[Performance Rules] [All bracketed text is instruction only. Do not sing or speak it.] [Instrument-led battle performance: urgent, dangerous, breathless, with fleeting tragic beauty.] [Female voices sing only the written syllables. No words or narration.] [Three distinct hammered dulcimers use hard wooden-mallet strikes, ultra-fast alternating rolls and short repeated minor-key motifs.] [Keep individual attacks sharp and separated at maximum speed.] [Quena delivers piercing held cries and rapid tense replies.] [Female voices imitate the exact rhythm and articulation of the preceding instrumental phrase, continuing its momentum.] [Ri-rara-rira inherits mallet rolls. Ri and Ra echo clipped attacks. Wo continues the quena tone.] [Clear high female voices, never raspy, remain behind the instruments in separate moving positions.] [Build intensity through rhythm, dynamics and pursuit, keeping the melodic material simple.] [Quiet passages feel exposed and dangerous. Silence is suspended tension.] [The ending must resolve into complete silence.] [Intro – Tension in Empty Space] [Start with one hard isolated dulcimer strike.] [A second player answers sharply from the opposite side.] [The third adds a low clipped strike.] [Short tense gaps. No ambient bed, bass or percussion.] [A tiny fast mallet figure is immediately imitated by a distant female voice.] [One piercing quena note. Abrupt cutoff.] [Ignition – Sudden Full-Speed Entry] [The first dulcimer launches a rapid repeated three-note motif.] [The second pursues it slightly later.] [The third cuts across with hard low rhythmic strikes.] [Deep acoustic bass pulses and dry frame drum enter suddenly.] [A female voice takes over the exact rhythm of the final mallet roll.] [Leave a short instrumental gap.] [Pursuit – Three Players in Motion] [Ultra-fast alternating mallet rolls pass between the three players.] [Keep the motif short, insistent and recognizable.] [Lines collide, separate and lock together.] [Quena cuts through with brief high replies.] [Rear-left and rear-right female voices inherit successive dulcimer phrases.] [Move the vocal replies independently through near and far space.] [Quena holds one urgent high tone; a female voice continues its pitch and intensity.] [First Clash – Rhythmic Unison] [All three dulcimers strike the motif together with fierce precision.] [Pounding frame drum, dry tom accents and clipped bass reinforce the attacks.] [Use brief synchronized stops between bursts.] [Female syllables match the final mallet accents exactly.] [All performers cut off together.] [Drop – Suspended Silence] [Let the remaining resonance die.] [One full bar of complete silence.] [No voices, bass, percussion, drones or pads.] [Exposed Passage – Countdown] [One dulcimer plays isolated dry notes like a tense countdown.] [Wide gaps, each note slightly more urgent.] [A short quena phrase rises, trembles and breaks off.] [One distant female voice inherits its final tone, clear and restrained.] [Silence.] [A sudden tiny mallet roll.] [Rebuild – Tightening Pursuit] [The original motif returns immediately at full speed, very quietly.] [Second and third dulcimers join in a close chasing canon.] [Increase attack strength while keeping the tempo fixed.] [Frame drum and bass re-enter with sparse heavy pulses.] [Female voices imitate the mallet rolls in rapid call-and-response.] [Shorten the gaps until instruments and voices form one continuous surge.] [Quena rises sharply above the rhythmic surge.] [Final Battle – Blazing Interlock] [Three dulcimers exchange ultra-fast rolls, sharp repeated notes and low hammering accents.] [Each player stays spatially distinct.] [Quena delivers short piercing cries between the mallet phrases.] [Frame drum and toms drive the battle forward without masking the attacks.] [Female voices continue the instrumental figures with identical rhythmic precision.] [Brief counter-rotating vocal layers intensify the motion behind the trio.] [Final Unison – One Last Surge] [All three dulcimers return to the simple main motif in fierce unison.] [Maximum attack and urgency, with clear spaces between rhythmic bursts.] [Female voices join the rhythm for one brief final exchange.] [One final instrumental burst.] [All dulcimers, quena, bass, drums and voices stop together.] [Outro – Resonance into Silence] [Hold an empty pause. No vocal return.] [One lone dulcimer strikes a single exposed note softly.] [No answering phrase. No further percussion or bass.] [Let the natural metallic resonance decay completely.] [End with several seconds of absolute silence.]
