While pitch notation was already fixed at the time of the Great Exodus, rhythms are only rarely marked in surviving early scores, and then only in the broadest of senses. Until it appeared in notational practice, rhythm may have been passed down by tradition from instructor to student.
Around the time of the Renaissance, when music among the other fine arts flourished, a sophisticated notation system came into common use. Vertical and horizontal lines printed below noteheads, usually in different color ink, indicated pitch durations; the same lines printed on the four-line staff indicated rests. Red was the common color for rhythm marks, though some of the more decorative (possibly vanity) scores are beautifully varied in hue of both pitches and rhythm. This system lasted well into modern D’ni history with minor modifications.
Because each voice in multi-voiced works is fully written out horizontally with no attempt at vertical coordination, and because duration is not indicated spatially on the staff—that is, a “whole note” occupies the same horizontal space as a “sixteenth note”— D’ni musicians must have been quite skilled rhythmists, and ensemble work must have required a significant amount of study.
Meter markings, if present, are always located directly below the clef. D’ni had two classical meters and two common meters.
Classical meters are derived from traditional poetic meters and are based on rhythmic groupings of five beats, either 2+3 (what was known as “king’s meter” for its robust accent pattern) or 3+2 (what was known as “queen’s meter” for its more lilting accent pattern). Approaching the Renaissance, D’ni music was composed exclusively in classical meter, and continued to be for a number of centuries.
The common meters, which seem to have their origin in popular rhythms of the non-elite classes, were gradually accepted into high art practices and even eventually overtook their classical counterparts in frequency of use. These are more difficult to correlate to Western meters. 2-count can represent any rhythmic grouping whose stresses fall on alternating beats. Similarly, 3-count can represent any rhythmic grouping whose stresses fall on every third beat.
In music with multiple voices, it is not uncommon to see 2-count and 3-count meters simultaneously. This is a sure indication of complex meter, often 6/8, where a duple and triple sound are played off against one another. Even with common meters, the D’ni aesthetic seemed to gravitate towards permutations of two plus three.
