the whole, the second, one third, and so on.

Einātu continues by describing a boat’s journey down the river, which he uses as a metaphor for a finger fully stopping a string at key fraction lengths. This process produces another set of pitches, building a musical scale. (Einātu’s analogy is continued by the appearance of the ecopas ‘osprey’, whose upriver flight is taken as a metaphor for the ghost notes which are produced by the other side of a half-stopped string.)

Einātu's writings indicate a naming system for Cuzeian musical notes, named after tributaries of the river Isrēica (Eärdur), or possibly Houses along its banks, which presumably corresponded loosely to this theory. The system itself is lost, though multiple attempts have been made to reinvent it, including by Vissanava of Claiies Oscais in the 2450s ‒ an effort which did not catch on.

Much of Einātu’s work, along with Cuzeian musical knowledge in general, was forgotten in the downfall of Cuzei. The tradition of identifying scales with rivers, however, proved tenacious. The compilers of the Aďivro, 1600 years later, named its 21 modes after 21 rivers of Eretald, in three families represented by the three major watersheds of the plain: the Eärdur, the Svetla and the Serea.

The precise relationship with the metaphor has changed over time: rather than new notes, the confluences now represent sequential modal rotations of the original scale. Einātu is not well remembered, especially by pagans, but his ideas have rippled through the millennia and are still in some way part of everyday musical parlance in Eretald.

[sasasha]

Series Index

Ban Eärdurei

The ban Eärdurei and ban Seree are of equal importance within the Antau Šerianei, but quite different of character, both to each other and to the ban Svetle described in part 2. Whilst all its modes have a distinctive character of their own, the Eärdur family as a whole is generally associated with lightness, magic and caprice.

Is it from the Eärdur? There’s a complicated answer to that which could wait till another post or even another series, as it involves an understanding of Cuzeian music. What is certain is that there is something of a retrospective process of association: the Aďivro associates it with Eärdur Province, such that it does slowly come to be quintessential of the place.

To derive the Svetla modes we tuned three perfect fifths (cumî) each side of Enäron. To create the Eärdur mode, we continue the process a further time in each direction:

B♭
M̤̣

Mëranac

F
B̤

Boďneay

C
K̤

Řavcaëna

G
Ạ

Ažirei

D
Ė

Enäron

A
Ḟ

Fidra

E
C̈

Caloton

B
S̈

Eši

F♯
Ö̇

Oruseon

Now we drop the old outermost notes in favour of the new ones. Once again, we resolve these into the same octave, and add the root note again, and we find a scale in rather less common use in the West:

D
Ẹ

Enäron

E
C̣

Caloton

F♯
Ọ

Oruseon

G
Ạ

Ažirei

A
F̣

Fidra

B♭
Ṃ

Mëranac

C
Ḳ

Řavcaëna

D
Ė

Enäron

We can call this the major-minor scale: to our mind, it has a major lower half and a minor upper half. (This is the opposite of the Dorian.) To Verdurians it is the čimora Eärdurei, the Eärdur mode.

Caďinorian music saw scales as patterns leading away from the root note in either direction. Thus there was nothing anachronistic, in Eretald, about the upper and lower half: rather than one being minor and one being major, they were both ‘eager’, because they both took the largest steps possible away from the root note first. (In the Dorian mode, both halves were ‘balanced’.)

This is another expression of the symmetry of the chief mode of our mode family. To put it into our familiar numerical terms:

Ẹ

(2

C̣

2

Ọ

1)

Ạ

2

F̣

(1

Ṃ

2

Ḳ

2)

The symmetry here is once again what establishes this mode as the chief mode of the family.


Modal rotations

As expected, the 6 modal rotations of the ban Eärdurei are named after tributaries of the Eärdur.

They are once again presented with their Melakarta number (from the Carnatic system of South India) and their most common name in the West. Note that these names are less well-known that the previous set; note, also, that the Peleui mode is the same as the ascending phase of our melodic minor scale (but not the descending phase).

Notes	Intervals	Caďinor	Verdurian	Kebreni	Mk	Western
ẸC̣ỌẠF̣ṂḲ	2212122	ERAUDOREI	Eärdurei	Miḣte	26	Major-minor / Aeolian dominant
C̣ỌẠF̣ṂḲẸ	2121222	NICTIE	Nešë	Niḣcte, Kaminaḣte	-	Half-diminished
ỌẠF̣ṂḲẸC̣	1212222	ERI̗DETOI	Eritoi	Eredute	-	Superlocrian
ẠF̣ṂḲẸC̣Ọ	2122221	DEUNOI	Peleui	Dynnate	23	Melodic minor ascending
F̣ṂḲẸC̣ỌẠ	1222212	KERUNDAE	Kerune	Kyrunate	10	Dorian flat 2
ṂḲẸC̣ỌẠF̣	2222121	NOVEI	Nofei	Nevibute	-	Lydian Augmented
ḲẸC̣ỌẠF̣Ṃ	2221212	ECTANDA	Ectanei	Igadate	64	Acoustic

You will notice that three of these modes do not possess a Melakarta number (as did one of the previous family ‒ the Nöle/Locrian). This is because there is no perfect fifth in the scale ‒ a requisite to be classified as one of the 72 Melakarta raags. (In modern Carnatic music, some of them are used: e.g. the Eritoi mode is known as Raag Faridi Todi ‒ but they are not part of the classical system.) In Érenat, as we will see, the same prohibition arose, meaning only four of the Eärdur modes were legal there. This prohibition will be even starker for the next ban, which contains only two modes legal in Érenat.

[sasasha]

A meta note.

In late January 2025, I found out that my best friend from school, who had 18 months before got in touch after an 11-year-long estrangement, passed away unexpectedly in July. (I had tried to contact him in the months between July and January, but as he had very sadly been predeceased by both of his parents, there was no one who knew how to contact me to let me know of his death. I only found out for sure when I took the train to his last known address and asked neighbours, who eventually tracked down a relative, who called to tell me what had happened. She had been looking for me, but hadn’t known my surname.)

There are a lot of twists and turns to the story of our friendship. It was always platonic, but I was in love with him in high school, and I slowly unravelled after his death a bittersweet realization that he had most likely reciprocated. He did himself as much as say so, in the last conversation we had before he died, a beautiful 2.5 hour conversation in which we made plans to meet up on the beach near his home.

We never made it to the beach, but we did have 18 months of glorious, wonderful correspondence, for which I could not be more grateful. After 11 years of me wondering where he had gone, whether he had chosen to reject me, or whether he had died already, our reconnection had finally let me understand why he had disappeared from my life in the first place, learn that he felt nothing but love towards me, and make plans to meet him... It was a dream come true. He passed away ten days later.

The memory of a love that died before it could be expressed and the madness of not knowing why someone you love has disappeared are both written through Kaidan’s diary in the form of Como. Simultaneously, the loss I experienced is the basic reason for the year-long gap in continuing the diary. At the end of that year I had my own breakdown (in December) and took time away from work to recover.

I didn’t stop work on Almean music in that year, though the format of the work changed. I moved what I was doing entirely over to email with Mark, and we thrashed out a number of background concepts and ideas. In fact, I wrote to him a lot, and (as I mentioned in another post) I developed a pervasive obsession with understanding and documenting Ulian. I suppose this is the town where Kaidan and Como found each other, and it was probably somewhere deep down a forum for exploring my grief, memory and connection.

I have reached a much better place by now ‒ partially due to my friend’s family members who have helped me immensely, partially due to my wonderful husband, family and friends (including Mark), and partially due to Cruse bereavement counselling, who were fantastic. One board member sent me a very thoughtful message, too, for which I’m grateful.

Kaidan may focus less on grief from now on. Sorry if it was getting a bit dark. I have his story plotted out in some detail for the next four years, and know what, in general, happens in this saga for 90 years!!! A lot of quite surprising stuff happens, much of it light-hearted (though there are ups and downs and he always has a melancholic, dramatic outlook). Through it I can reveal a big chunk of Eretaldan musical culture. The diary entries will no longer necessarily be daily (though some might be).

I think Kaidan would rationalise the portion of the diary I have written already as him being stuck for a particular fortnight contemplating the depth of his powerlessness to know what had happened to a loved one. He doesn’t move on fully from Como any time soon, and indeed searching for information about him continues to motivate certain decisions he makes, but by the time he reaches the mouth of the Svetla in a week’s time he is more or less ready to try to let something new grow in the soil of his life.

If you like, you can listen to a song I wrote about my own parallel process ‒ my own letting something new grow. It is a tribute, of course, to my best friend. At all this, he would have shaken his head smiling at me with a curious lopsided grin which plainly read ‘you are to take the following statement as meaning peculiar not haha’ and said “Oh Robsin, you are funny.”

Thank you to everyone who has read, listened to, commented or otherwise followed this thread so far. I made a list of your comments and realised how lucky I have been to have had so much encouragement and engagement already. I hope there will not be another year-long hiatus in sharing my work, but if you are still along for the ride, I am grateful for you and for your patience.

And grateful, too, for people whom we love, no matter whether or not they are with us anymore.

[hwhatting]

Thank you for sharing this and for the art your story made you create!

[bradrn]

If you like, you can listen to a song I wrote about my own parallel process ‒ my own letting something new grow. It is a tribute, of course, to my best friend.

I really have no words to respond with, but this song is beautiful.

[Lērisama]

I must remember to listen to this when I get a chance. Thank you.

[sasasha]

Thank you for sharing this and for the art your story made you create!

And thank you for all of your encouraging comments and ideas along the way.

If you like, you can listen to a song I wrote about my own parallel process ‒ my own letting something new grow. It is a tribute, of course, to my best friend.

I really have no words to respond with, but this song is beautiful.

I am so glad you enjoyed it. That means a lot. And thank you, too, for your input and encouragement.

I must remember to listen to this when I get a chance. Thank you.

You are most welcome, I hope you enjoy it.

[Glenn]

Thank you for sharing this. I’m sorry for your loss.

For what it’s worth, I was deeply impressed by your description of Ulian. I read through the travelogue, referring back to the map as I did so, and I found it to be an excellent and evocative piece of worldbuilding.

[Raphael]

Sorry for the belated reply - that incredibly beautiful.

[sasasha]

Thank you for sharing this. I’m sorry for your loss.

For what it’s worth, I was deeply impressed by your description of Ulian. I read through the travelogue, referring back to the map as I did so, and I found it to be an excellent and evocative piece of worldbuilding.

Thank you so much, I'm really glad It was a lot of fun, and I do intend to apply some finishing touches.

Sorry for the belated reply - that incredibly beautiful.

Thank you so very much, Raphael, that means a lot.

[sasasha]

Series Index

Ban Seree

The ban Seree is associated with some of the most solemn and devotional religious chants, especially funeral rites, and the folk music of the eastern part of Eretald, through which runs the Serea river. (It contains a string of five whole tones in a row and thus is vaguely reminiscent of the whole-tone scale, associated with Dhekhnâm, demons and death.)

The Svetla mode was made by tuning three fifths either side of Enäron; the Eärdur mode by tuning four (and switching the last pairs). The Serea mode continues the process:

E♭
V̤̣

Vlerë

B♭
M̤̣

Mëranac

F
B̤

Boďneay

C
K̤

Řavcaëna

G
Ạ

Ažirei

D
Ė

Enäron

A
Ḟ

Fidra

E
C̈

Caloton

B
S̈

Eši

F♯
Ö̇

Oruseon

C♯
N̈̇

Nečeron

Now we use the five-distant (teal) notes instead of the two-distant notes, skipping the pink notes we used for the Eärdur mode. Once again, we resolve these into the same octave, and add the root note again.

D
Ẹ

Enäron

E♭
Ṿ

Vlerë

F
Ḅ

Boďneay

G
Ạ

Ažirei

A
F̣

Fidra

B
Ṣ

Eši

C♯
Ṇ

Nečeron

D
Ė

Enäron

This scale has little use in the West. We would say its lower half has a Phrygian character while its upper half has a major character. To Eretaldans, both halves are ‘heavy’, because, envisioning movement in both directions away from the tonal centre, they stay as close as possible to the note Enäron.

It is the chief mode of a modal family, which (in Eretald) means it is symmetrical:

Ẹ

(1

Ṿ

2

Ḅ

2)

Ạ

2

F̣

(2

Ṣ

2

Ṇ

1)

Modal rotations

The 6 modal rotations of the ban Seree are named after tributaries of the Serea.

They are once again presented with their Melakarta number (from the Carnatic system of South India) and their most common name in the West ‒ not that they are particularly recognisable entities here! The asterisked terms are particularly unusual ‒ they derive from Zeitler’s nomenclature system, part thought-experiment, part practical tool, which aims to give a Greek-sounding name to all 1490 scales possible with 12 notes. They have been listed because no suitable alternative exists (and because I agree with Zeitler that a name gives potential cultural life to a scale).

Notes	Intervals	Caďinor	Verdurian	Kebreni	Mk	Western
ẸṾḄẠF̣ṢṆ	1222221	SERAEAE	Seree	Tamate, Serate	11	Neapolitan major
ṾḄẠF̣ṢṆẸ	2222211	ALKRAIE	Auřaii	Kraaḣte	-	Leading whole-tone
ḄẠF̣ṢṆẸṾ	2222112	MEVOSTEI	Mevostei	Mevuḣtte	-	*Aeroptian
ẠF̣ṢṆẸṾḄ	2221122	VAECIE	Vesë	Vaacte	62	Lydian minor
F̣ṢṆẸṾḄẠ	2211222	ĤABUTEI	Firuste	Habudite	-	Major Locrian
ṢṆẸṾḄẠF̣	2112222	SCAHUI	Šayui	Skahute	-	*Storian
ṆẸṾḄẠF̣Ṣ	1122222	EPRANTEI	Efratei	Ebraidute	-	Leading whole-tone inverse

As mentioned in part 3, only two of these modes possess a perfect fifth (čimora Seree and čimora Vesë), which explains the others’ lack of Melakarta number, and also points to their prohibition in the musical system of Érenat.

Are the more irrational modes actually of use? Yes, as we will see, they have their uses, and are particularly found in the CABRAIS or temple chant which originated them.

More importantly, we are yet to meet one note among the twelve, whose importance has taken on a liturgical and spiritual dimension in Eretald, and whose interplay with the Antau Šerianei is crucial in shaping actual musical habit. This is Išira, a tritone distant from Enäron. To medieval Europeans, it was (stereotyped as*) the devil’s interval; to Eretaldans it symbolises light, especially of the night-time sky, an alternative (feminine) bedrock to derive musical patterns from. The next post in this series will explore the influence of Išira’s note in medieval Eretald both from a philosophical and theoretical perspective, through which we can reach a fuller expression of the scales, and tuning systems, in common use to Eretaldan musicians in the period.

(*Actually, there are some lovely tritones in Gregorian chant.)

[Lērisama]

I must remember to listen to this when I get a chance. Thank you.

You are most welcome, I hope you enjoy it.

Your most recent message reminded me I forgot to listen to this. There's a kind of bittersweat irony that something so sad can lead to such a beautiful song.

[sasasha]

Your most recent message reminded me I forgot to listen to this. There's a kind of bittersweat irony that something so sad can lead to such a beautiful song.

Thank you, Lērisama. The truth is that the beauty belonged to my friend. I simply got to experience it through him, and it flowered in the song because it had nowhere else to go.