The Wellsprings of Music: A Review-Essay The Wellsprings of Music by Curt Sachs; Jaap Kunst Review by: Mieczyslaw Kolinski

Ethnomusicology, Vol. 7, No. 3, Tenth Anniversary Issue (Sep., 1963), pp. 272-286 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/924591 . Accessed: 14/03/2012 05:17
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THE WELLSPRINGS OF MUSIC Mieczyslaw Kolinski

A REVIEW-ESSAY

The Wellsprings of Music. By Curt Sachs, edited by Jaap Kunst. (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1962. xi, 228 p., music.) The title of the book suggests the author's basically historical orientation, conceiving history in its broadest possible sense, that is, as an account of the development of mankind from the Stone Age until modern times. None of the exceptional qualities that distinguished the impressive number of books and papers, previously published by the author, are absent from the present volume: a sovereign and imaginative approach to the problems involved, based upon an unusually broad factual knowledge and expressed in a brilliant and thought-provoking way. The first section, entitled "Preliminaries," illustrates Sachs' predilection for pointed anti-thetic formulation; he contrasts the role that music plays in our present society and in tribal cultures: "Using organized sound as a kind of opiate, we have forgotten to ask for sense and value in what we hear. In primitive music, on the contrary, sense and value are paramount qualities." But in spite of this manifest opposition some convergent trends can be traced, though they may result from entirely different situations; for example, the Western music therapist and the tribal medicine man have a common objective: to utilize music as a means for combating sickness. In section II ("The advent of the ethnomusicologist") the author first points out the milestones leading to the establishment of ethnomusicology as an academic subject, such as the inclusion of chapters on non-Western music in early music histories and the extensive studies of Chinese and Egyptian music undertaken by Amiot and Villoteau. He justly evaluates the field recordings of Zufii music by Fewkes and their transcription by Gilman, as well as the presentation of the ingeniously simple cent system by Ellis as the first decisive contributions to modern ethnomusicological methodology. Discussing the substitution of the term "ethnomusicology" for the original designation "comparative musicology" the author writes: "After the name of Comparative Musicology had fallen into disrepute, leading men in the field began to speak of Ethnomusicology or, in German, of musikalische Vlkerkunde. . . The term seems to have been used for the first time in 1950.. The musikalische VOlkerkunde of the Germans. . .seem(s) to put an exaggerated stress on the ethnological part of the aggregate." Let us not forget, however, that Hornbostel consistently and correctly employed the term "Musikalische VOlkerkunde" as early as in the 1920's. He labeled his two main courses, given at Berlin University, "Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft" and "Musikalische Volkerkunde," treating the musicological aspects in the former course and the ethnological implications in the latter. A precise German translation of "ethnomusicology" would be "VBlkermusikwissenschaft." Section III ("The ethnomusicologist's workshop") characterizes the two stages into which the activities of the ethnomusicologist are divided: field work and desk work. The author describes the different means of recording up to the "Grooved Tape-Disk," developed in Cologne and presented, in 1955,
272

THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC,A REVIEW-ESSAY OF KOLINSKI:

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by a New York distributor. This device is allegedly capable of playing "eight hours of uninterrupted music on three miles of a sound track one-thousandth of an inch in diameter;" a breathtaking development from the original Edison cylinders, exclusively used during the first decades of field work and capable only of inferior recording of two or three minutes of uninterrupted music. After collecting the phonographic material the ethnomusicologist is faced with a series of intricate problems involving its transcription. The author discusses in detail the means to measure and to express "steps others than the ones of our habitual well-tempered system." He points out the advantages of visual methods, such as the use of the oscilloscope, stroboscope and electronic counter, over acoustical ones, such as Hornbostel's "ReiseTonometer" or Kunst's monochord. But he justly emphasizes the eminent role of the transcriber: "The editor's essential task is organization, analysis, interpretation of the raw materials that the phonograph provides; it demands grouping, phrasing, and punctuating. This is, beyond the gadget's power of precision, a musician's chore..." The author initiates the student into the practical application of Ellis' cent system, which substitutes easy additions and subtractions of logarithms for awkward multiplications and divisions of the original frequencies. He also warns the naive transcriber against the use of Western key signatures for non-Western music. In this connection the author writes: "Take good care to write the necessary accidentals in the front signature on the line or in the space exactly where they belong. An F sharp that occurs exclusively in the one-lined octave must appear in the first space and not, as in modern notations, on the fifth line. A wider melody range might easily leave this two-lined F unsharpened" (p. 33). However, for theoretical and practical reasons such a procedure does not seem advisable. The consistent occurrence of a sharp or flat in one octave and of a corresponding natural in another one is no less unusual in a tribal than in a Western folk song; besides, even the most experienced ethnomusicologist would fail to recognize that, for example, in Figure 1, the notation of a non-Western motive, the first note of the second measure is supposed to be read as an F natural.

f~~~%~

:rr ,-11
Figure 1

r~N~ J

i~

"The question of origin" is dealt with in the next section. The author discusses in particular the thesis of a possible derivation of music from human speech, seemingly supported by the existence of various so-called tone languages; but he emphasizes that "the question of origin cannot be solved. The beginnings of music are lost in the days of yore, as are the rudiments of speech, religion, and the dance" (p. 39). Turning to the problem of "oldest music," the author adopts the view of a school of anthropologists who hold that the societies now living alongside on the surface of the earth, ranging from paleolithic survivals to the space age civilization, can be interpreted as a projection into the present of "a dim progression in hundred-thousands of years" (p. 42). In his famous work Geist und Werden der Musikinstrumente Sachs has succeeded in reconstructing the development of musical instruments from their beginnings to the Middle Ages. Apparently encouraged by this remarkable achievement

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KOLINSKI: THE WELLSPRINGSOF MUSIC, A REVIEW-ESSAY

he attempts to solve a somewhat similar but infinitely more delicate and elusive problem, namely, the reconstruction of the development of melody patterns throughout the ages. Before evaluating this daring endeavor, it seems necessary to summarize the author's thesis, presented in sections V ("The oldest music: tumbling strains") and VI ("The oldest music: one-step melodies"), and in chapters Four ("The fate of secondal and tertial patterns"), Five ("The fate of quartal and quintal patterns") and Six ("Centric melodies"). According to the author, "the surviving tribes of palaeolithic culture use two clear-cut styles side by side" (p. 51). One of these "oldest melodic patterns may be described as a 'tumbling strain'. . .: after a leap to the highest available note in screaming fortissimo, the voice rattles down. ..to a pianissimo respite on a couple of the lowest. . .notes; then, in a mighty leap, it resumes the highest note to repeat the cascade as often as necessary... The crudest style of this kind of melody seems to be preserved in Australia . .." (p. 51). Much "tamer" are the tumbling strains among the North American Indians. This type is illustrated by a Zufii melody which "spans the amazing range of more than two octaves in an essentially tertial organization" (Ex. 4). The author considers "a periodic, audacious recapture of the higher octave" as "the essential, identifying trait of tumbling strains . . . From the octave as the primary concept, tumbling strains developed by inner consolidation." In the "beginnings of this process" the "stepping stones inside the octave" were "left to chance without an idea of scales and steps." Little by little the octave space was organized "in recurrent distances, with a preference to either fifths or fourths or thirds" (p. 55). Before discussing the second type of "oldest melody," the author outlines "more recent forms of tumbling strains." As a rule, the octave remains "the backbone of the skeleton" (p. 56) though it may be occasionally replaced by narrower intervals, such as a major sixth (Ex. 8) or even a fifth. The consolidation of the octave develops in two directions: toward triadic (tertial) and tetrachordic (quartal) patterns. The author concludes that "For once, we meet with the rare case of a development from the most aboriginal types to modern forms through a steadily growing organization from within through interpenetration with other structural patterns." Section VI, entitled "The oldest music: one-step melodies," deals with the other type of melody which we meet on the lowest cultural level side by side with tumbling strains. "In its most rudimentary form" it "consists of only two pitches sung in alternation." The size of intervals employed may vary between a minor second and a fifth; therefore, the author distinguishes between secondal, tertial, quartal and quintal one-step melodies. "The seconds are so frequent in the very lowest civilizations that we must assign them to the earliest known societies of mankind... Tertial patterns, too, are almost universal;" but the author claims that "the map of distribution shows a particular denseness in Negro Africa, which in turn is nearly devoid of fourths. Indeed, the third appears to have almost the monopoly in Black The fourth is equally absent from Europe, excepting much of the Africa... East and the Southeast, while the third is all dominating. Again, as far as our knowledge goes, the Asiatic world has a tertial North and a preponderantly quartal South, from Tibet all the way down to Indonesia. Thus we must face the possibility that an originally tertial region, the whole Old World of Asia, Europe, and Africa, was in remote past cut into two by an East-born wedge of quartal melody. In Indian America, tertial and quartal melodies live alongside without betraying any clue to a convincing chronology or stratification" (p. 63).

KOLINSKI: THE WELLSPRINGSOF MUSIC, A REVIEW-ESSAY

275

Sachs classifies as "empty structures" the one-step patterns discussed so far. They consist just of two structural notes a second, a third, a fourth, or a fifth apart. But this nucleus is often embellished by additional, auxiliary notes. "Any additional note in the melody is an affix if it joins the nucleus outside" and an infix if it is a filling note inside the nucleus. An affix is called a suprafix when added above, and an infrafix when added below the nucleus. "Secondal melodies can be adorned with affixes only. Tertial, quartal, and quintal patterns, on the contrary, have had a growing tendency towards resolution into smaller steps" (p. 64). The author discusses in detail the various forms of infixes, especially within a nuclear fourth. Later in the book (Chapters Four to Six) Sachs attempts to demonstrate how the "oldest" single-step patterns (without and with in- and affixes) developed into multiple-step combinations. The two oldest styles of Vedic chant are cited as "a classical evidence of transition from a secondal one-step to a secondal two-step pattern," (p. 143) which uses three notes within the range of a major third. The author mentions only briefly the possibility of widening a tertial nucleus through an appended second or fourth; he emphasizes that "the most frequent, and a fascinating, form of tertial two-step melody" (p. 145) is the combination of a (more or less) major and a (more or less) minor third. Sachs justly objects to the terms "fanfare melody" and "triadic melody" because the former "is too much reminiscent of the trumpet and the bugle to suit a vocal pattern" while the latter has a harmonic connotation; besides, in many melodies the center of gravity is placed upon one of the two higher notes, contrary to the harmonic "root" function of the lowest note. According to the author "the 'triads' are simply double thirds" (p. 147). The range of these tertial two-step patterns is gradually expanded by adding, above or below, one or more thirds. In such a way, "chains" of triple, quadruple, quintuple, and even sextuple thirds are created. The two basic forms of triple thirds are C E G B and D F A C; they were "universal and prevalent in" medieval "Europe both in folksongs and in art music (including the Gregorian chant)," and can be found "on archaic levels of Asia, in North Africa, in North and South America way up to the Eskimo as well as in Melanesia, Polynesia, and New Guinea." Quadruple thirds are scarcer; their two basic forms are C E G B D and D F A C E. "... .they play an important role in Bantu Africa and are sung by the Hottentots as (usually unfilled) skeletons. ... But their main habitat is Europe. Here, they occur as empty skeletons in Finnish folk music, while they are filled and diatonic in other European countries" (pp. 150-1). Quintuple and sextuple thirds are rare and exclusively European. As in the case of one-step structures, multiple "empty" skeletons are often adorned with "infixes." The latter mostly split the major thirds into two major seconds, but leave the minor thirds intact. This yields a gamut of whole tones and minor thirds. In a more advanced stage of melodic development the singer, starting from a double third, adds a major or minor second instead of building a triple third. This second leads the melody back to the original fifth. In other words, he substitutes the structure C E G A (G) for C E G B, and A C E F (E) for A C E G. "It must have taken a long time before the sixth was firmly established in the skeleton as a part with equal rights and duties. This final stage is evident in the Gregorian It reappears at the other end of the world in the first Chinese mode chant.... or the Japanese ryo; and between these west-eastern extremes, there are many examples from Tibet and various parts of Europe. . ." (p. 156). Instead
of a sixth, the higher or lower octave can be added to a "triadic" nucleus

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OF THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC,A REVIEW-ESSAY KOLINSKI:

(surprisingly, the author substitutes here the term "triadic" for "tertial"). In this case, the melody steps are "one-three-five-eight or, in the plagual form, low five-one three five, such as c e g c' or G c e g" (p. 157). But unlike the triadic octave skeletons of the "tumbling strains" these structures stress the tertial two-step pattern rather than the octave. Discussing, in Chapter Five, "The fate of quartal and quintal patterns," the author first reminds us of the distinction between conjunct and disjunct fourths, the former having a total range of a seventh, or heptad, the latter a total range of an octave because of the interpolation of a whole tone between the two fourths. In view of historical evidence the author believes that conjunction marks an earlier phase of development than disjunction; besides, "conjunction shows a more limited planning. . .the seventh is merely the sum of two conjunct tetrachords, not a melodic aim or a function." The author states that, except for a few examples from the Orang Kubu in Sumatra, Mongolia, and Finland, he does not know of any song where "the voice leaps to the seventh without touching the conjunction at a fourth from either end of the heptad." Such structures occur, however, both in American Indian and in African Negro songs. For example, in our Figure 2, a Comanche Peyote song (McAllester 1949: Ex. 2), the descending double-fourth C-G-D of phrase D is replaced, in the subsequent phrase, by the descending seventh leap C-D.

?4
4 [

C4
i

,4'

,,.

g1

Figure 2 A "miscellaneous" Dahomean song (Kolinski 1938: Ex. 307), our Figure 3, starts with the ascending seventh leap D-C followed by the descending fourth C-G:
( V ,o,1S d i ! 1 'I 1

Figure 3 Of particular interest is the double-fourth structure in a Dahomean Tohwiyo cult song (Kolinski 1961: 74), Figure 4. Here the seventh is "a melodic aim or a function" rather than "merely the sum of two conjunct tetrachords." In measure 5 the singer avoids a simple progression in two ascending fourths by interpolating the ascending seventh A-G between the fourths A-D and D-G:

KOLINSKI: THE WELLSPRINGSOF MUSIC, A REVIEW-ESSAY O l-o8 . J

277

Figure 4

Sachs states that "disjunct empty double fourths exist in episodes inside Mongolian and Korean songs and also in religious recitatives of Italy." It might be added that they occur also elsewhere. For example in Figure 5, a Dahomean women's work song (Kolinski 1938: Ex. 30), the higher fourth DG (measure 1) is "separated from" or rather connected with the lower fourth G-C (measure 4) through the whole tone C-D (measures 2-3):
(8.3
omc.
-I

11 ILI A.
A Or

F F
LL--A

B- FL
a

F
Figure 5

In regard to conjunct double-fourth structures the author asserts that after many hesitations the (descending) heptad C-G-D was expanded to an octave through the added lower whole tone C, the Greek "proslambanomenos." Scales that are commonly termed "anhemitonic-pentatonic" and that cover the range of two octaves are interpreted by the author as (descending) quadruple chains of fourths which alternate between disjunction and conjunction and which are divided by infixes into a (higher) third and a (lower) whole tone (p. 162). The author briefly discusses chains of fifths; they are rare because it seems more natural to expand a quintal melody to an octave than to bypass the octave by piling up another fifth. The author holds that "the urge to sing an ascending fifth is frequently satisfied by simply skipping one of the thirds in a tertial chain." Chapter Six, entitled "Centric melodies," is the last one devoted to the classification of melody patterns. According to the author the overwhelming majority of melody patterns are steps or derive from steps. But "on a somewhat higher level. . .the melody. . returns again and again to the same note in the middle, which is. . .an ever recurring nucleus of the tune" (p. 168). Such melodies are termed "centric." The author places the origin of this type in the "two-step layer" because at least two steps are needed for this pattern. Only where the middle note is essentially more frequent than either one of the outside notes, a melody is qualified to be termed "centric." Otherwise we deal with a "one-step melody plus an affix above or below" (p. 169). "Simple two-step centricity" can be considerably expanded. "Practically, the number of circumcentric steps is illimited" (p. 172); but a melody is "centric" only if "its focus is more or less in the middle of its span." The climax of centering melodies is reached "in the neckbreaking coloraturas in which oriental and Mediterranean pipers and fiddlers dissolve their
tunes past recognition . .
."

The author's

"classification

of melody patterns

comes at this point to an end" (p. 173).

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THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC,A REVIEW-ESSAY KOLINSKI: OF

As fascinating as the author's vision of a chronology, classification and stratification of melody patterns might seem at first sight, it is, nevertheless, open to serious criticism. The story of Homo sapiens spans an era of at least half a million years, and it is generally assumed that the earliest forms of vocal musical expression originated in extremely remote times, that is, probably some hundreds of thousands of years ago. The development of human culture, transmitted through social heritage, has been continuously stimulated through the inventiveness among all peoples. Since the use of the human voice was not restricted by technological limitations, we have to consider the possibility of a wide range of vocal styles appearing, changing and disappearing in the course of thousands and thousands of generations distributed among a great racial variety that appears to have characterized Homo sapiens at all times. Therefore, there seems to be no evidence supporting the author's thesis of a survival of "oldest" melody patterns. After these general considerations the question arises whether "tumbling strains" and "one-step melodies," without actually representing "the oldest music," constitute, nevertheless, melodic prototypes from which all other melody patterns occurring in tribal and national folk songs have evolved in a way described by the author. If we examine the known stock of melodies preserved in societies of lowest technological level, we find a far more complex situation than the presence of "two clear-cut styles side by side," claimed by Curt Sachs. For example, the Semang pygmies in the jungles of Malaya cultivate a surprising variety of melody patterns distributed among five sub-tribes (Kolinski 1930). The seven recorded songs of the Moni subtribe constitute "tertial two-step patterns" both "empty" and "filled." Within the author's system such forms represent a later stage of development and are, therefore, not treated in the section on "The oldest music." The author is aware of this dilemma ("The Asiatic distribution" of tertial two-step patterms "includes. . .tribes as primitive as the Semang in Malaya.. ." p. 145), but he does not provide an explanation. On the other hand, the Kensiu subtribe uses patterns which, within the author's system, have to be placed toward the end rather than the beginning of the development of "tumbling strains" because of the "organization" of the octave "from within" and the "interpenetration with other structural patterns" (p. 59). The example of the Semang pygmies is only one among many instances challenging the validity of the author's chronological approach. In fact, before dealing with such a perilous matter, it appears indispensable to carry out the vast and at any rate most important task of classifying the tonal and melodic patterns of the available stock of tribal and national folk songs, regardless of their possible age, by means of a consistent, comprehensive and appropriate method. In spite of the ingenuity of the author's concept, his system of melody patterns cannot serve as a framework for the aforementioned objective not only because it has been developed in view of a chronological approach, but also because it shows some basic shortcomings. The author criticizes the use of the terms "tritonic, tetratonic" etc. as meaning "of two tones, of three tones" etc. (p. 60); he rejects these terms not only on the ground that the component "tonic" has "no less than six different and even contradictory meanings," but in particular because "strictly speaking, no melody has 'tones' or 'notes'; as a form of musical movement, it is a series of steps (or even of leaps) while the notes are simply stations and terminals." Therefore, he proposes to "call the primitive patterns one-step, two-step, three step melodies. . ." (p. 61). Obviously, the author fails to distinguish between the actual melody

THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC,A REVIEW-ESSAY OF KOLINSKI:

279

and the "scale," that is, in tribal music the analyser's arrangement in an ascending (or descending) order of the tone material employed. The use of terms such as "tetratonic" or "pentatonic" by no means implies the notion that a melody is composed of single notes rather than of steps; it simply designates the number of tones occurring in a melody with the exception of possible octave duplications. (Incidentally, this reviewer does not endorse these terms; instead, he suggests to substitute "four-tint" and "five-tint" for "tetratonic" and "pentatonic" etc. because one tint embraces all octave registers of one tone; for example, the scale C d e g a c d should be designated as a five-tint scale comprising seven pitches.) Figure 6, a song of the Lapps (p. 146), chosen by Sachs himself as an example of a pure "tertial two-step" pattern, illustrates the contradictory situation:
33

T2

f
Figure 6

We arrive at two steps only if we count the number of steps between the adjacent tones of the scale D-f-a. But the melody itself includes, besides the third steps d-f and f-a, also the fifth step d-a appearing in both directions as an important structural interval. If one conceives of a melody as of "a series of steps" (p. 61), it seems inconsistent to use a terminology which leaves out of account even structurally dominating steps. But the author's nomenclature is not merely a terminological matter; in fact, it reflects his concept of the nature and function of intervals employed in tribal vocal music. The author's classification of melody types into secondal, tertial, quartal and quintal patterns emphasizes the difference in the size of the intervals involved rather than their specific character. Surprisingly, the author does not discuss the core of the problem of tonal structure of tribal vocal music, that is, he does not raise the question regarding the factors which determine the selection of certain intervals and tone complexes out of the continuity of pitch shades. Two assumptions have to be excluded at the very outset: (1) Generally speaking, tribal vocal music has not been shaped after the model of instrumental patterns. The author justly points out that "Peoples representing a particularly pristine phase of man's evolution, like the Vedda in inner Ceylon, the East African Wanege, the Siriono of eastern Bolivia, and most Patagonians, have no instruments. When, in a later phase, instruments begin to appear, they do so in rudimentary forms without any attempt at melodic achievements" (pp. 91-2). (2) Carl Stumpf has proved that the overtones have nothing to do with the phenomenon of tone affinity (and consonance) because the specific character of intervals remains unaltered even when all overtones are eliminated. On the other hand, "the fairy tale of the simple ratios," an expression coined by Jaap Kunst (Kunst 1955: 41), has been completely misFor example, reviewing Bruno interpreted by some ethnomusicologists. Nettl's book Music in Primitive Culture, Mantle Hood writes: "The discussion continues in terms of the universal importance of the perfect fourth and fifth, apparently ignoring the fact that the 'fairy tale' of the small whole-number ratio of intervals has been previously exploded" (Hood 1957: 39). And yet, Kunst himself points out that "In many primitive musical

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KOLINSKI: THE WELLSPRINGSOF MUSIC, A REVIEW-ESSAY

expressions we may distinguish a number of 'Gerijsttine' ('skeletal tones'), which are more or less consonant with respect to one another, and form the larger intervals (octaves, fifths, fourths).. ." (Kunst 1955: 42). And a couple of pages further Kunst writes: "Exotic music which gives the impression of being built entirely on the consonance principle, and in which, therefore, real fifths, fourths and thirds (including the notorious 'interlocking' and 'pendular' thirds) are heard, may be found, for instance, in places where a negroid element plays a role in the miscegenation, as, of course, in Negro Africa, but also in large parts of New Guinea. . . , in the districts Nagd and
Ngada in midwest Flores.
.

. , and in Melenesia.

vibration ratios are not only not a fairy tale, but their impact upon the sensation of intervals is so strong that they affect even intervals of slightly different size. Evidently, the correlation between simple vibration ratios and intervals is physiologically rooted; since the structure of the central nervous system is basically the same in regard to all geographical populations, we have to assume universal validity of the laws governing this correlation. An analysis of the tonal structure of many thousands of tribal songs confirms this assumption. In the great majority of tribal songs the latitude in the size of the steps employed is hardly more considerable than in Western folk song. Simple vibration ratios are the physical equivalent of a phenomenon which might be termed "tint identity" and "tint affinity" (by tint is meant the specifically musical quality of sound that is identical in octave tones and more or less dissimilar in other tone relations). It has been shown that it is basically this phenomenon which causes, in tribal vocal music, the selection of tonal patterns out of the continuity of pitch shades (Kolinski 1957) and that the grading of tint affinity follows the quintal, or Pythagorean, order (Kolinski 1962); therefore, the cycle of fifths appears to be the ideal framework for a classification of tonal structures. The author could not have known of the expanded form of this classification (Kolinski 1961), but referring to its earlier version he holds that "even the method of Mieczyslaw Kolinski, otherwise an excellent, leading ethnomusicologist, fails. He squeezes the primitive melodies into a system of church modes and imaginary cycles of fifths and succumbs, in my opinion, to an ill-fated attempt at over-classification" (p. 33). How it has been possible to interpret this method as a system of church modes, is hard to understand; anyhow, its application by this reviewer and other scholars, such as Alan P. Merriam, has yielded quite satisfactory results in regard to the analysis of tonal structures and to the establishment of characteristic stylistic features. The alternative classification of melody patterns, offered by the author, is based upon a misconception of the nature and function of intervals. Speaking of "secondal patterns" the author takes it for granted that seconds of any size belong in one and the same category of intervals. But the semitone and the whole tone are both called seconds only because their components are adjacent in the diatonic system. In fact, the major second contrasts with the minor one not only because its size is twice as large but because the degree of tint affinity between its components follows that of the fourth and fifth, while the components of a minor second are not directly related to one another. The basic consonance of the major second accounts for its eminent structural importance in tribal melodies. In a sampling counting of steps employed in twelve Tuamotuan songs Burrows found 355 major seconds against 17 minor seconds (Burrows 1933: 78), while Merriam reports that in
the Yovu songs from Ruanda 42.7% of all steps employed are major seconds

...."

In fact, the simple

OF THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC,A REVIEW-ESSAY KOLINSKI:

281

against 3.8% of minor seconds (Merriam 1957: 940). Sometimes the relatively frequent occurrence of the semitone represents an important distinguishing stylistic feature. For example, a comparison between 307 Dahomean and 119 Ashanti songs yielded the following result: 84% of the Dahomean songs, but only 9%of the Ashanti songs, are completely halftoneless (Kolinski, 1938: 69). Discussing the "disjunct" quartal pattern D G A D, the author contends that the whole tone G A "seen from a quartal viewpoint, is entirely arbitrary" (p. 160). In fact, the pattern is quite organic, since it is based on the quintal (or quartal) tint complex G D A. One of the cornerstones of Sachs' system is the "chains" of multiple thirds. After dealing with "tertial two-step patterns," the author states: "The urge to expand the range and yet to cling to the same basic interval can indeed be so strong that singers feel compelled to enlarge their double third. ..by adding, above or below, another third.. .In doing so, they create 'chains,' such as triple, quadruple, quintuple, and even sextuple thirds. . ." As in the case of the second, the term "third," embracing two different intervals, is meaningful only within the diatonic system. For example, in a halftoneless five-tint pattern, such as C D E G A C, the function of the minor third as an adjacent interval is more similar to that of the major second than to that of the major third. Since the "tertial chains" are composed of alternately major and minor thirds, there can be no question of an "urge to cling to the same basic interval." With just as much (or little) justification one could call the progression C D E G A C "a chain of the same basic intervals." This comparison is all the more valid since in the quintal system the major second is as close to the minor third as the latter to the major third. Incidentally, the higher degree of "basic" consonance of the minor third, compared to that of the major one, accounts for the frequent function, in tribal song, of the minor third as a structural interval. Since each two consecutive thirds of a "tertial chain" form a perfect fifth, the author holds that "it would be admissible to describe such a tertial chain as interlocking fifths" (p. 149). This approach seems, indeed, far more appropriate because in such a chain the fifths are, as a rule, of much greater structural importance than the thirds. But Sachs denies any organic coherence in a "chain;" he claims that "while the singer moves from interval number one to interval number two and from there to interval three, he often forgets about the first one and finds a new orientation. His chain is not an organic whole, but an unorganized concatenation of similar intervals" (p. 149). This evaluation of tribal melody patterns is all the more surprising since, in another context, the author justly emphasizes that melody is "an organic, living whole with breath and flow, with tension and relaxation" and that "even on the earliest level a melody is never anarchic or arbitrary. It follows certain, almost unbreakable rules" (p. 51). The patterns C E G A, A C E F, C E G C and G C E G are interpreted as a "melodic consolidation" of "triple tertial chains" (pp. 155 and 157). But there seems to be no reason to assume (as the author does) that, for example, the structures C E G A and C E G C are derived from the triple tertial chain C E G B through a substitution of the sixth C A and the octave C C for the seventh C B. Particularly surprising appears the author's contention that the frame of a seventh is "safer" than that of an octave (p. 158). By substituting the sixth C A for the seventh C B and by bisecting the third C E through the "infix" D the author succeeds in deriving the halftoneless five-tint scale C E D G A from the triple tertial chain C E G B. This, however, seems

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OF THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC,A REVIEW-ESSAY KOLINSKI:

to be an ingenious speculation, since the scale C D E G A is characterized by the structural fifth-fourth chain C G D A E rather than by a highly hypothetical triple tertial chain. Another instance of how the author carries his tertial chain concept into patterns which apparently resist such an interpretation is Figure 7, an example from the antiphon 7 for the second Sunday in Advent (p. 164):

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Figure 7

Referring to the fifth step D A, the author states that ". . .the urge to sing an ascending fifth is frequently satisfied by simply skipping one of the thirds in a tertial chain. ..The missing third is however restored after some time and leaves no doubt that the pattern is a tertial chain." But there can be no question of a restoration of the third D F because this interval appears neither as a step nor as a structural element; in fact, no less than ten notes separate the F from the D. Nor does the third F A occur as a step, and the G cannot be interpreted as a non-structural "infix" because it stands out as a component of two pendulums in the secondal space G A. Similar subjective evaluations account probably for such sweeping statements as the one asserting that "Europe and Africa, related in their preference given to thirds, both in melody and chordal organization, were torn apart by a South Asiatic and Mediterranean wedge of quartal melodies" (p. 152). The author claims that "Negro Africa. ..is nearly devoid of fourths. Indeed, the third appears to have almost the monopoly in Black Africa" (p. 63). This contention is not correct. For example, in Dahomean music we find, in regard to fourths and fifths, the following situation:
Songs including: ascending fourths descending fourths ascending fifths descending fifths combinations of fourths combinations of fifths 88% 88% 61% 47% 65% 15%

In addition, no less than 37 different three-to-ten member combinations of fourths and fifths occur in 25% of the songs (Kolinski 1938: 69-70). Since the author's classification of melody patterns fails to take into account the afore discussed basic determinants of vocal tonal construction, it is often bound to treat completely homogenous structures as if they were hybrid forms resulting from the confrontation of quite contrasting trends. Interpreting, for example, a melody of the Smith Sound Eskimos (Figure 8), the author writes: ". . .the interpenetration of two quite different urges is convincing in melodies of the Caribou and the Smith Sound Eskimo, where an (obviously older) one-step pattern g-f and a double third f-a-c are in strong opposition and contention" (p. 165). In fact, the melody is simply

A OF THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC, REVIEW-ESSAY KOLINSKI:

283

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Figure 8 based upon the four-tint complex F G D A which belongs in the same "pentatype" as the five-tint scale F G A C D, commonly termed halftoneless pentatonic (Kolinski 1961: 38-39). The next example, given by the author, is a Rumanian folksong (Figure 9).
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Figure 9 Here we are obviously faced with the "tetra-typic" four-tint complex G D A E (or transposed: C G D A; tetra-typic are, according to this reviewer's classification, the two-tint complex C A, the three-tint complexes C G A and C D A, and the four-tint complex C G D A). But the author is forced to dissect the melody in order to fit it within his system. So he claims that this "Rumanian folksong shows clearly that a secondal impulse, yielding the step g-a, combines with a tertial impulse, materializes on g-e, which again leads to the second e-d." And he concludes that "the melody is not secondal; nor is it tertial. As so many anthropological phenomena, it is due to two or three independent stimuli" (p. 165). A further major shortcoming of the author's approach to melody patterns is the emphasis laid upon intervals and interval combinations to the detriment of an analysis of melodic movement. Realising that the study of this important element of musical fabric has been generally neglected because of the lack of an adequate and comprehensive classification of patterns of melodic movement, this reviewer has worked out such a system. It conceives of melody not as of a sum of steps but as of an organic whole and is designed to serve as a framework for an analysis of all possible patterns ranging from a simple pendular movement to sophisticated complexes (Kolinski 1956). However, the author categorically rejects this method since his system of step combinations obviously does not call for a structural approach. He writes: "An intricate system with all possible ramifications of melodic forms can be found in one of Kolinski's recent papers. With all due respect for such courageous endeavors, I believe that detailed classifications are desirable and necessary in the realms of nature objects and of human artifacts but impractical and useless in the immaterial world of human expression. Indeed, even if it were fruitful to catch static forms in a coherent system, dynamic, kinetic types elude classification beyond a mere minimum. Open to permanent change, growth, and mutation, they are doomed to lose

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THE WELLSPRINGS MUSIC, REVIEW-ESSAY A KOLINSKI: OF

their live individualities when dissected and labeled with a deadly terminology"(pp. 173-4). But it is just because "dynamic, kinetic types" are "open to permanent change, growth, and mutation," that we need a most comprehensive framework within which each conceivable development of patterns of melodic movement can be organically integrated. An application of this method proved to be of considerable value for the delineation of essential stylistic features. In addition to the discussion of tumbling strains and one-step melodies, the chapter on "Early music" comprises sections on "Conservatism and " " magic, "Vocal mannerism, "Instruments" and "Rhythm and form." The author links the phenomenon of conservatism with that of magic in support of his theory of a survival of palaeolithic traits, even in the music of present Western populations. In the section on vocal mannerism the author emphasizes the importance of the study of this characteristic feature of non-Western melody, and points out that this is the hardest and most neglected branch of our research. A quite encouraging factor is, however, the significant progress made in the development of electronic devices paving the way for a comparative analysis of specific forms of sound waves which objectively reflect the various vocal styles. A brief discussion of "the elusive questions of tempo and intensity" (p. 90) concludes this section. The chapter dealing with instruments shows once again the author's unrivaled mastery of this significant branch of ethnomusicology; it is a brilliant summary of his previous accomplishments in this field. The author's thought-provoking concept of rhythm and meter calls for thorough evaluation which, however, would exceed the scope of the present review. The author defines polyphony as "the performance and perception of moie than one note at a time" (p. 175). There is certainly a need for a general term which embraces all types of music using simultaneously a plurality of pitches, and etymologically "polyphony" would be a perfect choice. But in accordance with common usage this term denotes only the "horizontal" aspect of "simultaneous otherness," and is, in Western terminology differentiated from "homophony." Therefore, the author's suggestion to label harmony as "vertical polyphony" and counterpoint as "horizontal polyphony" seems contradictory in the former case and pleonastic in the latter. Why not simply take the Latin counterpart of the Greek term polyphony and call all phenomena involving a plurality of pitches "multisonance" as opposed to "unisonance," that is, music in unison? And when necessary, we may distinguish between "horizontal" and "vertical multisonance." Referring to Western music the author justly points out that "the two concepts overlap: counterpoint obeys the laws of harmony, and good part-writing in harmony requires contrapuntal skill" (p. 175). But non-Western multisonance, too, often shows a more or less intimate correlation between the "horizontal" and the "?vertical" principle. A broader line between multi- and unisonance constitutes the universal phenomenon of octave parallels. According to the author, the octave "results in the East as in the West from the natural distances of men's, women's, and children's voices;" he adds that "fifth and fourth parallels are almost as frequent as octaves.. .we also hear them in folksinging instead of the unison that the singers intend and believe to render" (p. 177). It is certainly the difference in the register of their voices that causes men and women not to sing in unison although they "intend and believe" to do so. But this difference by no means explains why precisely the octave, fifth or fourth is substituted for the unison and why the singer is not aware of this
adjustment.

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285

Throughout the book the author consistently avoids any reference to the correlation between simple vibration ratios and musical intervals, probably encouraged by Kunst's viewpoint on "the fairy tale of the simple ratios." However, the universal distribution of octave parallels, substituting for the unison, as well as the very frequent occurrence of fourth and fifth parallels are, beyond any doubt, based upon the vibration ratio 1:2, causing the phenomenon of tint identity, and the ratios 2:3 and 3:4, causing the highest possible affinity between two different tints, although the actual size of the intervals employed may only approximately equal that of the physically perfect ones. As previously mentioned, the closest tint affinity next to the fourth and fifth is that between the tones of a major second (and its inversion and octave enlargements), due to the vibration ratio 2n:32. Therefore, the singing in parallel major seconds is not such a startling phenomenon as generally assumed. According to the author we meet parallel seconds "in a wide stretch from Micronesia to South Africa and the southeastern quarter of Europe: in the Pacific, we record, from east to west, the western islands of Polynesia, the Melanesian Admiralty Archipelago, and the Micronesian West Carolines; in Indonesia, the Moluccas and Flores; in Africa, the Babira (Bantu), the Mambuti (Pygmies), and the Zulu (Bantu again) in the South.... Strangely enough, the second parallels recur in Russia, in Istria at the northern tip of the Adriatic Sea, and in Bosnia" (pp. 179-180); however, the author does not mention that these seconds are preponderantly major. He holds that second parallels are "almost unbearable to our ear" (p. 179); nevertheless, the reader may be referred to a phrase from Hindemith's "Examen" (Kolinski 1962: Fig. 6). "Listening to this passage strongly reminds us of actual organal parallels in fourths, fifths and octaves in spite of the presence of continuous parallels in octave-enlarged major seconds" (ibid.:72). Other forms of multisonance, discussed by the author, are canon and heterophony. The former type developed from overlapping alternation between two choruses or between a soloist and a chorus; it can be found "on a Stone Age level" both in Asia and in Africa. The author analyses in detail the meaning of heterophony, which attains "to devices so artful or even at symphonies as rich and colorful as we admire them in Java and Bali" (p. 188); and he arrives at the following definition: "heterophony is every type of part-performance left to tradition and improvisation-contrapunto alla mente as against res facta" (p. 191). Speaking of multisonance in general the author justly states that "it is not possible to squeeze the many different forms of simultaneous otherness into a neat historical sequence. . .any attempt at chronology is doomed from the very beginning" (p. 176). Chapter Nine, entitled "Professional music and musical systems," tells us the fascinating story of the beginnings of musical professionalism. The song-man of an Australian tribe may be considered as a specialist, "although at best a semi-professional;" he leads the songs and dances, acts as a soloist and "often is the licensed owner of the tribal repertory" (p. 200). The medicine man in shamanistic cultures is characterized by the author as a singing professional rather than a professional singer. It was mainly the high artistic development of African drum and xylophone music that lead to the establishment of true musical professionalism in more complex tribal societies. Musicians that enter a king's or chieftain's band "acquire the status of full professionals. . .they are conscientiously trained by reputed masters or by their own fathers, whom they often succeed in their positions" (p. 201). The author discusses the role of the singers or bards who are
connected with such players by the mastery of some artful instrument.

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KOLINSKI: THE WELLSPRINGSOF MUSIC, A REVIEW-ESSAY

Minstrelsy is evaluated by the author as "the degenerated form of bardism" (p. 204). Finally, the author emphasizes the development of a musical vocabulary which "is the inevitable tool and companion of professional music" (p. 206). The closing chapter, entitled "Progress?", represents a brilliant essay on the implications and limitations of the concept of progress. "There is no steady evolution from simplicity to complication; nor is there a reverse development. The sequence of styles seems to be confused, capricious, arbitrary-until we begin to see the iron law behind the happenings" (p. 215). And the author concludes that "we have not progressed, but simply changed. And, when seen from a cultural viewpoint, we have not always changed to the better" (p. 222). Although certain issues appear to be controversial, the present book represents a most remarkable contribution to ethnomusicology, completing the life work of one of the great figures of modern humanities.
REFERENCES CITED Hood, Mantle 1957 Review of B. Nettl, Music in primitive culture. Ethnomusicology Newsletter 10:38-40. Kolinski, Mieczyslaw 1930 Die Musik der Primitivsttmme auf Malaka und ihre Beziehungen zur samoanischen Musik. Vienna: Anthropos. 1938 Die Musik Westafrikas. Manuscript deposited at the Dept. of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. 1956 "The structure of melodic movement, a new method of analysis" in Miscelanea de Estudios dedicados al Dr. Fernando Ortiz, vol. 2. La Habana. p. 881-918. 1957 "The determinants of tonal construction in tribal music," Musical Quarterly 43(1):50-56. 1961 "Classification of tonal structures" in Studies in Ethnomusicology, vol. 1. New York: Oak Publications. 1962 "Consonance and dissonance," ETHNOMUSICOLOGY 6(2):66-74. Kunst, Jaap 1955 Ethno-musicology; 2nd edition. The Hague: M. Nijhoff. McAllester, David P. 1949 Peyote music. New York: Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology.

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