Music in Vaestdom
(Redirected from Outer Joriscian music)
The music of Vaestdom covers a wide range of genres including traditional domestic styles and Vaestic religious music.
Characteristics
- Homophony. Polyphonic styles are not unknown in Vaestdom since their appearance in the late 17th century (probably with influence from Messenia, where polyphony was far more common), but following the condemnation of polyphony by many Vaestic authorities in the early 18th century, polyphony largely fell out of style and despite recent increased tolerance remains non-mainstream.
- Predominance of pentatonic scales. In the Joriscian tradition, however, the names of notes do not repeat and there is no conception, at least in nomenclature of notes, of an octave (despite a long-established knowledge of the octave's existence in Joriscian music theory). The exception is Vaestic formulae, which typically use a chromatic scale called the Pokazanisky (literally 'instructional').
- Predominance of percussion. Drums in particular characterise Vaestic music; more general use of percussion is found in Joriscian music generally.
- Predominance of vocal music. There is no real tradition of solely instrumental music in Vaestdom; whilst some experimental music of this kind has been produced, the vast majority of music includes vocals. Many pieces, however, do not use words but rather commit the vocalist to simply producing notes.
- Extensive use of polyrhythmic cross-beats. This is a result of the extremely extensive Joriscian percussion tradition.