Zireen music

Introduction

The fundamental building blocks of Zireen music, as with all kinds of music, are pitch, rhythm, and timbre. For purposes of illustration, the elements of Zireen music will be described with anglicized versions of words from the Yasaro language. Other Zireen languages tend to have similar concepts, although the words used to describe them are different.

Pitch and intervals

The basis for all intervals in Zireen music is the tilar (Yasaro: tílar), which is a tempered octave. All other intervals are constructed by subdividing the tilar into smaller parts (such as fifths, fourths, and thirds), according to a rough approximation of the harmonic series, or by stacking two or more of these basic intervals. "Superparticular" intervals (pitch ratios of the form n+1/n) are considered the most basic of the Zireen musical intervals. Note that although these intervals are expressed as pitch ratios, actual Zireen music almost invariably alters these ratios to produce a beating effect. This beating ranges from subtle to extreme, but it is almost always present, even in the octaves.