V Y TAU TA S M AG N US U N I V E R SI T Y
FAC U LT Y OF H U M A N I T I E S
DE PA RT M E N T OF C U LT U R A L S T U DI E S A N D E T H NOL O G Y
Romualdas Apanavičius
Melofolkloristics
DIDACTICAL GUIDELINES
Kaunas, 2013
Kaunas, 2013
Reviewed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Laimutė Anglickienė
Approved by the Department of Cultural Studies and Ethnology of the Faculty
of Humanities at Vytautas Magnus University on 27 November 2012 (Protocol
No. 11)
Recommended for printing by the Council of the Faculty of Humanities of
Vytautas Magnus University on 28 December 2012 (Protocol No. 8–2)
Translated and edited by UAB “Lingvobalt”
Publication of the didactical guidelines is supported by the European Social Fund
(ESF) and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Project title: “Renewal
and Internationalization of Bachelor Degree Programmes in History, Ethnology,
Philosophy and Political Science” (project No.: VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-048)
ISBN 978-9955-21-354-3
© Romualdas Apanavičius, 2013
© Vytautas Magnus University, 2013
Table of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
I. Basics of Melofolkloristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Name and Object of Melofolkloristics . . . . . . . . . . 7
Ethnic Music as a Phenomenon of Primitive Art . . . 11
Ethnic and Academic Music:Similarities and Differen­
ces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Styles of Ethnic Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Modes of Ethnic Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
II. Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity . . . . . . Ethnic Music and the Theory of Divergency of the
Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethnic Music of the Yellow Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethnic Music of the Black Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethnic Music of the South Europids –Source of the Europid Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peculiarities of the Ethnic Music of theEuropids of the
Central Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethnic Music of the Northern Europids . . . . . . . . . Lithuanian Music in the Context of the Ethnic Music of
Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
67
76
82
87
93
99
104
III. Connection Between the Ethnic and 20th Century
Popular Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Description of Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Recommended Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Foreword
This didactical guidelines was developed for the course of Melofolkloristics of the Ethnology bachelor study programme of Vytautas
Magnus University. The purpose of the given course is to provide
to the bachelor students theoretical and practical knowledge and
skills necessary for independent analysis of ethnic music as a complex, polysemantic and multiform expression of ethnical culture.
Therefore the aim of the methodological aid is to provide the students with the essential theoretical and practical knowledge of the
study of ethnomusicology.
This paper presents the object of melofolkloristics, the history
of origin of the course and the possibilities of analysis of ethnical
music provided by it. Great attention is devoted to the peculiarities
of ethnic music of the cultures of the humanity, and their relation
to the history of ethnicity and race. Therefore, this course is rather
complex, combining not only the knowledge of ethnomusicology,
but also of anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and ethnology.
The link between the trends of the ethnic and popular music of the
20th century is revealed and the descriptions of these popular trends
are presented.
Tasks for independent work will also be offered. The purpose of
these tasks is to help the students to master theoretical knowledge
and to be able to apply it in practice while analysing the examples
of ethnic music at the same time valuing the proclaimed works of
5
Melofolkloristics
ethnomusicology. These tasks will also help the students in preparation of a course project and bachelor thesis.
This publication specifies the material for each topic, provides
the most important concepts of the topic, indicates tasks for mastering the topic and for independent work of the students, and the
literature recommended for the topic. The recommended literature
indicates only the authors and the years of their publications. A
comprehensive list of recommended literature will be provided at
the end of the paper.
The course Melofolkloristics, for which this methodological aid was
developed, is comprised of 160 hours, 45 hours of which are allocated
for lectures, 22.5 hours – for seminars, 30 hours – for independent
work tasks (paper), and 55.5 hours – for independent work. 7 hours are
allocated for testing of knowledge (colloquium, examination).
The material of the methodological aid should help the students
to better master the content of the lectures, to prepare for the seminars, to write papers and especially to carry out independent work.
The course Melofolkloristics and the present methodological aid
carrying the same name is related to other subjects of the bachelor
study programme of Ethnology: Ethnic Choreography, Ethnoinstrumentology of the Balts, Lithuanian Folk Songs and Cultural Anthropology, where the description and object, basics of the theory and
essential information of these studies is also presented. Melofolkloristics expands the field of the ethnological research and provides
the possibility for the students not only to obtain the required theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject, but also to compare
it to the theory, methodology and practical knowledge of the aforementioned subjects.
The achievements of the students are assessed by means of colloquiums, comprising 30%, paper and seminars, comprising 20% and
the final examination, comprising 50% of the final grade.
The author would like to cordially thank the reviewer Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Laimutė Anglickienė for valuable comments and advise.
6
I. Basics of Melofolkloristics
Name and Object of Melofolkloristics
The course offered is called Melofolkloristics, seeking to emphasise
that theoretical and historical questions of the analysis of ethnic
music presented during the course are related not only to the peculiarities of analysis of music but also to those of folklore. The first
part of this compound work is based on a Greek work melos meaning melody, and the second – on an English word folklore describing the heritage of the folk creations.
The term Melofolkloristics was finally established only in 2000 upon
the suggestion made by a philosopher and professor of Vytautas
Magnus University Dr. Tomas Sodeika. Until then the author of
this paper called a course of a similar content offered in 1997–1998
Introduction to Ethnic Music, in 1998–1999 History of Ethnic Music
and in 1999–2000 Ethnic Music of Human Races. The author believes that the current name of the course Melofolkloristics better
than the previous ones defines the essence of the material presented
in it and the links between ethnic music and cultural heritage of the
humanity.
Around the world similar courses are most often offered to the
students of the universities and music academies as the subjects
of the field of musicology or ethnic studies, where the attention is
devoted to either mastering the knowledge of music or ethnic culture correspondingly. The course of Melofolkloristics seeks to find
balance among the knowledge of music, ethnic culture and ethnic
7
Melofolkloristics
history, therefore the basics of musicology in it serve only as a necessary measure to solve deeper questions of ethnic history.
Therefore, the object of melofolkloristics is ethnic music, its singularities and peculiarities, relation to folklore, and ethnic and racial history of humanity. This object is rather wide, and is therefore
under comprehensive research, taking into account the information from other scientific fields and areas as well.
The contemporary ethnomusicological research is already using
not only the method of musicology, but also that of ethnology, sociology and informatics; however, ethnic music is usually considered to be
a branch of academic music and is analysed and assessed according to
the standards of academic music. This is obvious in the works1 of the
world ethnomusicologists, and this position is also supported in the
Lithuanian study of ethnomusicology2. Most often the analysis of the
melodies of ethnic music is carried out, which unfortunately is only
one of many other elements of this complex phenomenon. Recording,
decoding, storage and systematisation of melodies were given greater
attention. Old methods are reviewed and new ones are created, which
for a greater part are designed for the analysis of melodies. Information of ethnic music is scarcely used for the research of early ethnic,
cultural, racial history and history of humanity, while the published
works prove this field of research to be rather advatageous3.
With the help of ethnic music it is possible to carry out the in
depth study of the oldest layers of playing music, however an odd
contradiction is that only the information of the past centuries is
used in the research: there are hardly any samples of ethnic music
from the earlier periods. Even though today we still rely on the music parallels of the tribes living in the primitive society, the problems of chronology and dating are the most complicated ones for
the study of ethnomusicology, since establishing the periods, which
ethnic music reflects, is not an easy task.
Music, just like language, folklore, customs and other features
of ethnic cultures that are passed on from generation to generation,
8
Basics of Melofolkloristics
could not have escaped the influence and general changes in cultural development. There is no ground to believe that ethnic music
maintained its primitive form from its creation and its moment of
flourishing to this day. Therefore, in the study of ethnomusicology,
even when analysing truly ancient layers of ethnic music, we do not
dare to establish any definite links between ethnic music of the past
centuries and prehistoric times. We will not find any statements depicting the music of the nations of cultural level and ethnic groups
as reflection of the times of a primitive society, and ethnic music
itself as a phenomenon of primitive art remaining to our days.
The author of this paper applying the scientific data of ethnomusicology, ethnology, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics and
other studies exploring ethnic history, strongly believes that even
today ethnic music more or less reflects the stages of the earliest
development of humanity and thinks that ethnic music is a phenomenon of primitive art born at a twilight of huhumanity.
In view of the above observations it is sought to trace the relation
of ethnic music to ethnic and cultural history of humanity, hypothetically defining approximate chronological phases of origination
and formation of music and its playing techniques. The parallels of
ethnic music and lifestyle, ideology, customs and religion will also
be discussed. The common aspects and differences of ethnic and
academic music will be considered and the fundamental qualities
of ethnic music and their consistency in ethnic music of human
races will be analysed.
The author based the presentation of theoretic statements on the
opinion of the past research including quite a few additions and corrections, and on own research conclusions. The data for the research
was taken from the published ethnomusicology works from around
the world, however, the largest source was the contributions of the
world ethnic music gathered by the author from various archives,
audio libraries, radio funds and broadcasts, records, audio and
video tapes and other sources. Up to 4000 units of such data were
9
Melofolkloristics
gathered; 3000 of which are records and over 1000 – transcribed examples of notes. The author believes that this is a sufficient amount
of material for somewhat wider research and generalisation.
Keywords
Anthropology
Archaeology
Ethnic history
Ethnic music
Ethnomusicology
Linguistics
Melofolkloristics
Tasks
1. How would you describe the name Melofolkloristics, and why
is it a compound name?
2. What is the object of research of melofolkloristics? Why does
it combine both music and folklore?
3. How is ethnic music related to primitive art, ethnic and racial history?
Recommended Literature
A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl (2006).
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Ethnic Music as a Phenomenon of Primitive Art
Based on the data4 of his own research the author shares the opinion
of Yosif M. Zhordanya that the pattern of ethnic music in the world
best corresponds not to nations and ethnic groups but to the spread
of the greatest races of huhumanity5. Expanding on this thought one
can state that ethnic music reflects the oldest territories6 not only of
the greatest, but also of the local races, which was left unnoticed by
Y. Zhordanya. The author’s research shows that for instance in the
ethnic music of the great white Europid race apart from the monody
and diatonic tones characteristic to the whole race, the peculiarities
of the music of its local races are rather distinct. Ethnic music of the
South Europids (it is only here that we have obviously augmented seconds and mode with quarter tone and eight tones) is different than
that of the Central Europids, and especially of the North Europids
(uncharacteristic strong rhythm). One can say that ethnic music of
the South and North Europids is united through the most important
formal quality – monody, according to other characteristics there
is obvious contrast, among which there is the music of the Central
Europids serving as a transitional link. This type of allocation of the
qualities of the ethnic music of the white Europid race coincides with
the oldest settlement of the three local races and empowers to believe
that the common qualities of ethnic music of the white race can be
related to divergency of this race from the Western racial stock approximately 35,000–28,000 years ago, and the its uniqueness to formation of the local races approximately 12,000–10,000 years ago at
the end of the Mesolithic and beginning of the Neolithic7.
Similar patterns are also obvious in ethnic music of other great
races. They show that the roots of the ethnic music sung, performed
and danced to in the 19–20th centuries are traced back to the earliest
stages of human history. According to the qualities of settlement, in
ethnic music one can also notice concurrence with the formation of
archaeological cultural groups of the Neolithic. Certain peculiari11
Melofolkloristics
ties of ethnic music are still apparent today in the territories of the
cultures of the Bronze Age and the areas of archaeological cultures
of the early Iron Age related to the lands of the tribes. It is hardly
possible to see any more correspondence among the anthropological, archaeological and ethnomusicological data – ethnic music of a
later formation of nations is not reflected.
Ethnic music most vividly depicts a lifestyle, ideology, work,
forms of farming, customs, festivities and rituals, beliefs, family,
kinship and social relationships of the primitive society. They intertwine with the realia of the later periods, however the mirroring
of the primitive society is the strongest – the reflections of other
periods supplement them without overshadowing. They sing of
primitive society and the great family listing the family members
and family relations. They celebrate a relationship of a man and
the society with the environment, learning of nature and heavenly
bodies, and how they affect their life. Ethnic music reflects everyday work, tools that were used, people who worked and shared that
work among them; it also reflects the significance of work to their
lives. One can easily recognise the forms of farming: agriculture,
stockbreeding, hunting and even gleaning in the music. The music
also gives insight into which way of life is more reflected in it to this
day – sedentary or peripatetic, regardless of the fact that a nation or
an ethnic group has been leading a sedentary way life for the duration of many centuries and even millenniums.
Because of this information ethnic music can be compared to a
peculiarly encoded ethnic and cultural programme, which is nowadays exceedingly difficult to read and decode. The world’s ethnomusicologists put tremendous efforts into it, however due to complexity and ambiguity of this peculiar programme only a small portion
of it is readable, barely, few hundredths. However, even this part is
unusually colourful, because ethnic music, unlike other fields of
ethnic history and culture, is loquacious and is able to reveal such
layers, which representatives of other studies may only presume.
12
Basics of Melofolkloristics
The qualities of ethnic music show that throughout a long history of humanity it was hardly changing. It is difficult to establish the
true reasons behind such little change, but it looks like insignificant
changes were determined by its magic and ceremonial qualities, because even in the ethnic music sung today magic and ritualism are
more than apparent. This leads to thinking that music and making
of music was a means of communication with the representatives of
not only this, but also of “other” world, most probably with the ancestors. Ritualism was clearly related to the cycles of nature, while
magic with the success of the works of these cycles. Most probably
success of the works depended not only on the workers, but also on
the powers of the “other” world, since in the customs and works
the ethnic music is performed demonstratively loudly and noisily,
probably believing that this way it will be better heard by the representatives of the “other” world.
The fact that ethnic music best reflects the realities of prehistoric
times would be possible to ascertain by the duration of those times in
the history of huhumanity. In Europe for example, only 3000 years
out of 2 million are reflected in the historic sources. The prehistoric
period lasted about 600 times longer than the historic times8. Just
like other phenomena of the ethnic culture, ethnic music reflects
best the Stone Age, and a little bit the Bronze and the early Iron Ages;
as it is particularly the patterns of its distribution that comparatively
coincide with the archaeological cultures and the anthropological
data of these periods. As mentioned earlier, ethnic music no longer
relates to the later processes. Therefore, one may believe that ethnic
music emerged and blossomed in the Stone Age, which, at least in
Europe, lasted longer than all other ages. For the comparison one
may say that the Bronze Age lasted for approximately 1–2 thousands
of years. The Stone Age, which extended the longest through the history of huhumanity, is the period of the most important inventions
that affected its development. Men learnt to use fire for their needs,
started wearing clothes, invented vehicles, hunting and war weap13
Melofolkloristics
ons, learnt to build shelters, to make work tools, to model and burn
pots and to weave. Neolithic – the new Stone Age – is related to the
main revolution in the development of the humanity – formation of
stockbreeding and agriculture and a truly sedentary lifestyle9. “Why
do the most important domestications (taming of animals – R. A.)
took place everywhere approximately at the same time, why did they
all end between 3000 and 2000 BC and up until the 19th century of
our era no other animals have been domesticated and no new plants
have been cultivated is a question remaining (…) and up until now
there is no clear and final answer to the question what was that beginning of subdual of the animals and plants”10.
The same way one can state that there is no and will hardly ever
be found any clear answer to the question of when, why and how did
ethnic music appear and which period is actually related to its appearance. Hypothetically we could guess that it was most probably
the beginning of formation of the humanity, while further development is linked to the later stages of development of the huhumanity.
It is also obvious that ethnic music, just like other phenomena of
the ethnic culture, best reflects the so called “Neolithic revolution”,
when during this period at the end of the Stone Age men learnt how
turn the environment for their needs. Slow further development
of ethnic music also reflects the later processes, which had comparatively scarce influence on the significant breakthroughs in the
development of the humanity.
Origin and development of ethnic music could roughly be described in the following way:
Table 1. Origin and Development of Humanity’s Ethnic Music
Paleolithic
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Bronze Age
14
Iron age
Historic Times
Basics of Melofolkloristics
In the past centuries ethnic music was the most affected by the processes of the nationwide cultural interaction. At the beginning of
the 19–20th centuries ethnic music started to disappear. However
even up until its disappearance the oldest layers kept reflecting the
oldest stages of development of the huhumanity.
By its origin ethnic music consists of two layers: the old and the
late. The old layer is linked to the ethnic and even to the racial history, and it mirrors the reflection of the lifestyle and customs of the
primitive society, while the late is nationwide, related to the common cultural processes of the past several centuries. Both these
layers are often tightly intertwined, and it is hard to discern them,
even though certain patters of both layers are noted.
The old layer of ethnic music is related to the ethnic and even racial history, it most often reflects the identity of a nation or an ethnic group, and frequently the general characteristics of the larger
regions. Unfortunately, peculiarities of the nations are visible only
through the language, because singularities of ethnic music are
more general and extend over the borders of several nations and
ethnic groups. The ancient ethnic music maintained the evident
reflections of the primitive life: family, tribal, calendar, work, wedding and burial traditions and even social setup. It is possible to discern whether female or male cultural base was prevailing. The old
ethnic music also reflects the mentality, relationships of the people
not only within their own family and with the members of the
community, but also between the representatives if this and “another” world. This music also reflects relationship with the neighbours, where one can trace to which lifestyle of the nations and
ethnic groups’ neighbourhood was related. However, ethnic music
did not expand over the limits of its own territory most probably
due to resilient links to lifestyle, customs and religions. This music
would be alien and unacceptable to another ethnics group, even to a
neighbouring one. We can find exceptions only in those cases when
the representatives of one ethnic group would invade the territories
15
Melofolkloristics
of another one, who would most often take the music of the local
residents and translate the words into their own language, only of
course if the newcomers’ language would prevail.
Because of these patterns the common peculiarities, plots and
texts of the songs, games and roundelays, and music instruments of
several neighbouring nations or ethnic groups are not considered
to be borrowings. Their roots go into much older times, most often
up to the formation of the ethnic groups.
Ancient ethnic music is considered to be a sort of a cultural code,
marking individuality of not only the ethnic groups, but also the
local and great races of humanity. This way it is comparable to even
a genetic code, because even today the qualities of ethnic music of
the great races of humanity remain visible in the music of metis
nations and ethnic groups and show which race built the strongest
cultural foundation.
Nationwide ethnic music is of a comparatively late origin. It
does not reflect the uniqueness of the nations or ethnics groups and
cultural regions (notwithstanding the fact that it is sung in the language of one or another nation), because it is common for multiple
nations, ethnic groups and even large regions. Differently from that
of the old ethnic music, the late ethnic music is considered to be
a phenomenon of cultural dispersal and cultural interactions. It
would usually appear on a certain territory and after the 16th century due to cultural interaction and geopolitical processes it would
spread from that place to other areas.
The late nationwide music is also considered to be ethnic music, because is it used by a certain nation, ethnic group, or several
ethnic groups, and is considered to be the heritage of those nations
and ethnic groups. However, differently than the old one, the late
ethnic music does not contain in itself the thousands of years old
information. In analysis of it we will not receive any knowledge of
the greyest layers of the ethnic history of those nations and ethnic
groups; however, we will be able to identify or at least to approxi16
Basics of Melofolkloristics
mately trace the peculiarities of the nationwide cultural interactions in the past centuries, and will be able to establish the patterns
of its dispersion.
According to its origin the late ethnic music can be divided into
the one originated from the old music and the newly created. Nationwide music originated from the old ethnic music is based on the
ethnic music traditions of the larger and more common territories,
and it reflects the spontaneity of the old music of those territories
and differences from the old music of other territories. The newly
created late nationwide music is commonly based on the peculiarities of the old music of one of the nations or ethnic groups; however
it reflects best the realities of the late period. This music is visibly intertwined with the qualities of the nationwide music flown in from
other territories.
Therefore, one can state that all late nationwide ethnic music is
also considered to be a heritage of the ethnic culture and is analysed as a legacy of the interactions and cultural integration of the
nations and ethnic groups in the past centuries.
Keywords
Diatonic
Europids
Great races of humanity
Local races
Mongoloids
Negroids
Pentatonic
Tasks
1. How is ethnic music related to the spread of the great races of
humanity?
2. Show on the world map where was the local Americanoid Race
of the Great Yellow Race situated in the prehistoric times.
17
Melofolkloristics
3. Show on the world map where did the people of the local
Negroid Race of the Great Black Race live up until approximately XVI century.
4. Which peculiarities of lifestyle and farming are reflected in
the old ethnic music?
5. What information is revealed in the new ethnic music?
Recommended Literature
J. H. Kwabena Nketia (1974); A. P. Merriam (1964); Music in Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Ethnic and Academic Music:
Similarities and Differences
In order to evaluate ethnic music as an expression of primitive art
as objectively as possible, we need to compare it with the closest academic phenomenon, establishing the similarities and differences. This
type of academic phenomenon is professional or academic music.
As far as we know, academic music developed from ethnic music; however, for as long as two and a half thousand years it was
rationally restricted by a human mind by the strict rules. Ethnic
music is not restricted by any rules, it developed and established by
itself like a law of nature. It is difficult to say when ethnic music appeared and how it disseminated, and odds are high that no one ever
will. Evidence of academic music, to be more exact of a processional
making of music, is already present in the Ancient Mesopotamia,
Egypt, and Greece. The ancient philosopher Pythagoras as early as
at the end of the 6th century BC considered music to be a subject of
mathematics and by theoretically dividing a sounding string into
equal parts established mathematically equal proportions of its
vibrations11. In the further development the academic music was
bound by the rules of each period, while no such rules ever applied
for ethnic music. Therefore, ethnic music up until its disappearance in the 19–20th century remained as a self-formed phenomenon,
whereas academic music experienced tremendous changes, related
to the cultural and aesthetic needs of certain periods, within only
two and a half thousand years. When listening to academic music
one can almost immediately determine, which movement – Middle
Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism or the 20th
century – it reflects. In the meantime we cannot state anything definitely concerning which period is reflected in the sample of the old
ethnic music recorded in the 20th century.
The authors of academic music are usually known, and even if
they are not, they could be approximately guessed. The questions
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Melofolkloristics
of authorship of ethnic music absolutely cannot be solved, because most likely it was a group creation. However, it is impossible
to make even a rough estimate of how many persons were in a
group, because it is unclear when and how ethnic music appeared.
If we would even approximately try to calculate mathematically
a number of members of the possible groups of the ethnic music
in any cultural region (as already mentioned, it makes no sense
to analyse ethnic music of one nation), we would get a number
amounting to several millions, because we would have to approximately add up numbers of people from many thousands of years,
which we would multiply by an approximate number of people
who possibly lived in that territory during the prehistoric times.
Therefore, one can state that ethnic music, at least the old one, is
anonymous, its authorship is impossible to determine, while academic music has authorship, because in most cases it is possible
to identify its creator.
In the further discussion concerning similarities and differences of ethnic music (EM) and academic music (AM) we could compare them according to the main formal features (MFF), which are
the following: melody, rhythm and pattern. The first thing human
hearing and sense catches is melody, by listening to which rhythm
and facture are established. Melody is considered to be the most
primary and the most important formal feature, because according
to it one can also determine the modes, i. e. the arrangement and
sequence factures of the sounds comprising the melody. The rhythmic supplements the melody, while the facture shows how and in
which manner EM and AM are performed.
In Table 2 we see that for AM all MFF are very important, for
EM they are too, however, they might be insignificant. For instance
in EM melody might not even be there, a certain rhythm, beaten
by a drum of another tool, is sufficient. In AM rhythm alone can
be sufficient only in particular episodes, depicting some actions or
revealing the peculiarities of EM of a certain region. An example of
20
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Table 2. Similarities and Differences of EM and AM according to MFF
MFF
EМ
АМ
Melody
Important, but it might as well be absent
Very important
Rhythm
Important, but it might as well be insignificant
Very important
Facture
Not important
Very important
Evaluation
of MFF
Important, but it might as well be insignificant
Very important
the later can be the “Spanish” (portraying clicking of the castanets)
tunes fancied by the 19th century Romanticist composers and the
“African” (portraying the sound of drums) tunes of the 20th century
of the AM. However, there are no complete pieces of AM, where
the melody would be fully absent and replaced by a rhythm. On the
other hand there are plenty of examples of EM primitive rhythm
beat not only in the EM of the Negroids and Australoids of the
Great Black Race, but also of the Europids of the Great White Race.
Rhythm without the melody is present in the EM of the Spaniards,
Scottish and people of Caucasus. There are plenty of examples in
the music of the metis Mongoloid and Europid nations of the Central Asia and of the Mongoloids of the Eastern Asia.
In AM rhythm is very important and its significance has visibly
diminished only in the music of the 20th century, when the major
qualities of EM made a comeback (which will be discussed later).
EM rhythm is also important; however, not in all the regions of
the world. For instance, the EM rhythmic pattern of the North Europids, with the exception of the polyphonic music, is not significant and important; it is somewhat noticeable only in the ritual and
calendar music. Similar examples of EM, when the rhythmic pattern is not significant and is difficult to determine and define, exists
almost all over the world.
Facture is another rather significant feature of the AM, because
it is important for what composition of the AM performers it is
21
Melofolkloristics
intended and in what way the vocal and instrumental tones are arranged. In EM facture is not important, because, for example, one
and the same unisonous melody can be performed by one, a couple,
tens or several dozens of performers and not be altered because of
it. The same can also be said about the polyphonic EM, because
is it absolutely not important how many performers will sing the
melody or will join in the interlaced polyphonic tones.
Table 2 also shows, that according to the MFF both types – EM
and AM – are related. It does not matter in what way we would be
discussing EM and AM according to the MFF, it will still be clear
that they are quite significant for both these types of musical art –
primitive and academic. Comparison of the MFF empowers to notice that AM did in fact evolve from EM and has undergone certain
changes, because all MFF are important for EM, and at the same
time they might be insignificant, while for AM all the MFF are very
important and significant. This is a sign that AM was established
through active intrusion of the rational human activity. According
to the MFF such intrusion is not determined in EM.
Having discussed the general similarities and differences of EM
and AM, let us get a deeper insight into them.
In EM the beginning is clear, however, the end is not important –
an unlimited duration is characteristic of this type of music. EM
lasts for as long as it is necessary or convenient for the performance.
EM is not dependent on the duration – shorter or longer performance will not affect it. On the contrary, the duration of the AM
(at least of the past several eras and with the exception of the AM
trends of the 20th cent.) is clearly defined and restricted. AM should
be performed within approximately the amount of time the AM
author allocated for it. The duration is expressed through the written notes and the indicated tempo. If we were to perform AM in a
different tempo than that provided, its duration would change and
the essence of the AM would be distorted: if one were to perform
a fast AM piece slower, it would become longer, and the one with a
22
Basics of Melofolkloristics
slow tempo performed faster would become shorter. Whereas EM
is not limited to any indications, it can be performed both longer
and shorter, while its approximate tempo is usually established
through the performance traditions of many ages.
It is apparent that the duration of EM is more frequently long
than short: we will not find any miniatures of EM, while duration
of the AM can be very different depending on the genre of the AM.
There are both very long and very short pieces. However, the duration of those AM compositions, expressing deep ideas or scrutinize
the existence, human values, the problems of consciousness and relation between this and the “another” world, is long. This way the
AM compositions of a long duration become somewhat similar to
the EM examples, because essentially EM also poses deep questions
of consciousness and relation between this and the “other” world
scrutinized from the times of old, only of course using the means
of primitive art. In the AM compositions these questions are solved
by the AM standards acceptable in those eras.
EM melodies usually have a small ambit. Melodies of a large
ambit are often linked to the late nationwide EM. We get an impression that in EM the melodic patterns are most frequently limited by
the volumes of the fourths and the fifths (four and five sounds). If
we come across the leaps of melody, then the ambit increased to a
minor seventh (but not to a major seventh – this is a feature of the
late EM!), which according to the natural intonation patterns (will
be discussed later) happens to be even narrower, since the seventh
is considerably diminished12.
The melodic pattern of AM can be very varied: of both very narrow and very wide ambit. The narrow volume melodic pattern is
quite apparent in the AM, however it is more distinctive in the music of Renaissance and Baroque, and it started dominating only in
the 6–7 decade of the 19th century, when the world’s influential AM
figures started referring to the most essential EM qualities. One of
them is a narrow ambit melodic pattern, which is especially vivid in
23
Melofolkloristics
the AM composition of a minimalistic trend. Minimalistic pieces
were also created by the Lithuanian composers.
EM melodies do not have any pre-bars. They always begin with a
strong part of the rhythm. Pre-bars are especially typical to the AM
compositions, even though there is a lot of AM, where we will not
notice any pre-bars. A pre-bar is like a punctuation mark, it helps
to separate the late EM melodies from the old EM, because in the
nationwide EM, especially in the songs and ballads, the pre-bars
are rather frequent.
The essence and beauty of EM is created by the continuous repetition of a melody, and as mentioned earlier, untameable by the
duration of time. Continuous repetition is the most typical quality
of EM of the whole humanity. In AM repetitions are strictly established: it is indicated where and what place must be repeated. In fact,
in AM the melody is not being repeated, but rather continuously
developed by bringing variety through new features. And it was
only in the 20th century that the AM returned to this most essential
quality of EM. In the compositions, especially of the minimalistic
trend, the same elements of melodic pattern were continuously repeated creating the same impression of infinity as in EM.
There are no sequences in the EM melodies – repetition of a melody or its certain part in another pitch. EM of certain territories
of the South Europids is an exception, where one will come across
the sequences. However EM of the South Europids constitutes in
itself an exception not only in the Great White Race, but in the
whole of humanity, because it is only here that, apart from the sequences, there are widely common additional augmented seconds
and modes with the fourths and eighths. It is difficult to explain
the reason behind this phenomenon related to the EM of the South
Europids, and why it constitutes a vivid exception of the EM of humanity. However, we need to keep in mind that the European music
and the standardisation of the AM with the strict rules is traceable,
as has already been mentioned, back to the Ancient Greece reach24
Basics of Melofolkloristics
ing the territory of the local race of the South Europids, and one of
the most characteristic qualities of the AM is the sequences. It is the
sequences that constitute the essence of dissemination of the AM
melodies. The most complex fabric of the AM composition evolved
from a minor melody with the help of the sequences. And on the
contrary, the sequences are absolutely not characteristic of the old
EM, apart from the anacruses; they could be another vivid feature
of the late nationwide EM.
In EM there is no dynamic variety. All over the world EM is performed only forte and fortissimo – by screaming, yelling, singing
at the top of one’s voice and playing. The loudness could have remained from the times of cognition; it is however unclear, whether
it was between the representatives of this or the “another” world, the
world of the forefathers. One inevitably presumes that the loudest
shouts were for the sake of forefathers and deities, who would probably hear a loud performance better. Be that as it may, it is absolutely
obvious that in EM there are no dynamic nuances, such as forte,
piano, crescendo, diminuendo, etc. One might say that everything
is performed at one dynamic sign – forte and fortissimo. On the
contrary, in AM dynamics is an extremely expressive artistic measure. Due to the commanding dynamics it is possible to create an
impression of approaching, coming and moving away, while at that
moment all the performers might remain in one place on a stage.
The subtleties of the AM dynamics did not appear at once: up until
the Classicism the contrast dynamics was prevailing, when the largest drum would echo much louder for a smaller group of performers. This way the AM dynamics of the past eras was in many ways
related to the use of the EM dynamics, because in all the polyphonic
music cultures of the world we see a similar principle of contrast:
one leads (rarely several) and a larger drum echoes much louder.
A gradual dynamic change in the AM – forte and piano – which
emerged in the period of Classicism is absolutely uncharacteristic
of EM. It is also uncharacteristic of the late nationwide EM and
25
Melofolkloristics
Table 3. Similarities and Differences of EM and AM according to
the main information features (MIF)
MIF
EМ
АМ
Duration
Not important
Very important
Melody Volume
Narrow
Varied
Pre-bars
Absent in the oldest layers
Very important
Sequences
Absent in the oldest layers
Very important
Dynamic Nuances
Absent in the oldest layers
Very important
Agogic Changes
Absent in the oldest layers
Absent in the oldest layers
Peculiarities of
Performance
Not important
Very important
MIF Assessment
Not important, absent in the
oldest layers
Very important
shows that this new EM layer commenced in the eras preceding
Classicism.
We will not see accelerando and ritardando is EM, with the exception of the territories of the South Europids. EM is pulsating
evenly. If the tempo is changing (in the roundelays or games), the
change is sudden and not gradual. The end is never slowed down
and the end is not emphasised by thinning out the tempo. EM ends
suddenly, often when one of the performers hailing to give a sign
(the rest of the performers respond to the shouting by shouting),
nods his head or in another way. Only the performers of the late EM
borrowing from the common slowing down of the end in the AM,
would also slow down their EM ends. But this is a late phenomenon
influenced mostly by the radio and television broadcasts. As mentioned earlier, an exception is the music of the South Europids, containing accelerandos (often quite gradual and even); however, ritardandos and accentuation of the end using tempo are never present.
Accelerando and ritardando in AM are rather typical, while the
end of a composition is often emphasised by slowing down. It was
only in the music of the 20th century that the return was made to
26
Basics of Melofolkloristics
the qualities of the EM tempo: the music is evenly pulsating and
ends by itself. But in AM, just like in EM’s roundelays and games,
sudden change of a tempo is typical.
EM is not dependent on a number of performers and is not altered by it. As mentioned earlier, a unisonous melody can be performed by one, two, tens or several dozens of performers and will
not be altered by that. The tones of a polyphonic EM can also be performed by an unlimited number of performers. Composition of the
AM performers, at least of the past several eras, is strictly defined.
A ballad designed for one voice cannot be performed in unison by
several singers or one cannot play a piece created for a string quartet
using a double, triple or quadruple composition of the performers.
In this case the sound will change from a chamber to the one similar to an orchestral one. And the other way around, a composition
designed for a Mass choir with a large number of voices accompanied by a symphonic orchestra, would sound strange if performed
by an orchestra and only four choir singers, each performing the
parts of a choir voices. In EM, as already discussed, these restrictions or strict rules do not apply; only in separate cultures of the
world we notice a separation of performance according to gender
and singing, instrumental music, as well as games, roundelays, and
dance performance. For example, in the performance of EM of the
South Europids of the Great White Race a male basis is prevalent.
Women, it seems, are allowed only to sing occasionally, but always
followed by men, and they dance in the same way. The vocal music
of the South Europids is not separated from the instrumental one:
the music sung is played and the other way around. Singing is usually accompanied by the musical instruments. Instrumental music
is usually only in a form of a sung EM.
EM of the North Europids is performed in a very different way. A
female basis is prevalent, instrumental music is separated from the
vocal, and there is less syncretism in performance, which is more
vivid in the polyphonic music. Divisions according to the spheres
27
Melofolkloristics
of performance and gender are, obviously, related to the earliest
phases of the human history; they developed naturally and most
probably reflect cultural peculiarities of separate regions. Similar
separation is also present in the performance of AM in the earlier
eras, however, it is absent in the AM traditions of the past periods,
with the exception of the vocal compositions, which are applied to
particular voices of women and men.
Performance of EM does not require any special preparation – it
can be performed by anyone, regardless of their age, education, occupation, etc. While for AM special preparation is necessary, the
best performers of AM are professionals (there are instances of professionalism in EM performance as well, especially in the late one).
Performance of the amateurs is often comparable to the professional
performance (for example, there are very high level amateur choirs),
however, not in all the fields. Performers of the AM are continuously improving their skills by learning new compositions and polishing off the known ones, while in EM the repertoire is most often
based on the traditions of those regions and the influence of the
later nationwide culture. One may say that the repertoire of the EM
performers is quite constant and rather narrow, while AM performers continuously supplement and widen it. Therefore, according to
the nature of performance EM, even though being rather narrow, is
still very democratic, because it can be performed by anyone willing and able, while AM is more or less of an elite type and can be
performed and listened to by people having had certain training.
According to the compared features EM seems to be more constant with no human interference, while AM is arranged according
to the clear rules of performance. It is obvious that without apparent similarities and differences of the composition and the performance peculiarities, EM and AM are related through the completeness and perfections of these types of art. EM is complete, polished,
one may say simply perfect, not requiring any additional corrections and improvements. The long-lasting traditions polished off its
28
Basics of Melofolkloristics
composition and the nature of performance. The same can be said
about AM. Its best compositions (it is only such compositions that
remain) are polished, complete – simply perfect, just like the EM
examples. These compositions do not need improvement, correction or any type of refining since that might distort the essence.
Even though through the ages the AM compositions had been transcribed and otherwise rewritten, they always did their best to keep
to the original. EM was also rewritten, especially since the 19th century, when Song Festivals were organised in Germany and Switzerland. Ethnic songs were retuned for choirs in accordance with the
AM rules and turned into something resembling more AM than
EM compositions. Ethnic music was started to be arranged in the
other European regions and in as well as in Lithuania. It was noticed that it is difficult to apply classic functional harmony and AM
principles of motion to the EM melodies and even to define it with
a definite rhythm. However disregarding the incompatibilities of
the EM and AM principles, AM principles were nevertheless applied to EM, when in the 19th and 20th centuries EM was propagated in the concert halls. It was not only the songs that had been
tuned according to them, but the compositions of the traditional
ensembles of the music instruments had been torn off and rearranged. Folk instrumental orchestras were created, folk song and
dance ensembles were rearranged and ethnic dances, roundelays
and games were adapted for stage performance. Seeking to upgrade
EM to a new concert life and to protect it from extinction, the most
essential features of EM were violated. A folklore movement that
emerged in Europe in the 6–7 decade of the 20th century started
reviving and promoting these EM features seeking to convey EM in
the most authentic way possible. However, in this movement, just
like in Lithuania, heavy influence of the AM principles, one way or
another altering the essence of EM, is observed.
Despite the fact that the performance of EM as a primitive and
AM as an academic art quite different means of expression are used,
29
Melofolkloristics
the achieved result is rather similar. Both EM and AM make a remarkable impression on the audience (and performers). A special
atmosphere is created, which is uniting the audience and the performers. This way AM is linked to EM, the purpose of which from
the days of old was most probably magic and rituals. Making of
music was and still is a special ritual, only in EM it is absolutely
unclear, who this ritual is meant for. In AM ritual nature is more
evident, since a large part of the world’s masterpieces is designed
for the ceremonial matters. After all, all worldly ceremonies need
music, where we often will hear AM, and sometimes, wishing to
emphasise the ethnic and national nature of the rituals, EM is performed. Today ethnographic (carriers of the tradition) and folklore
(the revivers of the traditions) ensembles perform EM not only during the folk festivals, ethnographic festivals, concerts and evenings,
but also during pompous state celebrations. And this is true not
only of Lithuania, but also of the most of Europe and countries
of the rest of world, because the society desires to hear and see an
already disappearing and therefore very carefully revived and cherished phenomenon of the primitive art related to ethnic identity.
Important Concepts
Academic music
Agogics
Ethnic music
Facture
Melody
Mode
Polyphony
Pre-bars
Rhythm
Sequence
30
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Tasks
1. What are the formal similarities and differences of EM and
AM?
2. Up until what era were the formal features of EM and AM
related the most?
3. Why do EM and AM achieve a similar result using different
means?
4. Independently select a CD recording of an AM ballad performed by a professional singer accompanies by a piano, listen to it and determine whether there are any anacruses present and whether expressive dynamics is being used?
5. Independently select a CD or DVD recording of an authentic EM, listen/watch it and determine whether there are any
anacruses present and whether expressive dynamics is being
used?
Recommended literature
R. Apanavičius (2009); A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl (2006); World
Music in Context. (2005).
Melofolkloristics
Styles of Ethnic Music
When listening to EM a person’s ear and mind will first of all recognise a melody and how that melody is performed: monodically or
polyphonically. Therefore, style is practically the primary and the
most important feature of EM. After that the mode of a melody, EM
rhythmic pattern, peculiarities of performance and other features
are recognised.
Their occurrence and development are not clear, and are therefore often disputed. According to the prevailing feature monody
could have occurred before polyphony, and the latter could have
originated from monody. These “evolutionistic” positions are rather
often accepted, even though an opposite opinion does exist. According to it polyphony existed first, since it occurred during the
times of the primitive society and is linked to a group performance.
Monody was more associated with individualism and therefore
considered to be a later style of EM13. According to this opinion
monody is in a way a degraded polyphony.
Debate is going on not only concerning rather clear features of
monody and polyphony, but also concerning heterophony (a melody is performed by several voices separating and again uniting
into one), which is considered to be a transition between monody
and polyphony. Heterophony is considered to be a variety of either
polyphony (performed by several voices) or monody (monodic type
of melody), but sometimes it is placed into a separated transitional
sub-style between monody and polyphony14.
According to the research data of the author, monody and polyphony extended through the world according to the peculiarities
of the great races of humanity. Monody is absolutely prevalent in
EM of the Mongoloids of the Great Yellow Race, except the territories of the Southeast Asia, Central and South America and
some other territories. One may say that monody of the EM of the
Mongoloids (American natives are also the Mongoloids, called the
32
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Americanoids) is the most important feature of the style. Monody
is also prevalent in EM of the Europids of the Great White Race.
Polyphony is found only in the areas enclosed by the mountains or
in the secluded territories and islands of the sea. However, up until
now it was considered that it is polyphony, and not monody, that is
more typical of the EM of the Europids. Contrary to this opinion,
which was largely expressed by a German, Marius Schneider15, and
was supported by Y. Zhordanya16, according to the author’s research
monody was nevertheless considered to be the most important
characteristic of the EM style of the Europids, while polyphony in
the music of this race was not very important, and therefore considered to be a particular exception.
Polyphony is very characteristic of the EM of the Negroids and
Australoids of the Great Black Race, and is the reason why M. Schneider and Y. Zhordanya considered the music of this race solely
polyphonic. According to the research data of the author, in the
EM of the Negroids and Australoids monody is nevertheless clearly
discernible. It is not prevalent, however according to its importance
it is not inferior to polyphony. Therefore, contrary to the opinion
expressed above both styles, monody and polyphony, are specific
to the EM of the black race. It is also difficult to say, which style is
prevalent. It seems that both are equally important and significant.
Having considered the assessment of the EM styles of the races
of humanity, the author is prone to attribute heterophony, the transitional style, to monody, because he looked not only formally at
the EM pattern (the sound, the uniting and separating of voices),
but also at the structure of a melody. According to the melodic pattern, a larger part of heterophonic EM is considered to be a variety
of the monody, rather than of polyphony, since in accordance with
the gathered EM data of humanity, monody is a better match for a
minor type of a mode, while polyphony – for a major type. Early researchers did not pay attention to this fact. Since around the world
heterophonic EM is mostly minor (even though there are plenty of
33
Melofolkloristics
major examples), the author attributed it to monody according to
the nature of its mode of melodic pattern, even though this sort of
attribution could be disputable or, were any new information to be
discovered, altogether rebutted.
Having compared the available EM data of humanity, the author reached a conclusion that monody and polyphony are fully
independent styles with no evidence of having originated from
each other, as the nature of their melodies is essentially different.
As mentioned earlier, around the world monodic EM is often of a
minor (sometimes it is difficult to determine, for example in the
pentatonic EM of the Mongoloids) character, while polyphonic EM
is of a major character. There are more qualities, which support the
fact that monody could not have been turned into polyphony, and
could not be considered a degraded variety of polyphony.
All around the world the melodies of a monodic style, as previously stated, are more likely to be of a minor, not of a major, nature.
Polyphonic EM melodies, with the exception of certain examples
of polyphony, are without any exceptions all major. Echoing the
leading major melody, a consonance typical to a major is created.
As a rule they are based on the overtones of a natural acoustic scale.
These overtones are heard in each musical sound, while their sequence is strictly major. Music sounds do not have minor overtones.
Any sound, apart from the main tone, builds up a proportionally located overtone row according to the frequency of vibrations. It does
not match the established temperamental mode of the AM (when
all proportions among the sounds are evened out) – in comparison
to temperament some overtones are higher, others are lower. In the
provided example minus is used to mark baseness and pluses to
mark the highness. The numbers next to them mean by how many
cents these overtones differ in comparison to temperament.
We see that intervals between the octaves, fifths and fourths are
created at the base of this acoustic scale, then between the thirds
and then between major and minor seconds. It is using the inter34
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Picture 1. Natural Acoustic Scale17
vals between the octaves, fifths, fourths and thirds (seldom between
the major seconds) that all around the world the polyphonic major
melodies are echoed with the second, third and sometimes more
voices. These intervals create the basis of the so-called parallel,
drone and most often polyphonic EM. It is clear that polyphony
and its major character is based on only major accords existing in
the nature. The past attempts to substantiate polyphony of major
nature (typical to AM) with the law of nature failed, because acoustic devices determine only the sequence of major overtones which
is present in every spectrum of a music sound. Therefore in the 2nd
half of the 19th century–early 20th century the assumptions of the
music theoreticians Arthur von Oettingen and Hugo Riemann that
apart from overtones a backwards sequence could exist, where high
tones going downwards constitute the so-called base tone (undertone) sequence, which is minor and mirrors a body of major overtone sounds18, were disproved. A phenomenon explaining minor
accords (present also in EM) by the law of nature does not exist in
reality. On the other hand, music theoreticians have not yet come to
an agreement concerning a major of a natural character – just like
minor in AM it is considered to be a phenomenon developed by a
human mind19. However, in evaluation of EM polyphony, acoustic
scale of natural overtones just like a base of polyphony is more than
obvious, since all around the world EM is intoned not according to
the accepted AM temperament, but according to the mode of overtones, which, as mentioned, does not synchronise with tempera35
Melofolkloristics
ment20. Therefore, the author supports an option that polyphony,
which occurred and developed naturally remains to this day.
It is simple and easy to echo the major EM melodies using the
second or third voice, because its sounds are of high degree mode.
It is mainly the 3rd, 5th and 6th degrees are involved. Sufficient range
is created for the echoing second or third voice for leading a singing
or played melody.
Picture 2. Vocal Ranges of the Polyphonic EM
We see that the range of the first voice is on a high position and of
the second in the base position of the mode degrees. Voices are not
in each other’s way, otherwise speaking, they do not overlap. If the
singing or playing is with three voices (especially when performing
drone EM), the third, the drone voice, is heard approximately in
the space of a so called sub-fourth (base 5th degree mode), sometimes moving into a 6th degree major mode.
Picture 3. Position of Voices in Drone EM
Polyphonic EM melodies are simply asking for echoing (parallel,
drone EM) or other type of interlacing of voices (polyphonic EM).
Without echoing or interlacing polyphonic EM melodies would
36
Basics of Melofolkloristics
lose all its beauty. Conditions created for echoing are more than
advantageous because the voices have their own sound spaces. Accords are based on natural acoustic scale overtones, therefore polyphonic EM sounds major. Only in certain examples of polyphonic
and drone EM it is possible to sense its minor character.
Natural major overtones are absolutely not suitable for monodic
melodies, which constitute a considerably more significant, if not
prevalent part of the world’s EM. Several lower 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th degrees of a minor (seldom of a major one) mode are used in singing in monodic melodies, therefore it is difficult to echo singing or
instrumental playing using the second or third voice, since there is
no separate space left for these voices – everything is filled with a
melody.
Picture 4. Range of Monodic EM Melody
We see that a melody filling nearly the whole range of the mode degrees practically leaves no space for the second voice. Even when it
rarely appears in the world EM, it is not independent like the second
voice of polyphonic EM (which has its own space), but repeats the
sounds of a melody. Echoing the EM melodies of a minor character
is definitely difficult and sometimes completely impossible, because
they were constructed according to totally different patterns than
those of polyphonic EM. Any echoing using the second or third
voice, as a rule, changes and even distorts the essence of polyphonic
EM, even though there were attempts to do it in the 20th century.
For example, there could be monodic songs of the Dzūkians, which
not only the members of folklore ensembles, but even the presenters often sing in two voices. This can be explained not only by the
37
Melofolkloristics
influence of the late nationwide music (melodies of a minor character were widely popular, which were sometimes performed in two
voices), but also by a fusion of regional qualities of the Lithuanian
ethnic music of the 20th century. Due to the increased interregional
contacts and influence of the radio and television monodic music
performers often borrow the methods of performance of the polyphonic EM. The fact that this process also took place in Dzūkija
is demonstrated by the author’s experience of the conducted ethnic music expeditions, when in 1992 and 1996 the Dzūkians stated
that they borrowed a two-voice performance from their neighbours
Suvalkiečiai, who sung “lovelier” than them or from the radio and
television broadcasts21.
Therefore, notwithstanding the fact that it is difficult or at times
impossible to echo monodic melodies, monody in the world occurred and flourished also according to the laws of nature, because
intoning of monodic melodies is equally incompatible with temperament, just like the polyphonic ones. However, for the reasons unknown to us monodic melodies are based mainly on minor modes,
while their sound range embraces the lowest mode degrees, without
a possibility to echo the melodies with another or several voices. An
exception could be minor polyphonic (rather seldom) and drone
(rather frequently) EM, where the voices interlace or where a onevoice melody continued by a drone voice is echoed by a larger group
of performers.
Having made an overview of the composition of polyphony and
monodic we see that both styles are totally different in their nature.
Polyphony is based on the accords of the natural acoustic scale overtones, therefore it is of a major nature, while echoing of the EM of
humanity was not applied to monodic melodies of a minor nature
due to the objective reasons – it was impossible to echo or doing so
caused enormous difficulties. Because of these qualities polyphony
and monody are considered to be independent EM styles, which
did not originate from each other and could not have originated
38
Basics of Melofolkloristics
that way. However, it is not clear why monody prevails in EM of
certain races of humanity, and in other races monody exists (and
certainly does not interlace) parallel to polyphony, and what are the
causes of occurrence and establishment of both of these styles. It is
likely that both styles are equally old and be traced back as far as
the times of the primitive society, because not only polyphonic but
also monodic EM is generally performed by a group.
Having discussed the general problems of origin of monody and
polyphony, let us consider the features of these styles in detail.
Monodic or monophonic music comprises nearly the largest part
of monodic EM of the world. These are one-voice melodies, which
can be performed by one, several or more performers, without separating from the melody. As mentioned earlier, the number of performers does not alter the essence of this music, only probably when
performed by one performer, monodic or monophonic melody can
be of a significantly more fluent nature than when performed by a
group. However, when a group is singing or playing, such melodies
often hardly differ from the ones performed by one individual.
Picture 5. Scheme of Monodic (Monophonic) EM
According to the nature of the modes monodic or monophonic EM
is more likely to be minor, even though we come across melodies
of a major nature. Rhythmic pattern can be both rather free (often
performed like improvisation) and rather strict, without comparing in which cultures of the world this music is performed. As already mentioned, echoing with the second or more voices is not
applicable to the melodies, because that distorts their nature.
The author is inclined to attribute heterophony to monody, when
a one-voice melody is performed with the voices sometimes separating and then again returning to a one-voiced position. Hetero39
Melofolkloristics
phonic music is performed by several or dozens of performers, and
this music does not change depending on whether there is more or
less of them. According to the modes, heterophonic EM, just like
monodic or monophonic, is also more often of a minor than of a
major character. It is according to the minor nature of the modes
and according to the fact that heterophonic melodies encompass
the base degrees of a mode in a better manner; the author is prone
to consider this music to be a variety of polyphony, not of monody.
When listening to heterophonic music of a major character with two
or even three voices performing, one gets the impression that they
are artificially added, because the melody voice, differently from the
true monodic EM, is heard not on the high, but on the low degrees
of a mode. The leading voice of heterophonic major melodies often
meanders as the second voice of a parallel music. The songs of our
close neighbours Latgales, which essentially are heterophonic, are
often considered to be monodic parallel songs. Another characteristic feature of heterophonic EM is a phenomenon where at the end
of each verse all the voices, whatever the number, always join into
one, whereas one of the distinguishing characters of polyphony is,
as a matter of fact, strictly polyphonic ends of the verses.
According to its rhythmic pattern heterophonic music, just like
monodic or monodic music, can be both of a rather free and of a
rather strict regular character.
Picture 6. Scheme of Heterophonic EM
Among other things heterophonic EM can display the attempts of
humanity to imperceptibly step over the limits of the laws of nature, which in this music it obviously failed to do. Two or several
separate voices echo the leading melodies of a minor nature only
at certain intervals and mostly perform them using one voice. The
voices again inconsistently, mostly only intermittently, echo the
40
Basics of Melofolkloristics
melodies of a major character, which are also performed using the
lowest mode degrees.
Having discussed the main features of a monodic style of EM,
let us now consider polyphony. It is usually threefold: polyphonic,
parallel and drone. Independent interlaced voices of polyphonic EM
perform separate melodies. Often after one voice begins, then other
voices join in creating a body of interlaced voices. According to the
nature of the modes polyphonic EM is more often major than minor, even though one will come across music of a minor character.
It is common in the Northeast of Aukštaitija, in the Bryansk, Kursk
and Belgorod Oblast of Russia and in Komi Republic. Polyphonic
EM of other cultures of the world, especially of the Negroids and
Australoids of the Great Black Race is mainly of a major character.
Melodies of a major polyphonic EM are often based on the lowest overtones of a natural acoustic scale: one can hear the thirds,
fourths and fifths, which comprise a so-called “fanfare” melodic
pattern, characteristic to the music of rather primitive cultures of
the world 22. This type of “fanfare” melodic pattern is characteristic of the sutartinė sung by the Northeast Aukštaičiai (Highlanders). Since “fanfare” types of sutartinė are not only sung, but also
played on an aerophone (wooden wind instrument), S. Paliulis thought
that the sounds of a natural acoustic scale obtained by long trumpets could have affected the melodic pattern of sutartinės23. Author
believes that melodic pattern of the “fanfare” polyphonic EM depended on polyphony based, as already mentioned, on the laws of
nature. Because the intervals between the voices in EM (in polyphonic EM these relations are often based on the intervals of a second and not on the thirds) is mainly based on the lowest and base
overtones of the natural acoustic scale, it is not surprising that the
melodic pattern in polyphonic EM is sustained on such overtones.
On the other hand, a large part, maybe even one third of the
melodies of the world’s polyphonic EM, are based not on “fanfare”
but on diatonic body of sounds, just as parallel and drone music.
41
Melofolkloristics
As far as the melodic pattern is concerned, few statements should
be brought to light about interlacing of voices in polyphonic EM. It
can be rather varied, based on canon (when voices join one after another performing nearly the same melody), imitation (when other
voices imitate the leading melody, but do not repeat it completely)
and other methods. The voices interlace at different intervals: seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths and octaves. The voices of the sutartinė
and instrumental polyphonic compositions for skudučiai (wooden
pipes) and horns of the Northeast Aukštaičiai interlace at seconds,
even though the intervals between the thirds, fourths, octaves and
even unisons (from the very top) are quite common. Intervals of
other cultures of the world can be rather varied; however, consonance of seconds is quite frequent.
Picture 7. Schemes of Polyphonic EM
a)
b)
c)
Rhythmic pattern of polyphonic EM is very strict and emphatically
regular. All or each voice perform the melodies based on the strict
rhythmic formulae. One may say that the rhythmic pattern in polyphonic EM is an all-organising source, because the voices interlace
in a strict order according to the rhythmic pattern. Without a strict
rhythmic pattern, there would be no polyphonic interlacing of the
voices. Rhythmic pattern is emphasised in different ways, often
by echoing polyphonic songs using musical instruments: various
rattles and ratchets (Negroids and Australoids of the Black Race),
wooden pipes (Northern Europids of the White Race; Negroids
of the Black Race), etc. Performers of polyphonic EM often also
42
Basics of Melofolkloristics
shout, stamp their feet, walk around in circles or make rhythmic
movements with their body. This shows that all around the world
polyphonic EM is a very old phenomenon, because syncretism of
its performance is rather obvious. They sing, play and often dance
at the same time possibly portraying primitive totems. This type
of syncretism is found in all the cultures of the world, including
the Northeast European sources of wind piping in the Northeast
of Aukštaitija, Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod Oblast and Komi Republic. Only in these territories in the Northeast of Europe syncretism did not remain in full like in the polyphonic EM of the Great
Black Race, however, it is still possible to state that it was also rather
primitive.
Another important feature of polyphony is the so-called parallelism. A leading melody of one performer (sometimes several) is
echoed by the second, third, and sometimes fourth voice of a larger
group of performers following the melody along all its curve. The
tune of parallel songs is set by a singer with a good voice and is
echoed by a larger group. The echoing voice is very strong, however the melody is well heard, because the echoing performers do
not overshadow it. Every voice sounds in its own space, arranged
according to the order of the overtones of a natural acoustic scale.
Parallel EM does not change depending on the number of echoing
performers, the other way around – the stronger the echoing voice
(or voices), the more impressive the music. A stronger echoing voice
(or voices) constitutes the complete essence and beauty of parallel
EM. Without the echoing voice the melody alone has little expression. Monodic performance of parallel EM (which one often comes
across when recoding the samples of this music from the singers,
who were singing all their live using only a melody voice) makes a
wrong impression. In the published works one may also find examples of clearly parallel music presented by only one voice. In Lithuania the melodies of the parallel songs of Žemaičiai are presented
in this exact manner.
43
Melofolkloristics
Picture 8. Scheme of Parallel EM
The modes of parallel EM are without exception major. We will not
find minor modes in parallel EM anywhere in the world – if this
kind of music is considered to be parallel, it is generally heterophonic. High 3rd, 5th and 6th degrees of a mode are used in the major
melodies; the melodic pattern is not complicated and very likely to
be rather simple. It should be noted that the 4th degree in parallel
EM melodies is heightened in comparison to temperament, and 3rd
and 6th degrees are diminished. The 5th degree is slightly (sometimes
more than that) heightened. This kind of intoning is consistent with
the arrangement of the overtones of a natural acoustic scale and can
be another proof of the origin of a natural major of EM. The echoing voice (or voices) performs the melody at the lowest degrees of
a major mode, intoning in the similar manner like a melody voice:
generally the 4th degree is largely heightened (while a melody voice
is taking the 6th degree), the 2nd degree is slightly heightened while
the 3rd is slightly diminished. Here the echoing voice (or voices) is
intoning not according to the temperament accepted in AM, but
according to the established natural mode of EM.
According to the rhythmic pattern parallel EM can be both
rather free and rather regular. Simple melodies in EM are often decorated by different ornamentations (called melisma in AM). They
are usually difficult to define and are not conveyed by the notes.
The melody is flowing freely; the leading voice is kind of improvising, while the echoing voice (or voices) echo in a rather static
manner. Parallel EM performed in as free manner often sounds
similar to the drone music, because the strong echoing voice (or
voices) can be rather stiff. However, links to the drone EM seldom
appear, because the echoing voice (or voices) is trying to follow the
44
Basics of Melofolkloristics
melody along all its curves. A free character, sometimes linked to
drone singing, is typical to certain parallel music of the Slovaks
living in the Western Carpathian Mountains and even Lithuanian
Žemaičiai (Samogitians).
Melody and echoing voices of parallel EM with regular rhythmic pattern move together along certain rhythmic figures. The
echoing voice (or voices) is following the curves of a melody according to the rhythmic movement. However, the echoing voice (or
voices) does not always follow the curves of a melody, but performs
the same rhythmic figures like those of a melody at one pitch higher (called ostinato performance), which creates a specific dronish
impression. This is true of the parallel music of the Australoids of
the Great Black Race, Serbians of the Vojvodina ethnographic region of the Southern Europids, Southeast Estonians of Setu ethnographic region, and occasionally of the Eastern Žemaičiai of Lithuania. However, ostinato of an echoing voice does not constitute true
drone singing; therefore the author cannot agree with J. Jordania,
prone to see drone nature in the ostinato performance of the echoing voice (or voices) in parallel EM.
Parallel EM with regular rhythmic pattern of the Negroids and
Australoids of the Black Race is often emphasised by various rattles
and its rhythm is supported by clapping.
When listening to parallel EM, an impression of wide space
and range is created. Parallel music is complete only when it is performed by a large group. The bigger the number of people echoing
the leading melody of one singer (sometimes of several) who uses
the second (or third and fourth) voice, the more impressive is the
parallel music. And the other way around, music performed by two
or three people does not convey its full image, because a strong and
powerful echoing voice is missing.
Often parallel music is considered to be of a late origin, even
affected or borrowed from AM. This opinion is supported not only
by the followers of the evolutionistic origin of EM, who derive po45
Melofolkloristics
lyphony from monody, but even by the scientists considering polyphony to be the initial phenomenon24. The opinion concerning
the late origin of parallel music its relation to the influence of the
church music exists also in the Lithuanian ethnomusicology, even
though it is mainly supported by one single argument of T. Brazis,
that the Aukšctaičiai of Kaišiadorys region began singing in two
voices only around the 19th century25, applying this observation to
all Lithuanian parallel EM. One can also see the features of homophonic (based on the accords of the major and minor functional
system) structure of AM, therefore parallel EM is often considered
to be homophonic, originating from AM.
The author believes that parallel EM could not have originated from AM, because there is no academic homophony, based on
a functional mode, in the parallel music of the world, one may
only come across its features. It is more likely to be the other way
around – AM homophonic style established on the basis of parallelism of EM, which was not considered by previous researchers. As
far as Lithuanian parallel music is concerned it necessary to note
that it was characteristic of the West and Northwest of Lithuania
and is rather a reflection of the ancient ethnocultural territories
than later influences26. Aukštaičiai of Kaišiadorys regions are living in a transitional field between polyphony and monody; therefore both monody and polyphony can be attributed to them, which
most probably was noticed by T. Brazys.
Therefore, parallel EM is considered to be as old as polyphony.
Parallelism is also likely to be related to the earliest periods of human history and is a reflection of a group performance and group
rituals.
Droning is also a variety of polyphony. A leading melody performed by one or two voices is echoed by a larger group of performers using a very strong continuous voice. The melody or its
echoing are commonly performed by one singer each, using the
second voice, while the drone continuous tone is performed by a
46
Basics of Melofolkloristics
large group. The continuous tone is rather stiff; it does not follow
the melody along all its curves, but also gives it a sound foundation,
commonly based on a sub-fourth (base 5th degree of a major mode).
Sometimes the continuous tone swerves to the nearby, generally 6th
or 4th, base degrees of a mode; however, 5th degree, as a rule, is the
centre of singing of a drone voice.
According to its composition drone singing can be threefold.
First, in already discussed case two voices are singing (first one
gives a tone, the second catches up), which are followed by a stronger drone voice stepping in later. The sequence of performance goes
approximately like this: first goes a melody voice, second is an echoing voice (both are singing), which are followed by the stepped in
drone voice (three voices in total are singing). Both melody voices
sound mainly parallel, however, one may come across interlacing
reminding of polyphony. According to the nature of performance
and sounding, there is a lot similarity with parallel music (the second echoing voice is following the melody along all its curves), the
difference is determined only by the base drone voice. The only nation in the world singing this way are Eastern Georgians, similar
drone singing is found also in the neighbouring territories of the
North Caucasus. This type of drone singing is found nowhere else,
except with the Tuvians of the Altai Mountains, who manage to get
a drone performance of a similar composition by using just a single
man’s vocal cords. A very low continuous voice and above it a very
high whistling, reminding of using a real whistle, tones sound at
the same time, generally one, but once in a while two of them. But
the Tuvians perform this way individually using specially trained
voices, while the melodies their perform are more likely to be of an
instrumental, than of vocal nature, therefore drone singing of the
Georgians and their neighbours are not to be used for the sake of
comparison.
According to the modes, drone singing with two melody voices
and one echoing voice are strictly major. Minor modes are absent in
47
Melofolkloristics
the singing of the Georgians and their neighbours (the Tuvians are
whistling in a pentatonic mode), because performance is organised
according to the composition of the acoustic scale: the continuous
voice is based on the 3rd overtone, melody voices are meandering by
the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th overtones of a natural scale (not mode) (see
Picture 3). Rhythmic pattern of this type of drone music is, as a
rule, very free, difficult to determine and define. Melody voices are
meandering freely and uninterruptedly creating an impression that
it is not the first, but the second melody voice that is improvising. In
addition, while singing freely both voices decorate their melodies
with ornamentations, which are practically impossible to convey by
means of the written notes of AM.
Picture 9. Scheme of Two Melody Voices Drone EM
The second group of drone EM comprises of a melody performed
using one voice, which is followed by a strong drone voice stepping
in later. The melody, as a rule, is led by one performer and the drone
is continued by a larger group.
Picture 10. Scheme of One Melody Voice Drone EM
According to the nature of modes, both major and minor are characteristic of this type of drone EM. Drone voice is usually supported
by the sub-fourth of the modes, and just like in the first case, it will
swerve to the closest degrees. However, differently than the two melody voice drone singing, one melody voice major melodies of drone
48
Basics of Melofolkloristics
EM are meandering not by the high, but also by the base major mode
degrees. We hear the 3rd, 5th, 6th, as well as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees of a major mode, due to which it is possible to compare the melody of monodic drone music not only with parallel, but even more so
with heterophonic EM (certainly without considering the continuous drone voice). The same can be said about the melodies of a minor
nature of this type of drone singing. They remind or are identical of
a monodic style and sometimes of heterophonic melodies.
One melody voice drone EM is not only sung, but is played using music instruments (drone EM of the Eastern Georgians and
their neighbouring nations of the North Caucasus is only sung; and
it is sung only by men), and is even sung and played at the same
time. When it is sung and played at the same time or is only played,
not only diatonic modes, but also modes with augmented seconds,
quarter tones and eight tones are typical of drone music. Diatonic
modes are characteristic of one melody voice drone EM, which is
only sung. This type of drone music is sung and played in the socalled Western Asia (on Anatolian peninsula and the surrounding
territories), Transcaucasia and South Balkans. It is only sung in the
Serbian Vojvodina ethnographic region, Corsica, Sardinia, in Latvian Courland and Latgalia. Women are singing in Serbia, Latvia
and sometimes in Greece, while men – in the remaining of mentioned territories. Drone singing of Latvian Courland and Latgalia,
and Serbian Vojvodina is closely related, drone songs of Corsica and
Sardinia separate from it, which according to their nature remind
largely of the curves of drone songs of the Eastern Georgians.
Both regular and free rhythmic pattern is typical of one melody
voice drone music.
Drone songs of the Serbians of Vojvodina are performed in a
slightly different manner, even though the sounding is similar to
other examples of this type of drone singing. The melody is started
by a one bottom voice and a stepping in group carries on the drone,
and then the melody is led by a top voice. A conversation is cre49
Melofolkloristics
ated – in a form of a question and an answer – however, this kind of
performance does not alter the essence of one melody voice drone
EM, even though at the end of a verse the voices come into one.
Picture 11. Scheme
of One Melody Voice Drone EN of Vojvodina
Serbians
The voices of drone songs of Latgalia and Courland also come
together into one voice, even though the performance scheme is
somewhat different.
The third group of drone EM could be defined conditionally.
The lower voice sets the tune and continues the melody, while the
top voice, changing between two mode degrees, performs a voice
similar to drone. The melody encompasses the base degrees of a
mode (major or minor), and the so-called drone is heard at the 5th
and 6th degrees. This type of drone songs are sung in the Southeast
of Estonia in the Setu ethnographic territory.
Picture 12. Scheme of Drone Songs of Estonian Setu
We are inclined to consider the songs of the Estonian Setu to be
drone27. The author considers them to be a transition between parallelism and drone singing, because the so-called top drone voice
does not continue, but practically performs the accompanying
rhythmic figures of the melodies of the lower voice. The rhythmic
pattern of the Estonian Setu is regular, modes are generally minor,
but one might come across major modes as well.
50
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Important Concepts
Drone
Major
Minor
Monody
Monophony
Natural acoustic scale
Overtones
Parallelism
Polyphony
Tasks
1. What overtone range of the natural acoustic scale is EM
monody based on?
2. What overtone range is EM polyphony is based on?
3. Why is it easy to echo polyphonic EM melodies using the
second and even third voice?
4. Why is it difficult or simply impossible to echo monodic EM
melodies using the second voice?
5. Independently select a CD or DVD, listen to an authentic EM
and determine its style.
Recommended Literature
R. Apanavičius (2009); (2010); A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl (2006);
D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė (2002); World Music in Context.
(2005)
Melofolkloristics
Modes of Ethnic Music
Another important feature of EM is the modes. One can say it is a
secondary feature, because having listened to the performed music,
we will first determine its style and only then how the melodic pattern is arranged. It is the modes that are the patterns of arrangement, interaction and repetition of sounds comprising the melody.
Different opinions exist concerning the occurrence, development
and establishment of the modes; however, generally they are not
based on the ethnic, but on the academic music data. An opinion
that the modes are arranged artificially using various arrangement
methods of the tones comprising an octave, prevails in the works
of music theory and musical acoustics. Often formation of modes
is linked to temperament development and its systems28. The author
believes that EM modes established naturally just like EM itself,
therefore any attempts to prove artificial nature of EM modes or
relate them to the development of AM systems is futile. EM modes,
like EM styles, are most probably based on the laws of nature and
musical acoustics existing independently of human consciousness
and interference. Human interference is impossible to trace in the
world’s EM modes, because everywhere EM is intoned naturally
rather than by temperament (like in AM), according to the patterns
of formation of the acoustic scale overtones.
Before making an overview of the world’s EM modes we
would need to at least briefly discuss the main peculiarities of
EM intoning.
As mentioned earlier, all around the world EM is performed according to the acoustic scale, the overtones of which differ from the
sounds of tempered scale used in AM today. For instance, the triad
tones c1, e1, g1 of the acoustic scale compared to the tempered ones,
where: e1 is significantly lower (14 cents, hereinafter – ct) and g1 is
higher (2 ct, however, EM performers always also substantially augment this tone, the fourth).
52
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Picture 13. Natural and Tempered Major Triad
We see that a major third of a natural major triad c1 – e1, which is
based on the 4th, 5th and 6th overtones of the acoustic scale, is significantly narrower, and a minor third e1 – g1 is wider than the intervals of a tempered triad. Since intervals between the semitones
in temperament are comparable to 100 ct and between tones to 200
ct, then a tempered major third should comprise 400 ct and a minor – 300 ct intervals between the tones of a triad. EM intoning
intervals based on the pitches of the overtones of the acoustic scale
is somewhat different: major third comprises approximately 386 ct,
minor – 316 ct, which means that intervals of the both thirds are not
compatible with temperament – a major third is somewhat smaller
and a minor one is somewhat larger.
EM intoning intervals between the naturally performed tones
are irregular, while between the tempered ones it is strictly identical.
As already mentioned, minor seconds or semitones are situated at a
100 ct distance from each other and major seconds or tones – at 200
ct distance. Intervals of these seconds, which are naturally intoned,
are different. During EM performance the 2nd and the 4th degrees
of major modes are in addition augmented and the 6th degree is diminished. This nearly corresponds to the tones of the acoustic scale,
where the 2nd degree is 4 ct higher, and the 6th is 16 ct lower than the
tempered ones. According to the sequence of the acoustic scale, 4th
degree of major modes is by nearly a semitone (approximately 90
ct) or according to the traditions of EM intoning – at least by 40 ct
higher. The 7th degree of the mode can be particularly low – from 12
to 31 ct lower than the tempered one.
53
Melofolkloristics
Table 4. I nterval Percentage (ct) of Natural and Tempered Tones of
Major Scale
Intervals
Tones
Temperament
Major second
c – d
1
200 ct
204 ct
Major second
d1 – e1
200 ct
182 ct
Minor second
e1 – f 1
100 ct
154 ct
Major second
f 1 – g1
200 ct
162 ct
Major second
1
g – a
200 ct
182 ct
Major second
a1 – h1
200 ct
196 ct
Minor second
h – c
100 ct
112 ct
Total
c1 – c2
1200 ct
1200 ct
1
1
1
2
EM Intoning
One can see that according to the traditions of EM intoning, not only
the intervals between seconds are different, but there are practically
no semitones. Instead, there are significantly narrower major (e1 – f1,
f1 – g1) seconds and wider minor second (h1 – c2). A minor second
situated according to temperament in the middle of a scale e1 – f1 by
means of EM intoning becomes the same as a nearby major second
f1 – g1. By means of EM intoning intervals of the sounds e1 – f1 comprises 154 ct and f1 – g1 – 162 ct, i. e. these intervals are roughly equal.
Therefore, in natural intoning, differently from temperament,
there is no strict sequence. There are no strict tones and semitones,
and all intervals between the sounds are evened out.
Picture 14. Tempered and Natural Major Scale
54
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Since in the intoned EM scale has practically no semitones (in EM
there are practically no intervals between the scale sounds h1 – c2,
they are more apparent in the nationwide EM melodies), the whole
scale can be called semitone-less or anhemitonic (as stated earlier,
the melody pattern of the old EM does not carry on the 7th degree
of a scale, which is commonly rather diminished). Since the 4th degree is much higher and the 7th is significantly lower, Lydian (4th
augmented) and Mixolydian (7th diminished) modes are evident in
this natural scale. It is these modes of major nature, which traditionally are considered to be Greek, are evident in the EM intoning
all around the world.
In a similar way we get an a-moll scale formed theoretically
from the overtones of a natural acoustic scale and parallel to C –
dur scale.
Picture 15. Tempered and Natural Minor Scale
According to EM intoning based on the laws of acoustics the 1st (16
ct), 2nd (12-31 ct) and 5th (14 ct) degrees of a scale are especially diminished and the 4th (4 ct) and 6th (40 ct) are augmented. Therefore,
here it is also difficult not to notice an anhemitonic (semitone-less)
scale, as well as Phrygian (diminished 2nd degree), Dorian (augmented 6th) modes of a minor nature, which are commonly considered to
be Greek, and a melodic minor (augmented 6th, 7th is nearly high).
These types of patterns of EM intoning are characteristic of EM
performance around the world, but only if it does not affect temper55
Melofolkloristics
ament. It is obvious that all the aforementioned modes are present
in the scales formed from the overtones of a natural acoustic scale,
as well as one of the oldest modes – semitone-less more, also called
anhemitonics. When intoning the tones of a natural scale similar
to a simple AM major, one will also get an Ionian mode, which is
considered to be Greek if it is similar to minor – an Aeolian mode.
It is important that EM performers augment or diminish degrees
of a major or minor mode, which emphasises the features of the
so-called Greek modes.
According to the patterns of EM intoning, when performing
polyphonic music, the most typical intervals of the thirds, seconds,
fifths and fourths are changing. Thus one is sure that there is no minor seconds in a natural scale: most of the fourths, fifths, major seconds and major thirds are narrower, while minor thirds are wider.
Table 5. P
ercentage (ptc) of Tempered and Natural Accords of Polyphonic Music
Interval
Tones
Temperament
Major third
c – e
1
400 ct
386 ct
Minor third
d1 – f 1
300 ct
336 ct
Minor third
e1 – g1
300 ct
316 ct
Major third
f 1 – a1
400 ct
344 ct
Major third
g – h
400 ct
378 ct
Perfect fifth
g – d1
700 ct
694 ct
Perfect fourth
g – c1
500 ct
490 ct
1
1
1
EM intoning
One can see that according to EM intoning the difference between
the major and minor thirds is practically gone – they become similar to each other. When diminishing the 6th degree of polyphonic
major EM and at the same time augmenting the 4th degree (f1 – a1)
of a mode, folk performers are particularly narrowing this, from
the point of view of temperament – major, however they widen the
56
Basics of Melofolkloristics
accord of the 2nd and 4th degrees (d1 – f1) – minor third. Other major
thirds of the 1st and 3rd (c1 – e1) and 5th and 7th (g1 – h1) degrees, as well
as a perfect fourth (g – d1) and perfect fifth (g – c1) are narrowed.
The sidemen paying the interval of the octave of the high register
also seem to narrow it by augmenting the high tone. To be exact,
when doubling acoustically the sound frequency of the high register, theoretically one should be able to hear an octave, while human ear will perceive it as being significantly narrower. Therefore,
in temperament the octaves of the high register are augmented even
up to 40 ct, by nearly a fourth. EM performers and players do not
know these tricks of AM harmonisation, that is why their octaves
of the high register seems to be inaccurate and diminished even
though they are performed according to the laws of nature.
One might say that traditional EM intoning does not have any degrees, intervals or accords compatible with the established tempered
AM harmony. Not knowing the AM rules folk performers sing and
play intuitively and naturally. Folk ensembles reviving EM are generally intoning in a tempered manner. Due to that EM performed by
them has multiple stops and becomes similar to AM examples.
Diatonic modes are most common in the world’s EM. As discussed earlier, they are based on the overtones of a natural acoustic scale encompassing approximately 7–14th degrees. Therefore, it
is possible to state that diatonic modes exist in the range of high
overtones of the acoustic scale. The tones of the diatonic mode are
generally arranged at a semitone, without avoiding any intervals.
Even though, as already mentioned, in EM intoning a semitone or a
minor second is a rather conditional interval, when listening to the
melodies of diatonic modes, one way or another one will still hear
semitones, as instead of being avoided they are rather often emphasised. Another feature is that melody tones are arranged more or less
consistently, and even when there are larger leaps (thirds, fourths
and fifths), they are always followed by a sting of rather consistently
arranged sounds. According to their nature diatonic modes can be
57
Melofolkloristics
major and minor, while their names of a Greek origin, as already
mentioned, are rather conditional, because they are highlighted according to the patterns of EM intoning, not any other features.
Picture 16. Examples of Diatonic Modes
Another type of modes are semitone-less or anhemitonic modes. As
mentioned earlier, anhemitonics lies within the scales of EM intoning, however different from diatonics, where one nevertheless
hears semitones, in anhemitonic modes the intervals of semitones
are avoided. Because of that anhemitonic modes are twofold: where
intervals of semitones are avoided by omitting and skipping them;
and where the melody has no semitones – the so-called whole tone
scale is created. In the first case, when the semitones are kind of
omitted where the melody sounds skip over them, a peculiar scale
reminding of pentatonism is formed; however, differently from
them, the melody instead of being formed out of 5 tones (the essence of pentatonism is continuous repetition of five tones), can be
construed out of three sets of four and sometimes more tones, but
one will never find intervals of semitones in the scale. A characteristic feature of this type of anhemitonics is that instead of the
semitone the interval of the third (commonly of a minor third) is
formed. It is a jump of the third and the tones of the interval between the seconds found around it that are generally characteristic
of the hereby discussed anhemitonic melodies.
Picture 17. Examples of Anhemitonics With Omitted Semitones
58
Basics of Melofolkloristics
By its nature, anhemitonics with omitted semitones can be both
major and minor. It is most apparent in the old ceremonial and
calendar EM layers.
Anhemitonics, which is formed without omission of the semitones from the so-called whole tones (major seconds), contains its
essence in the 7–10th degrees of a natural acoustic scale. It is generally four sets of five and more tone scales, which are arranged
coherently at the intervals of major seconds. But it is not pentatonism, where semitones are strictly omitted, therefore intervals of
the thirds are formed between the sounds. There are no leaps of the
thirds of the whole tones in the anhemitonic scales. The scales are
arranged by turn.
Picture 18. Examples of Whole Tone Anhemitonics
It is mainly the world’s polyphonic EM that is based on the whole
tone anhemitonic scales, as well as the sutartinė sung by the Northeast Aukštaičiai of Lithuania. Interlaced voices of the performed
fanfare melodies form the whole tone scale.
Picture 19. Scales of Polyphonic EM
It is difficult to establish whether the melodies of the whole tone anhemitonic scales are major or minor, even though they often have typical intervals of major thirds of a major nature, which occur through
interlacing of polyphonic EM voices based on fanfare melodies.
Pentatonism is the repetition of the same five tones strictly omitting semitone intervals. Semitone intervals, just like in the first case
59
Melofolkloristics
of anhemitonics, are leaped over – between the sounding and repeated major seconds intervals of the thirds (mostly minor) continuously occur. Typically, two thirds in a row (triad) cannot be
formed, in that case it would be a diatonic mode, and not pentatonic. The thirds are always separated from each other by at least
one interval of the second.
Picture 20. Examples of Pentatonism
Pentatonism is especially characteristic of EM of the Great Yellow
Race and is present in the music of the Great Black and even White
Race. Pentatonism, at least its features, are especially vivid in the
EM of the British Isles, it is found in Scandinavia, Western France,
and certain territories of the Northern Europids. Like anhemitonics, it is commonly linked to the ancient EM layers, and is found in
the ceremonial and calendar melodies.
The features of pentatonism are based on the sequence of five
tones like in pentatonism, however, sometimes semitone intervals
are not avoided and do not overlap. But regardless of the semitones,
according to the sounding, the modes based on the features of pentatonism obviously differ from the diatonic ones and are more related to pentatonism. The melody is commonly arranged in a scale
characteristic of pentatonism, while intervals of semitones, it seems,
are heard in passing and they do not alter the essence of the sound.
This is especially characteristic of Japanese EM, the features of pentatonism are apparent also in the British Isles, in Scandinavia and
North of Europe.
There is a disagreement concerning the origin of pentatonism.
In the works of music theory and musical acoustics an opinion
sometimes comes forward that this type of mode is artificial and
60
Basics of Melofolkloristics
occurred as a result of breaking down the octave (eight tones) into
certain intervals, seven at first, of which, hence, pentatonism, a five
tone mode, had emmerged29. It is stated that an opinion concerning
the fact that after occurrence of pentatonism it had gradually discarded certain tones in the tonic (i. e. diatonic) modes is erronious30.
The author believes that pentatonism occurred naturally based on
the 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th and 13th degrees of the acoustic scale, which conditionally are the most stable in this segment of acoustic scale.
Picture 21. High Segment of Acoustic Scale Overtones
Since the 7th and 11th degrees are especially unstable (as mentioned
earlier, in EM intoning 11th degrees could be especially poorly defined), they were probably were not used as foundation, i. e. in pentatonism certain tones of a scale were not omitted, but not included
into the general system.
Picture 22. Theoretic Model of Pentatonism
Taking into account that pentatonism is nearly the only and the
most popular mode of EM of the Great Yellow Race (in the opinion
of the anthropologists the Great Yellow Race could have occurred
before the Great White and Black Races), the sequence of its tones
could have formed and established from the days of old and was not
artificially formed.
In the South-eastern Asia one will come across pentatonism
with the fourths and eights. Certain tones of pentatonic melodies
61
Melofolkloristics
are entwined with the intervals of the fourths and eights, which
cannot be expressed in AM notes. Different opinions are expressed
concerning the modes with the fourths and eights (we shall consider that later), however it is apparent that the intervals of the fourths
and eights occur at the very top of the natural acoustic scale. It is
not clear though, why in the Southeast Asia the fourths and eights
are added to pentatonism, nowhere in the world’s EM, with the
exception of the territory of the Southern Europids, they are not
common. Could it be the remains of the ancient junction of the
Mongoloids of the Southeast Asia, Southern Europids and, possibly,
the Australoids of the Great Black Race (supposedly they could be
found in the Southeast Asia as well)? Nevertheless, it is impossible
to offer a more explicit answer to this question, it is only possible
to believe that pentatonism with the fourths and eights is not some
artificially created mode, but is a naturally formed one.
Modes with augmented seconds comprise a peculiar layer of
modes. From the point of view of EM this definition is not exact,
because no one had ever augmented the seconds artificially, it is
more typical of AM modes; however, in the absence of another
name, we will have to go with this one. The essence of the modes
with augmented seconds (or one second) is that the intervals are
continuously formed in the diatonic scale – larger than the major
second, but somewhat smaller than the minor third (in comparison
to temperament). These modes are generally minor (augmented seconds are extremely rare in the major modes), while the augmented
seconds provide a peculiar sounding to the melodies. The author
believes that the modes with the augmented seconds, which are also
based on the tones of a natural acoustic scale, would be best with
the 10th and 11th degrees, which are rather unstable. Having theoretically put together the tones of a natural acoustic scale, we will easily
see that the tone, which occurred from the 10th degree, compared to
temperament, is 14 ct, and from the 11th degree – 10 ct lower.
62
Basics of Melofolkloristics
Picture 23. Theoretic Scheme of Modes with Augmented Seconds
Having in mind that the modes with augmented seconds are minor,
the tone e1 in EM intoning is always quite diminished and becomes
closer to the tone es1, i. e. diminished by approximately another
semitone, by at least 60–80 ct. The tone a1 is also diminished and
sounds by more than 16 ct lower and is diminished by approximately another 40 ct.
Picture 24. Mode with Augmented Second
One can see that in the scale intoned in this manner not only the
augmented second is formed, but also three intervals close to semitones. The augmented second occurs between the tones es1 – fis1,
while minor seconds (interval of a half tone) – between d1 – es1, fis1 –
g1 and g1 – as1. As already mentioned, all the discussed intervals
are not consistent with the temperament, because the augmented
natural second is smaller, while two minor seconds are larger than
the tempered ones.
Therefore, the modes with augmented seconds of the Arabs, Persian, Afghani, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Azerbaijani, Greeks, their
neighbours Balkan Shavians, Jews, and even Spaniards and Italians
(all of them are Southern Europids) have to be explained by the
laws of nature and acoustics correspondingly intoning comparatively unstable degrees of the acoustic scale. As already stated, such
modes of EM from all around the world are most common only
to the Southern Europids. One will also come across them in the
63
Melofolkloristics
Carpathian region (where EM of the Central Europids is interlacing with the qualities of EM of the Southern Europids), as well as,
however rather rarely, in especially old ceremonial and calendar
monodic melodies of the Northern Europids. It remains unclear
why of all the world it is only the Southern Europids that are mainly
intoning the augmented second utilising the possibilities offered by
the acoustic scale. Artificial nature of such modes is out of question,
because they are inordinately widely used from Iberian Peninsula
to Hindustan, where the nations of different cultures and ethnic
groups used to live and still do, however, all of them belong to the
local race of the Southern Europid.
Modes with the fourths and eights are also very characteristic of
the Southern Europids. Despite the fact that, as already said, pentatonism in EM of the Mongoloids of the Southeast Asia can also
be interlaced with the fourths and eights, in this case, this type of
intoning is not a rule, but rather an exception. Southern Europids
sing and play the fourths and eights universally, starting with the
world of Arabs and Balkans and ending with the world of Hindustan. These types of mode seem to be based on two models: diatonic
melodies with fourths and eights and melodies with augmented seconds. It is difficult to determine which model prevails, most probably both are equally important; however, fourths, eights, singing
and playing aside, one will see both of these models of a melody.
It is impossible to put in writing the melodies of the modes with
the fourths and eights using AM notes, since there is no possibility
to express the intervals of the fourths and eights using notes. This
is why in the works of the music theory and musical acoustics the
opinion is expressed concerning the fact that these modes of the
Eastern part of the world are artificial and that the octave is broken down into more parts than the European temperament31. The
author believes that the modes with the fourths and eights are also
natural based on the overtones of the acoustic scale. Only differently from the modes all around the world, where the possibilities of
64
Basics of Melofolkloristics
EM intoning provided by high overtones are used, the fourths and
eights are obtained through intoning the highest overtones forming above the 17th degree of the acoustic scale, which are impossible
to put in writing by regular notes. The melodies with the fourths
and eights, just like the rest of the EM modes of the world, are based
on the highest degrees of the acoustic scale. This means that the
extraordinary modes of the Southern Europids make use of both
a higher and the highest register of the acoustic scale, which is not
found in the music of other cultures of the world, with the exception of the aforementioned South-eastern Asia. It is difficult to say
why it came to be this way. It is possible that this phenomenon did
not come from any later periods, as is sometimes believed, nor was
it the evidence of EM professionalism, but rather is a remainder of
intervals of music tones that existed in nature and were comprehended and intuitively used by the people of this territory long time
ago. One should not forget that the territory of the South Europids
could have housed the cradle of humanity, or at least of the Western
racial stock (which the Great Europid and Negroid Race separated
from), and the music of this local Europid race is one of the oldest
in the world32.
Important Concepts
Anhemitonics
Augmented Seconds
Diatonics
Eights
Fourths
Intoning
Natural Harmony
Temperament
65
Melofolkloristics
Tasks
1.
2.
3.
4.
Which tone intervals are diatonic modes of EM based on?
Which tones are omitted in anhemitonic modes of EM?
Which tones are avoided in pentatonic modes of EM?
How are the modes with augmented seconds, as well as the
fourths and eights formed?
5. Select individually a CD or DVD and listen to an authentic
EM recoding, then determine the modes of this music.
Recommended Literature
R. Apanavičius (2009); (2010); A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl
(2006).
II. Ethnic Music of The Cultures of
Humanity
Ethnic Music and the Theory of
Divergency of the Races
Ethnic music reflects not only the peculiarities and self-evident universal unanimities of different cultures of humanity, but also of the
great and the so-called local races33. The most common feature of
the ethnic music of the three Great Races – Europid, Negroid and
Mongoloid – is monody. Monody of the Europids is prevalent, while
polyphony remained only like the remaining enclaves. Diatonic, anhemitonic and pentatonic features are characteristic of monody of
the Europids, as well as the modes with augmented seconds and with
the fourths and eights. These types of modes are not characteristic of
the music of the whole of the white race, but only of its Hindu-Mediterranean local race or population groups of the Southern Europids
in the Balkans, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. Anhemitonics survived in the melodies of all the Europids, especially
in the calendar melodies, while the features of pentatonism are more
typical of the ethnic music of the Western Europe and British Isles.
Monody is the main and, probably, the only feature of Mongoloid ethnic music. According to the modes pentatonism (it is even
called the “Chinese Scale”) is characteristic of this music, as well as
pentatonism with the fourths and eights. The latter was only found
characteristic of the music in the peninsula of Indo-China, where
the Yellow Race intertwined with the Australoids of the Black Race.
It is believed that it could have been the cradle of the Australoids
and the place of junction with the ancient Mongoloids.
67
Melofolkloristics
Both monody and polyphony are typical of the ethnic music of
both the Black and White Race. It is difficult to determine the prevailing style, it seems that both are equally important. Features of
diatonics, anhemitonics and pentatonism are typical to the modes.
These, as a matter of fact, are the most important modes of the music of the White Race as well.
Polyphony is characteristic only of the music of the White and
Black Races. One may say that in the music of the Mongoloids the
polyphony is simply absent. It is found only on especially secluded
remaining enclaves in the Eastern Asia and North America – in the
music of the Ainu living in the north of Japan and in the mouths
of Amur River, as well as of the Indian tribes of the North America
and Canada. Polyphony is threefold: drone, polyphony and parallelism. In the music of the Negroids and Australoids of the Black
Race polyphony exists alongside monody, while polyphony in the
music of the White Race is rather an exception. On the territory
of the Europids drone singing is found only in the Transcaucasia,
Balkans, Corsica and Sardinia, polyphony – in the Transcaucasia,
Balkans, Baltic States, in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions
of Russia, Mordovia and Komi, while parallelism is found in the
Balkans, Carpathian Mountains, Alps, in the Northern and Western Lithuania and Western Latvia. Drone songs are also found in
Courland and Latgalia, and the songs of the South-eastern Estonians of the Setu ethnographic region and Mordovians have drone
features.
The dominant element of polyphony of the Black Race is its parallel style. Drone features are also vivid in the music of the Australoids, while polyphonic features (not polyphony itself) are characteristic of the ethnic music of both the Australoids and Negroids.
The importance of the rhythm, even its precedence to the melody, is apparent in the music of the Negroids, Australoids, Mongoloids and the Southern Europids. The further to the north of the
territory of the White Race, the more insignificant the importance
68
Europids
characteristic
characteristic
characteristic
characteristic
Polyphony
polyphony
parallelisms
drone
Total
1
characteristic
8.5
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0.5
Assessment
characteristic
characteristic
characteristic
only features
Europids
Monody
diatonics
anhemitonics
pentatonism
modes with semitones,
fourths and eights
Race
Feature
Negroids
characteristic
characteristic
characteristic only
features
not characteristic
characteristic
characteristic
characteristic only
features
Negroids
Table 6. Features of Ethnic Music of the Races of Humanity
7
1
1
1
0.5
0
1
1
1
0.5
Assessment
Моngoloids
not characteristic
not characteristic
not characteristic
not characteristic
not characteristic
characteristic
only features not
characteristic
characteristic
Моngoloids
2.5
0
0
0
0
0
1
0.5
0
1
Assessment
Melofolkloristics
of the rhythm. For the Northern Europids, which means to the
Lithuanians as well, it is completely insignificant, with the exception of the calendar songs, sutartinė and ceremonial roundelays
and games.
Having compared the peculiarities of the ethnic music of the
three great races in Table 6 according to 9 main features, the music of the Black and White Races matches according to 6 features,
namely according to monody together with anhemitonics, features
of pentatonism, diatonics and polyphony with parallelism, the
most characteristic style. Having added the drone and polyphonic
features characteristic of the Black Race, in Table 7 one will see, that
there is basically no differences, at least formal ones, between the
music of the White and Black Races, excluding rhythmic pattern
of course.
Table 7. Assessment of Features of Ethnic Music of Humanity
Race
Features
Europids
Negroids
Моngoloids
Total
Monody
4.5
3.5
2.5
10.5
Polyphony
4
3.5
0
7.5
Total
8.5
7
2.5
18
One will get completely different data comparing ethnic music of
the White and Yellow, as well as the Yellow and Black Races. In
the first case (Table 6) the similarities are only approximately according to 2.5 points of a feature (monody, features of pentatonism,
pentatonism with the fourths and eights), however the differences
are according to even 6.5 points of a feature.
Music of the Yellow and Black Races matches only by approximately 1.5 points (monody and features of pentatonism), while it
differs by as many as 7.5 points of a feature. Having in mind that
comparison includes 9 features, without changing the rhythmic
70
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Table 8. Connection between Ethnic Music of the Races of Humanity
Race
Similarities
Differences
7
1
Europids – Mongoloids
2.5
6.5
Negroids – Mongoloids
1.5
7.5
Europids – Negroids
pattern, the differences between the ethnic music of the White and
Yellow and between Yellow and Black Races are quite large. This
leads to discussing the phenomenon of the ethnic music of the Yellow Race in the world. Oddly enough, there are more similarities
between the ethnic music of the White and Black Races. There are
so many similarities, as many as 6, that it raises the issue of the
common sources of the ethnic music of these races.
It is also rather evident, that the ethnic music of the White and
Black Races, having most similarities with each other, is varied and
uses plenty of means of artistic expression. It is possible to recognise it by a number of features; therefore, the music of the both races
is heterogenic. And the other way around, the ethnic music of the
Yellow Race, which is obviously different from the music of these
two races, is not varied and ascetic, and is therefore considered to
be homogenic. It separates itself from the music of the Great Europid and Negroid Race and forms a separate element of the ethnic
music of humanity, and may be even of an ethnic and racial origin.
Since according to the theory of biology, the older the form of
life, the less of its varieties there are, it is apparent, that music of
the Yellow Race with its few varieties could be older than the ethnic
music of the White and Black Races. For this purpose it is necessary
to compare the ethnic music data of the races of humanity with the
anthropologic scientific theories.
The anthropologists’ opinions on this issue vary; however, it is
often believed that the centre of the races of humanity is the territory of Asia encompassing the area from approximately the shores
71
Melofolkloristics
of the South-eastern Mediterranean Sea and Northeaster Africa to
Indo-China. The most popular hypothesis is that the Europids and
Negroids could have formed in the times of the middle or even early
Palaeolithic in the so-called Western Asia and Eastern part of the
Mediterranean Sea, and in the Northeast of Africa. Both races have
emerged in the west of the cradle of humanity, therefore they are often attributed to the Western Racial Stock (WRS). The Mongoloids
emerged in the Eastern Asia are considered to be the representatives of the Eastern Racial Stem (ERS), sometimes it is even stated
that they emerged before the WRS people in the early Neolithic.
The period of formation of both races should have continued for as
long as approximately 200,000 years. Races of humanity must have
separated from these stocks in the late Palaeolithic and partially in
Mesolithic. A modern man formed at the end of Palaeolithic. Occurrence of races is commonly related to great migration, ancient
population of Australia, Oceania and both American continents.
This should have lasted between 15 and 20 thousand years 34.
Representatives of the WRS reached Southern Europe and the
territories of Asia and Northern Africa, where the people of the
White Race still live, only in Palaeolithic, while they and people
of ERS reached north of Eurasia in Mesolithic and early Neolithic.
The ancient hominidae migrated to the European continent in the
early Palaeolithic through the Balkans, Apennines and Gibraltar.
Forefathers of the Europids, the Cro-Magnon type of people, came
from the Middle East through the Balkans in the late Palaeolithic35.
Ethnomusicological and anthropological data more or less coincide. Extensive differences between the ethnic music of the Yellow
Race and the White and Black Races is confirmed by the theory of
anthropologists concerning difference of the Mongoloids of the Yellow Race, ERS representatives, and the Europids and the Negroids of
the WRS, and in a way supports the view concerning a different origin of the Mongoloids. Extensive similarities of ethnic music of the
White and Black Races allow supporting the theory of anthropology
72
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
using ethnomusicological data concerning WRS, from which in the
course of time the Europids and Negroids had separated.
This means that the main features of the ethnic music of the
great races of humanity seem to support the opinion that the races
of humanity originated not from one, but from several, or at least
from two, sources. However the apparent similarities of these races
also make one consider another anthropologic theory, according to
which all races of humanity could have originated from one source.
This theory is supported by the most important feature of the ethnic music of all three great races, namely, by monodic similarities.
Therefore, one can state that monody together with anhemitonics,
pentatonism and features of pentatonism could be the remains of
the primitive commonness of the implied humanity, which was not
yet divided into racial stocks and races. Polyphony and other secondary features are most probably the products of later development of the racial stocks and races.
Therefore, monody in the ethnic music of the great races could
have remained from the tines of divergency of the racial stocks in
the early and middle Palaeolithic, but it had formed much earlier.
Having in mind that both racial stocks had been forming for approximately 200,000 years, and separated 35–28 thousand years
ago, the traditions of monody could be traced back as far as 235,000
years at the most, or 28,000 years at the least. Polyphony is considered to be the heritage of the WRS and is therefore linked only to
its development, formation and divergency of the White and Black
Races. This could have lasted from 20 to 15,000 years in the late
Palaeolithic and partially in Mesolithic. Other typical features of
the ethnic music, which emerged on the territory of any of the races
(for example, dominance of the melodic pattern over the rhythmic
of the Northern Europids) could be related to the later formation of
races at the end of Mesolithic and beginning of Neolithic. According to the anthropologists it should have lasted around 10–12,000
years. Even smaller peculiarities of the ethnic music are related to
73
Melofolkloristics
emergence of the population groups of the local races during the
Bronze Age and early Iron Age, and could have continued for another 3–3500 years.
When supporting the opinion that ethnic music emerged and
was developing together with humanity, one might think that the
similarities of the three great races probably go back to the early
Palaeolithic, while the differences of the ethnic music of the Mongoloids are found at least in the middle Palaeolithic, when the WRS
and ERS were formed. The seminaries of the ethnic music of the
White and Black Races could be related to the middle Palaeolithic.
Their rather small differences probably occurred during the late Palaeolithic and partially in the Mesolithic, when two independent
great races formed from the WRS – the Europids and Negroids.
The differences of the ethnic music of the White Race are related
to the formation of the population groups during the Bronze and
early Iron Ages.
It is these periods that seem to frame biological development of
humanity, which ethnomusicological data bears witness of in many
different ways.
Important Concepts
Asia
Bronze Age
Eastern Racial Stock
Europe
Hominidae
Iron Age
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Northern Africa
Palaeolithic
Southern Europe
Western Racial Stock
74
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Tasks
1. What are the similarities of the ethnic music of the great
races of humanity?
2. Which features relate the ethnic music of the Europids and
Negroids?
3. What could be an approximate period of formation of the
WRS and ERS?
4. How long did humanity exist for before formation of the
WRS and ERS?
5. Find the territories of the WRS and ERS on a world map.
Recommended Literature
R. Apanavičius (2010); J. H. Kwabena Nketia (1974); A. P. Merriam (1964); Music in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2004);
B. Nettl (2006); D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė (2002); The Musical
Human. (2006); World Music in Context. (2005)
Melofolkloristics
Ethnic Music of the Yellow Race
Based on the works of early researchers, gathered records of the
ethnic music of humanity and samples of the notes, one may see
that the prevailing feature of the ethnic music of the Mongoloids
of the whole Great Yellow Race is monody. One will come across
polyphony only as an exception, which related either to the transitional forms between the monody and polyphony (for example:
heterophony), or it could be explained by a rather complex origin of
that nation of an ethnic group. As a rule, the features of polyphony
of the Mongoloid music are found in the music of nations and ethnic groups of a particularly complex origin, which is still unclear to
the science of anthropology.
Monodic songs are performed individually and as a group. The
voices generally do not separate into several ones; therefore heterophonic sound is not present. Heterophony and even a peculiar parallelism of an unknown origin emerge in the music of the nations
of, for example, North America and Southeast Asia. Parallelism of
the Americanoids (which is the name of a local race) and Asian
Mongoloids (which is also a local race) is often based on the intervals of the fourths and fifths (even diminished ones) not typical to
the Europids, therefore, it is very different from the ordinary parallelism of the Europid music, which is based on the thirds.
Another distinct feature is the prevalent pentatonism, which
is also called the “Chinese scale”. In the Central Asia the diatonic
modes exist alongside pentatonism and are also related to the little
known complex origin of the nations of this region – Turkmens
and Kirghizians. Diatonics together with pentatonism are characteristic of the music of the nations of the East Asia – the Ainu and
Japanese. In the Japanese music one will even hear pentatonism
with semitones, which can also be explained by an especially complicated origin of this nation related to their Europid component
not stated by the anthropologists. Diatonics, to be more exact, its el76
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Picture 25. P
roliferation of the Great Races of Humanity. Territory
of the Yellow Race in Eurasia and America36
ements, are apparent in the music of the locals of the Amazon basin
in the South America, which is based on constant repetition of two
three sounds. In the Southeast Asia, aside from pentatonism, one
will come across the modes with the fourths and eights. However,
this is characteristic only to the instrumental music.
Music of this whole race is stable and has an even pulsating
rhythm. It is based on the movement of two and four elements. Another metre does not exist in the Yellow Race. Even rhythmic pattern provides monotony and asceticism.
In the instrumental music the favourites are various whistles,
while in the region of the Andes Mountains the pipes, like the wooden pipes, which are joined into one instrument and played one by
one. Strident double-reed hornpipes were used in the South of Asia.
77
Melofolkloristics
Trumpets were favoured everywhere, which in the Andes region
were played in a group of two, three and four. Asian Mongoloids
often use stringed instruments, which are completely absent on the
American continents. Stringed instruments of the Latin America
are a variety of the European guitars and mandolins. Drums are
very important in making of music; however, they are more significant for the Mongoloids of the North-east Asia (Siberian and Arctic
nations) and all the Americanoids.
We will not see any great differences when comparing vocal
and instrumental music. What is sung is played and vice versa. The
music did not separate into vocal and instrumental, it is syncretic.
The performance shows the male element, as well as syncretism, because the performance is often accompanied by the dance movements, while the performers wear exotic robes representing different animals, birds and mythological images, and wear masks. This
is related to the primitive ideology, when the performers embody
the forefathers or totemic images37. One will not notice any essential
difference when comparing the music of the Asian Mongoloids and
Americanoids. One might say that the music of both of these local
races emerged from one source, only the performance traditions
are different. The Mongoloids prefer stringed instruments, while
the Americanoids value drums. The connection between the Mongoloids of the North-east Asia and the Americanoids, especially of
the North America, is apparent through drumming.
Even today the ethnic music of the Mongoloids is still situated on
the oldest territories of this great race of humanity. According to the
anthropologists, the Yellow Race formed in the ERS in the Eastern
Asia approximately in the early Palaeolithic. It was separated from
the WRS by the high mountains of the Central Asia. This natural
barrier38 most probably had influence on the individuality of not
only the Yellow Race itself, but also on its ethnic music. In the late
Palaeolithic and partially in Mesolithic within a period of approximately 15,000–20,000 years the American continent, first the North,
78
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
then the South, was populated most likely from the North-east of
Asia through the Bering Strait. At the end of Mesolithic and beginning of Neolithic due to assimilation to the local climatic and natural conditions the local races were formed: Mongoloids in Asia and
Americanoids in the North and South America. Anthropologists
see a certain difference between the Mongoloid and Americanoid
local races and find the footprints of the Europid component in the
Americanoid racial type, which probably survived from the times
of ancient population of America. Y. M. Zhordanya supports this
opinion of the anthropologists saying that closeness of American
Inuit and Na-Dene Indians to the Asian Mongoloids is proved by
only their monodic music, while European touch of the American
Indians living further to the North and South by frequent polyphony. Using the remainders of the Europid component he explains the
polyphony of the Asian Mongoloid Island with, as well as the Ainu
of the Hokkaido Island in the North Japan39.
It is possible to state that the diatonics together with pentatonism found in the nations of the Central Asia could also be related to their mixed racial, Mongoloid and Europid, origin. Pentatonic
modes with the fourths and eights of the nations of the Southeast
Asia could possibly be explained by the mixed origin of the Mongoloids and Australoids, even though one can see that these types
of modes are absent in the music of the Australoids.
Manifestation of polyphony in the ethnic music of the Americanoids of the Central and South America could have been influenced by another possible course of population of the South America – from the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Having compared ethnomusicological and anthropological data,
one can see that the differences of the Mongoloids and Americanoids
are difficult to trace using both scientific data. However, it is apparent that Asian Mongoloids and Americanoids of the North America are more or less related. It seems that the Americanoids of the
South America separated from them, while the Mongoloids of the
79
Melofolkloristics
South Asia from the Mongoloids of the North-east Asia. According
to the ethnomusicological data the latter use stringed instruments
universally, while drums are used comparatively little, whereas the
Asian Mongoloids and Americanoids of the North America do not
use stringed instruments at all, but use plenty of drumming, which
accompanies the singing as well. The Ainu should also be added to
these “drummers”, whose origin, as already mentioned, is unclear
and complex, and contains the features of not only the Europids,
but also of the Australoid Race. Therefore, the “drummers” and
the “stringed instrument players” could be the representatives of
somewhat different cultures. Connection between the “stringed instrument players” extends to the territories of the Australoids and
Europids, while relation of the “drummers” with these races, with
the exception of certain locals of the North America and Japanese
Ainu, is less strong.
Important Concepts
Ainu
Americanoids
Andes Mountains region
Asia
Inuit
Indians
Japanese
Mongoloids
North and South America
Tasks
1. Where is polyphony of the Yellow Race found and what is it
related to?
2. How could the links between the ethnic music of the Mongoloids of the North-east Asia and the Americanoids of the
North America be explained?
80
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
3. What could the polyphonic features of the ethnic music of
the locals of the Central and South America be related to?
4. Which modes are most characteristic of the ethnic music of
the Yellow Race?
5. Which elements of the rhythmic pattern are most characteristic of the ethnic music of the Yellow Race?
6. Use the CD or DVD recordings of the ethnic music of the
nations of the Yellow Race and determine the prevalent male
or female performance base.
Recommended Literature
R. Apanavičius (2010); A. P. Merriam (1964); Music in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2004); B. Nettl (2006).
Melofolkloristics
Ethnic Music of the Black Race
Both polyphony and monophony are characteristic of the music of
this race (see Picture 25), even though early researchers thought that
polyphony is most characteristic of the Negroids and Australoids.
Diatonic modes prevail and sometimes one will come across the
features of pentatonism. According to the natures of the modes the
monodic music is major and minor, and these types of modes are
more typical for the melodies of the Australoids. Major modes are
more apparent in the music of the Negroids. Polyphony, only major,
is based on the sequence of the overtones of the natural acoustic
scale. Parallelism and polyphony are typical, while the drone features are present only in the music of the Australoids.
Parallel music is based on the accords of the thirds, fourths,
fifths, octaves and even sevenths. In music of the Negroids the accords of the fourths, fifths, octaves and thirds are typical, while in
the music of Australoids it is accords of the thirds, octaves, fifths
and sevenths. Therefore European parallelism, which is normally
based on the accords of the thirds, is closer to the music of the Australoids. The twists of the melodic pattern of the music of this local
race, where the melodies are based on the consecutive sequence of
the tones, while the music of the Negroids has leaps of the melodic
pattern, which are unusual for the Europids, is rather close to the
ethnic music of the Europids. This is the so called “fanfare” melodic
pattern based on the lowest overtones of the natural scale.
Polyphony is based on the major diatonic modes, and “fanfare”
melodic pattern is especially characteristic. The voices of the polyphonic music of both the Negroids and the Australoids interlaces in
a strict sequence with a constant pulsating rhythmic pattern. Due
to this vocal and instrumental polyphony of the Black Race has
similarities to sutartinė and instrumental music of the North-east
Aukštaičiai of Lithuania. Some identical qualities are also present,
if it was not for the instrumental accompaniment in the music of
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Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
the Black Race (sutartinė songs of the Aukštaičiai are not accompanies by the instruments), the recordings of the ethnic music of these
distant cultures would be hard to decipher at the first attempt.
The rhythmic pattern of all ethnic music is strict, constant and
based on maximum a duple and quadruple metre. Sometimes one
will come across the three beat rhythmic figures, but they are heard
only in-between and are not prevalent. When contrasted at some
point, the two and three beat rhythmic figures create the so-called
polyrhythm, which is especially characteristic of the music of the
Western Africa, and which became one of the most important features of the jazz music emerged in the United States of America
in the beginning of the 20th century. The rhythmic pattern is continuously supported by various musical instruments – rattles and
drums. It is very often supported by clapping, which is one of the
most typical features of performance of the ethnic music of the
whole Black Race. The rhythmic pattern of the monodic music is
somewhat freer, even though it is accompanied by different rhythm
supporting instruments.
The Negroids and Australoids use plenty of whistles, while in the
Central Africa and Oceania the multi-reed pipes, like the wooden
pipes. In the Central Africa they are played individually without
being attached to each other by five to seven performers. In the
Oceania they are tied into sets. Hornpipes did not have much significance in the music of the Black Race. Single-reed (like a clarinet) hornpipes were popular in the West Africa, double-reed, like
a zurna, in the Middle and East Africa. The latter are related to the
influence of the Islamic culture40. Little use of the hornpipes, which
are often imitating cackling of the birds, and bleating and belling
animal voices, is a great exception in the ethnic music of humanity. Various horn, bone and wooden trumpets are used, in the Central Africa they are called by the names of a lion, leopard, hyena
and monkey, and are used in a group41. Polyphonic music of these
trumpets is also very similar to the compositions of the horns, the
83
Melofolkloristics
wooden trumpets of the North-east Aukštaičiai. The trumpets of
the Australoids played individually are carved and painted with the
ornaments similar to those, which are used to decorate the masks,
therefore, it seems like they also represented ceremonial masks.
The Negroids use stringed instruments, while the Australoids
seldom use them or not at all. Both local races use plenty of different rattles and ratchets, drums and tabors.
When comparing the vocal and instrumental music, one will
not see any differences, it seems that the music of the Black Race
did not separate into individual branches. The male culture element is apparent, because it is mostly men that sing and play,
women do it rarely. The performance is syncretic, singing and
playing is accompanied by the dance movements, the performers wear masks and exotic robes, representing animals, birds and
mythical images. Syncretism, without any doubt, remained from
the ancient times and is related to totemism, fetishism and the
cult of the forefathers.
The Negroids and Australoids are related through parallelism,
polyphony, “fanfare” melodic pattern of the diatonic mode, as well
as the strict and stable rhythm of their ethnic music. The difference
is the drone nature of the Australoid music, which is not found in
the music of the Negroids. According to this and to the twists of the
melody, the music of the Australoids is more related to the polyphony of the Europids, and not of the Negroids. Another separate feature of the Australoids is that they do not use stringed instruments,
just like the Americanoids of the North and South America. It is
this rather vivid feature that links the Australoids with the Great
Yellow Race, in particular with the Americanoids. Relation to these
and even to the Mongoloids of the North-east Asia are apparent in
the tabor accompaniment of the monodic songs of the Australoids,
which could be a very old phenomenon.
According to the anthropological data, the Black Race together
with the Europids was formed in the Western Asia, which is also
84
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
called the Middle East, and on the shore of the Mediterranean
Sea, or could be in the early Palaeolithic. The local Negroid and
Australoid races formed at the end of Mesolithic and beginning
of Neolithic. However, there is no agreement concerning whether
the Australoids, living very far from the Negroids, are the local
race of the Black Race, or whether they should be considered to be
a separate Great Race. It is more likely however, that the Australoids are a local race.
Ethnic music of the Negroids proliferated to the South of
the Sahara of the primitive territories of this local race, where
people of this race live from the days of old. Ethnomusicological
and anthropological data in this case comes comparatively close.
Comparison of the music and anthropology of the Australoids
is somewhat more complicated, because even the anthropologists
themselves do not agree on the origin of this local race. Their anthropological type is often related to the Negroids, as well as to the
Mongoloids, which is witnessed by the aforementioned anthropological data. The ancestral home of the Australoids is also rather
unclear, because according to the archaeologists, the Oceania was
populated in the late Palaeolithic and partially in the Mesolithic
from the dry land stretching from the South-east Asia. It is also
believed that the ancestral home of the Australoids could have
been in the South America.
Ethnomusicological data supports the anthropological theory
concerning a common origin of the Negroids and Australoids,
observing a greater closeness between the Australoids and Europids. May be the Australoids together with the Negroids and
Europids did emerge from the WRS, only the Australoids formed
in the area of this racial stock closer to the Europids. Australoids, who together with the Negroids separated into an individual
Great Black Race, due to that probably maintained many qualities characteristic of the ethnic music of the Europids, which are
scarce in the Negroid music.
85
Melofolkloristics
Important Concepts
Australoids
Contrapuntal Polyphony
Diatonics
Drone
Monody
Negroids
Parallelism
Polyphony
Tasks
1. Which styles are characteristic of the ethnic music of the
Black Race?
2. Which qualities separate the music of the Australoids from
that of the Negroids?
3. In what way is the ethnic music of the Australoids related to
the music of the Europids?
4. Which rhythmic pattern is characteristic of the ethnic music
of the Black Race?
4. Use a CD or DVD recording of the ethnic music of the Negroid nations of the Black Race and determine whether the
music you hear is performed syncretically.
Recommended Literature
J. H. Kwabena Nketia (1974); A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl (2006);
The Musical Human. (2006); World Music in Context. (2005)
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Ethnic Music of the South Europids –
Source of the Europid Music
Ethnic music of the South Europids is found in three continents –
Europe, Asia and Africa. This is a significant exception in the ethnic music of humanity, because normally music of a local race of
the great race is found only on one continent. In Europe its area
takes up only a small southern portion of the continent, in Africa – it was spread in the North and the largest area covered is in
Asia, where this music spread as far as the Hindustan Peninsula.
Monody prevails, while polyphony is rare. A very peculiar feature
of the music of the South Europids is the monodic music modes
with augmented seconds, fourths and eights. These modes embrace
the remaining large area from the Balkans and the North Africa.
Diatonics is prevalent in the West of the Mediterranean Sea and the
Alps; there are plenty of these modes in the Balkans as well, just like
in the remaining eastern territories.
Picture 26. A
reas of Ethnic Music of the South Europids: 1 – monody,
2 – drone, 3 – polyphony, 4 – parallelism (homophony)42
87
Melofolkloristics
Polyphony – in the Caucasus, Balkans, Alps, Corsica, Sardinia and
Pyrenees. Generally it is drone, where only in the Caucasus the
melody is accompanied by the second voice. In other areas only the
one-voiced melody followed by a strong base voice is heard. These
melodies flow freely, there are plenty of ornamentations, and an increasing volume creates a special artistic impression: it looks like
the drone songs, especially of the Georgians, are flowing through
the mountains and do not flow out of them, they rise to the very top
and, having flown over them, disappear. In the Balkans and Transcaucasia one will come across polyphony. One will hear parallel
songs only in the Balkans, Alps and Pyrenees, in the lands of the
Basque nations.
The rhythmic pattern of the monodic music is rather strict and is
comprised of two figures based on a three (referred to as triplet) and
two (referred to as tuplet) beat movement with different variations.
Uneven rhythms of five, seven and eleven figures are characteristic
of the Balkans, which are sometimes even referred to as the “Bulgarian rhythm”, even though they are typical of the monodic music of
all the nations of this region. In order to emphasise the rhythm, the
Europids living on the border with the Negroids and Australoids in
the North Africa and Hindustan also clap their hands. The Caucasus nations also use clapping, even though they do not border with
the representatives of the Black Race. Clapping of the Russians, i. e.,
of the North Europids, probably spread from the Cossacks, which
seems to be borrowed from the South Europid or Caucasus nomad
nations dwelling earlier in the southern steppes of Russia.
The rhythmic pattern of the drone and parallel songs is rather free, difficult to define and the music seems to be meaningless.
However it is quite important for the polyphonic music.
They use plenty of whistles, in the Transcaucasia and Balkans –
the multi-reed pipes, like the Lithuanian wooden pipes. In Transcaucasia they are tied by two, three or more (with two performers playing), in the Balkans they are joined into one instrument
88
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
and played by one performer. The famous pan flute is nothing else
but the multi-reed pipe of the Balkans. From the Balkans and the
North Africa the strident double-reed hornpipes like a zurna are
favoured, they are used individually or by two. Two performers
are present mostly in the Caucasus, Middle East, Balkans and Iberian Peninsula. This way they used to play monodic melodies, with
only a second hornpipe accompanying them with a long continuous tone. The type of playing is drone, however, this is not the real
drone, since it is the monodic melodies, not the polyphonic ones
that are being performed. They use plenty of trumpets, which at
some point were played in a group, because their image, as instruments of remarkable power, the Jericho trumpets, which brought
down the walls of the fortress with their sounds, remained in the
Holy Scripture43. They also use plenty of stringed instruments. The
prototypes of a cembalo, zither, guitar, mandolin and violin are the
instruments of the South Europids. In the Northern Africa, Balkans, Anatolian Peninsula and Transcaucasia multistring instruments canon/ghanoon were played. They also liked the drums,
which were used to accompany not only the instrumental, but also
vocal music. Often instrumental ensembles consist of a whistle and
a tabor, two whistles (hornpipes) and a tabor, a stringed instrument
and a drum.
There is practically no difference between the vocal and instrumental music. One may say that it never separated into individual
types. Monodic melodies, and in the Alps the polyphonic parallels melodies, are played. It is mostly men that sing and play, while
in the Balkans and Iberian Peninsula women sing only ceremonial
and calendar songs, and lullabies. The monodic songs are also performed in a form of a dialogue: a man begins, a woman replies followed by a larger group of men. This is the scheme of an ancient
Greek tragedy, when the “choir” comments on an action, therefore
the performance of the ethnic music could have had influence on
the development of the tragedy.
89
Melofolkloristics
According to the anthropological data, the source of the WRS
was the whole of the discussed territory of the ethnic music of
the South Europids, from which in the course of time the Great
Europid and Negroid Races separated. This could have happened
already in the late Palaeolithic and partially in the Mesolithic. In
the western part the people of the White Race spread out later. At
the end of the Mesolithic and beginning of the Neolithic within
a period of 10–12 thousand years the Indian – Mediterranean Sea
or Hindu-Mediterranean local race, which is also called the South
Europids, and anthropological groups of this race were formed on
this whole territory. Their distribution coincides with the proliferation of the qualities of the ethnic music. The territory of the modes
with augmented seconds embraces the living areas of the Balkan –
Caucasus, Arab – African, Middle East and Hindu – Afghan, and
diatonics – the West of the Mediterranean Sea, Middle East and
Balkan – Caucasus types. The nations of different ethnic groups
live there, which are divided by their languages, but are united by
the similarities of the ethnic music. It is possible that the peculiarities of the ethnic music were present only up to the formation of
these ethnic groups.
Hypothetically one may think that the monody of the South Europids could have existed before the WRS, and may be before the
divergency of the Europid and Negroid races. Polyphony existed
from the times of divergency of the Great White and Black Races,
while other characteristic qualities, especially of the augmented
seconds and modes with the fourths and eights, probably emerged
during the time of formation of the anthropological types. Diatonics, features of pentatonism and anhemitonics could have been inherited either from the WRS, or occurred before the divergency of
the WRS and ERS.
The source of the WRS, which embraces the ethnic music of the
South Caucasians, was one of the civilisation cradles of humanity.
In the expanse of the subtropical climate advantageous for human
90
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
activities, just like in the Eastern Asia – in the ERS source, was
where the animals were first tamed, cultural plant species were
first grown and the earliest and most famous civilisations settled.
Therefore, the area of the South Europids is considered to be the
earliest territory of the ethnic music of the White Race, while its
ethnic music to be the oldest one. Here remained the most characteristic features of the music of the White, Black and even Yellow Races, which are most probably related to the times of twilight
of humanity. Therefore, the ethnic music of the South Europids
is valued as the earliest spring, which was nurturing the music of
other local races of the Europids and gave it multiple distinctive
features.
Important Concepts
Contrapuntal Polyphony
Diatonics
Drone
Eights
Fourths
Modes with augmented seconds
Monody
Parallelism
Polyphony
Rhythm
South Europids
Triplet
Tuplet
Tasks
1. Which style is most characteristic of the ethnic music of the
South Europids?
2. Point on the world map where and how is the music of the
South Europids situated.
91
Melofolkloristics
3. How is polyphonic music of the South Europids spread according to the styles?
4. Which qualities of the ethnic music of the South Europids
could have been inherited from the times of the WRS?
5. Listen to a CD or DVD recoding of the ethnic music of the
nations of the Balkan region and determine the styles and
modes of this music.
6. Listen to a CD or DVD recoding of the ethnic music of the
nations of the Middle East region and determine whether
you hear the modes with the augmented seconds, fourths
and eights.
Recommended Literature
A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl (2006); The Musical Human. (2006);
World Music in Context. (2005)
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Peculiarities of the Ethnic Music of the
Europids of the Central Europe
Ethnic music of the Europids of the Central Europe stretched from
the Carpathians to the west of the Iberian Peninsula. In the south
this area borders with the Balkans and the Alps, does not reach
the Mediterranean Sea, and in the north it embraces the middle
of Germany and the British Isles. Monody prevails; polyphony is
present only in the Western Carpathians and the Alps. Generally it
is parallel songs similar to the songs of the Balkans and the Northern Europe. Diatonics, anhemitonics and features of pentatonism,
which are apparent on the British Isles and in the west of France,
are characteristic of the modes. Features of pentatonism are also
present in the ethnic music of the Hungarians. The modes with
augmented seconds are present in the Carpathian region.
Picture 27. A
reas of the ethnic music of the Europids of the Central
Europe: 1 – monody, 2 – parallel polyphony, 3 – modes
with augmented seconds, 4 – features of pentatonism, 5 –
approximate boundary of the western and eastern part44
93
Melofolkloristics
The rhythmic pattern of monody is sharp and pulsating. In the western part it is just like the rhythmic pattern of the South Europids –
consisting of triplets and tuplets, while the rhythmic pattern of
the eastern part is not sharp. Here the known rhythms of waltz,
mazurka and polka make use of the triplets and tuplets. Syncopes,
middle tones of the rhythmic tuplet figures, which are continuously
retained, and which constitute a base of the famous Slovenian-style
polka, krakowiak and other songs and dances of the Carpathian
region, are characteristic of the eastern part. The rhythmic pattern
of the parallel songs is free, as is the rhythmic pattern of the instrumental improvisational melodies. In the Alps one will come across
parallel songs with a regular rhythm.
In the eastern part instrumental music often consists of two
parts: slow improvisations and fast ones with a strict rhythm.
Sometimes the fast parts are even accelerated. As a matter of fact,
instrumental music is sometimes accelerated in the western part as
well, however rather insignificantly.
Whistles are used everywhere, in the Carpathians even without
holes, which are used to obtain the overtones of the natural scale
and even accords. Here the closed multi-reed pipes joined into one
instrument are used as well (played by one individual), the same
ones, like in the Balkans. Hornpipes of the eastern part have one
reed (like a clarinet), of the western part – a double-reed (like a
zurna), similar to the instruments of the South Europids. Strident
double-reed hornpipes are played individually in instrumental ensembles and orchestras. The famous bagpipe orchestras of the British Isles, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are linked to the
musical traditions of the South Europids.
Trumpets are used often in the Alps and the Carpathians, and
violins are favoured everywhere. In Ireland, Scotland and Western
France they played a Celtic harp, which could be not only the oldest, but also a local instrument, showing relation to the South Europids. In the Alps they favoured a zither, and in the eastern part of
94
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
the Central Europe cembalos were very popular – the newcomers
from the lands of the South Europids. In the Carpathians they also
used stringed ladle-shaped instruments, which were often used by
the South Europids to make music. Drums are mainly used in the
western part, which are used to emphasise the strict music rhythm
of this part. In the eastern part instead of drums they used bassettos – a stringed base instrument. In the instrumental ensembles the
melody is also accompanied by the cembalos, harmonica, and in the
west – a harp or a guitar. Therefore, all around the Central Europe
the melody in the instrumental ensembles was led by one or two violins, or one or two whistles (hornpipes), accompanied by a stringed
instrument or a harmonica, while the rhythm was supported by a
drum (in the west) or a base stringed instrument (in the east).
When comparing the vocal and instrumental music, it becomes
apparent that in the western part it remained undivided (the same
melodies are both sung and played), while in the eastern part it separated into individual types. In the western part the performance
is generally related to the male, while in the east – to the female
element. Female performance is related not only to the Balkans, but
even more so to the traditions of the female culture of the Northern
Europe. The customs of the western part are related more to the
music of the South Europids and possibly could even be considered
to be the continuation of these qualities of ethnic performance and
ethnic music of the Europids.
In the 3rd millennium BC people anthropologically close to the
Mediterranean Sea type lived in the western part of the Central
Europe from the very Palaeolithic to the appearance of the IndoEuropeans. According to the archaeological data, the Carpathian
region in the eastern part was separate from the rest of the Central Europe and already approximately in the 7–6th millennium BC
formed together with Asia Minor a single cultural space. In the 1st
millennium BC the Celts lived all over the territory of the ethnic
music, whose territory in the north-east was conquered by the Ger95
Melofolkloristics
mans and in the east by the Slavs. In the easternmost part, approximately in the present territory of Slovakia and Hungary, the lands
of the Celts bordered with the old territory of the Dacians, who are
attributed to the Balkan cultural group. The Thracians lived in the
present territory of Romania and Moldavia.
The local race of the Central Europe comprises the groups
of the Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the borders of the
western area of which more or less coincide with the western part
of the ethnic music, excluding the British Isles. Since the music of
these islands is exactly the same as in the western part of the European continent, the Irish, Scots, Gaels and English, from the point
of view of ethnomusicology, are not attributed to the Northern Europids (as per the anthropological data), but belong to the Central
European Europids. The ethnomusicological and anthropological
data are even more inconsistent in the eastern part. According to
the anthropologists, the Central and Eastern European group territory encompasses only the easternmost area of the ethnic music,
covering approximately the territory of the present Moravia, Slovakia and Hungary. While according to the ethnomusicological data,
the differences from the western part are apparent quite further to
the west, starting approximately in the Southeast of Germany and
Czech Republic. Romania and Moldavia belong to the eastern part,
even though according to the anthropological data these people are
considered to be the South Europids.
The eastern boundaries of the Central and Eastern European
anthropological group do not coincide with the area of the ethnic
music According to the music the border ends approximately in the
Carpatho-Ukraine, while according to anthropology – it stretches
beyond the interfluve of Volga and Oka. According to the ethnomusicological data, the ethnic music of the Polish, with the exception
of the southern highlanders the Gurelians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Southern Russians and Lithuanians, is absolutely different
from the Central Europe, even though from the anthropological
96
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
point of view people living there today are the representatives of the
same Central and Eastern European anthropologic group.
Inconsistencies between the ethnic music and the anthropological data most probably reflect a very complex ethnic history of the
Central Europe: the great migration, ethnic blending, extinction of
the ancient ethnic groups and occurrence of the new ones. However,
the geographic arrangement of the peculiarities of the ethnic music
barely demonstrates this confusion, which leads to thinking that
the ethnic music remained from significantly earlier times, when
people of the kindred, however slightly different, cultures lived
there. Most probably these were the ancient Celts, who were either
very close to the cultural heritage similar to the Southern Europids,
of the ones living before them, or borrowed it from the ancient inhabitants.
The ethnic music of the Europids of the Central Europe is also
considered to be very old; however, it is nevertheless considered a
continuation of the music of the South Europids. The most characteristic monodic style could be linked to the WRS or even to the
times before divergency of the WRS and ERS. Diatonics and anhemitonics most probably belong to the music of the Central Europe, which flourished on this territory, while living close to the
South Europids of the western Mediterranean Sea and the Balkan
group. Music of the western part of the Central Europe probably
borrowed the strict rhythm from the South Europids, and in addition – a two beat structure and modes from the eastern part. The
music of the eastern part must also be the source of the ethnic music of the North Europids.
Important Concepts
Anhemitonics
Central European Europids
Diatonics
Krakowiak
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Melofolkloristics
Monody
Polyphony
Polka
Rhythm
Syncope
Triplets
Tuplets
Waltz
Tasks
1. Which main qualities form the greatest difference between
the ethnic music of the western and eastern parts of the Central European Europids?
2. On the map of Europe show where is the polyphonic music of
the Europids of the Central Europe situated.
3. In which part of the area of the ethnic music of the Central
European Europids they favoured the drums, and in which –
cembalos and harmonica?
4. Listen to the CD or DVD recording of the ethnic music of
the nations of the Central European Europids and determine,
in the music of which nations do you hear the rhythms of a
waltz, polka and krakowiak?
Recommended Literature
A. P. Merriam (1964); B. Nettl (2006).
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Ethnic Music of the Northern Europids
It is extended from Scandinavia and approximately Northern Germany, Netherlands and Northern Belgium, in the south it embraces the flatlands of Poland, Belarus, and Northern Ukraine, in the
south-east – Russian Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, in the
east – the lands of Volga-Finnic Mari and Mordovians, and PermFinnic Udmurts and Komi. In the north it encompasses Scandinavia, middle Finland and Russian ethnographic area. Monody is
prevalent, while polyphony is present only in the North-west Lithuania, South-west Latvia, South-east Estonia and in some areas of
Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions. Heterophony is common
in Belarus, Ukraine and Polish Polesia, Eastern Lithuania, Northwest Belarus, Eastern Latvia, South-east Estonia, North-west and
Northern Russia. Parallel songs are heard only in the North-west
Lithuania and South-west Latvia. The polyphonic songs of Latgalia, Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions have features of parallelism, however they are considered to be heterophonic, because it
is not the major (characteristic of parallelism), but minor modes
that are prevalent.
Polyphony – in the north-east Aukštaitija, its features are also
present in Latvia, where polyphonic songs were scattered 45. In Lithuania the North-east Aukštaičiai sung sutartinė (polyphonic songs,
which were called hymns), they played them using the wooden pipes
and aerophones (long trumpets), while using the wooden pipes
and horns (middle-sized trumpets) they performed instrumental
polyphonic compositions46. The compositions for multi-reed pipes,
like the wooden pipes, of the aforementioned Russian regions and
Komi are also polyphonic. They are often performed with shouts,
stamping of the feet and even walking in circles as waddling ducks.
Instruments were played by women.
Drone songs are present in Latvian Courland and Latgalia. They
are nearly the same as the songs of the Serbian Vojvodina region,
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Melofolkloristics
Picture 28. A
reas of the ethnic music of the Northern Europids: 1 –
monody, 2 – heterophony, 3 – polyphony, 4 – parallelism,
5 – drone, 6 – approximate border of the western and
eastern parts, 7 – approximate dividing border of the
eastern and north-east parts47
because the melody is performed by only one top voice, where
women are singing. The songs of the South-east Estonian Setu are
considered to be drone as well; however, their melody is performed
by the lower voice. Both men and women are singing.
The rhythmic pattern of monodic and polyphonic parallel music, except the ceremonial and calendar songs, is rather free. However, the rhythmic figures of the monodic calendar and ceremonial
songs are exactly the same extending from the music of the South
Europids: comprised of triplets and tuplets. Only they are even more
changed and jaded than in the eastern part of the Central Europe.
The rhythmic pattern of the polyphonic music is strict. In sutartinė
the syncopes are rather vivid like in the eastern part of the Central
Europe, which are absent everywhere else. From a formal point of
view, they should not be present in the music of the Northern Eu100
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
ropids, therefore syncopes are a big exception of the ethnic music
of these flatlands. According to the importance of the rhythm and
according to the “fanfare” music polyphony is comparable even to
the polyphonic music of the Black Race. Performance syncretism is
also similar.
The Northern Europids use various rattles, whistles, hornpipes
and trumpets. Stringed instruments kanklės/kantele were used only
in the Baltic region and have many similarities with the multistring
instrument canon/ghanoon of the South Europids of the Mediterranean Sea and Caucasus region. Drums and tabors were used only
as a warning instrument and are likely not to be the instruments of
a local origin.
Ethnic music separated into individual vocal and instrumental
types. Monodic, polyphonic and drone songs are performed without instrumental accompaniment. Instruments were used to signal, improvise and sometimes to perform melodies of the songs. In
the past centuries music instruments were used to play mostly the
dance music. Syncretism is present only in custom performance using wooden pipe type instruments. Female element is prevalent; the
role of men in the making of music is scarce.
According to archaeological data, the first inhabitants of the
Northern Europe came in the late Palaeolithic. In the early and late
Neolithic in the north-east part the Finnish Pit-Comb Ware culture
(4–2nd millennium BC), and in the south and west – Indo-European Corded Ware culture (3rd millennium BC) were formed. On the
territory of the Finnish culture the Finno-Ugric peoples were later
formed, and on the Indo-European territory – the Balts, Germans
and Slavs48. From the point of view of the science of anthropology
at the end of Mesolithic and beginning of Neolithic over the entire North Europe the local Baltic or North Europid local race of
the Great Europid Race emerged within a period of approximately
10,000–12,000 years. In the Bronze and early Iron Age within a
period of approximately 3000–3500 years it split into population
101
Melofolkloristics
groups. Arrangement of the archaeological cultures and population
groups largely resembles the dispersion of the qualities of the ethnic
music. Particularly old is the remnant Pontic type, which one can
come across at the sources of vocal and instrumental polyphony in
Russia and Komi. However, a very peculiar polyphonic area of the
North-east Lithuania does not have any anthropological, archaeological, linguistic or ethnological similarities, and is therefore to
this day considered to be an unexplainable exception of the ethnic
music of not only the Northern Europids, but of all local races of
the Europids. All comparisons with the data of other studies bore
no fruit, with the exception of a small similarity with allocation of
soil, rock and cave formations in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the
Balkan region49.
The ethnic music of the Northern Europids is the heritage of
this local race and its population groups. The sources of polyphony,
which kept the footprints of the Pontic archaeological type, probably is a witness of very early population of these flatlands. Similarities to the polyphony of the Great Black Race might also mean the
traditions remaining from the WRS times.
Important Concepts
Contrapuntal polyphony
Monody
Northern Europids
Parallelism
Polyphony
Pontic type
Rhythm
Triplets
Tuplets
102
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
Tasks
1. Show on the map of Europe, where is the polyphonic music
of the Northern Europids situated.
2. The music of which cultures is the polyphonic music of the
Northern Europids most linked with?
3. Which element – male or female – is prevalent in the performance traditions of the ethnic music of the Northern Europids?
4. Is performance syncretism characteristic of the music of the
Northern Europids?
5. Listen to a CD or DVD recording of the ethnic music of the
nations of the North European Europids and determine, in
which musical genre the rhythms with triplets and tuples are
present.
Recommended Literature
R. Apanavičius (2000); (2004); A. P. Merriam (1964); D. RačiūnaitėVyčinienė (2002).
Melofolkloristics
Lithuanian Music in the Context of the
Ethnic Music of Humanity
Lithuanian ethnic music has two layers – monody and polyphony.
These layers do not coincide with either – Lithuanian ethnographic
areas, or with allocation of the dialects of the Lithuanian language,
rather, they divide the country into two practically equal parts –
north-west and south-east.
Picture 29. A
reas of Lithuanian ethnic music:
1 – mono­dy, 2 – contrapuntal polyphony, 3 –
polyphony, 4 – heterophony50
Polyphony is prevalent in the west and north of Lithuania,
Žemaitija, western and a larger eastern part of Aukštaitija, and in
the Northern Suvalkija. Here they used to and still sing parallel
songs, the melodies of which are generally major, and the highest
degrees of the diatonic modes are present. Regular rhythmic pattern
is typical to the songs of the Eastern Aukštaičiai and Suvalkiečiai,
while the rhythmic pattern of the parallel songs is much freer, even
though one might come across the songs with a rather regular
rhythmic pattern.
An especially peculiar source of polyphony was found in the
north of Aukštaitija. Here they sung sutartinės and played the instruments for collective making of music: wooden pipes, aerophones
and horns. Sutartinės were also played using stringed instruments
kanklės, whistled using two or three lumzdelis, played on two hornpipes and even ožragis. The melodies of polyphonic music are generally major, even though one will come across minor ones. Dia104
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
tonic modes are prevalent and there are features of anhemitonics.
The rhythmic pattern is particularly strict and regular, and it is the
element uniting the entire body of polyphonic music. Performance
is exclusively collective.
Monody prevails in the south and east of Lithuania – in Dzūkija,
Southern Suvalkija and Eastern Aukštaitija. In the south of Suvalkija
it exists alongside parallelism and in the east of Aukštaitija – alongside heterophony. The melodic pattern of monodic music is generally minor, and although one might come across the minor, diatonics
is prevalent and the features of anhemitonics and even pentatonism
are apparent. From the point of view of rhythm the monodic music
is rather free, not restrained, while a regular rhythmic pattern is
more characteristic of calendar and ceremonial songs.
All around Lithuania whistles, hornpipes and trumpets were favoured; however, only in the west and north of Lithuania kanklės
were popular. In the North-east Aukštaitija they were used to play
sutartinė, while in the Western Aukštaitija, Žemaitija and Suvalkija
they were used to play ethnic and so called literary songs, and the
European dances of later origin.
Monodic ethnic music of Lithuanians is not that different from
the music of the neighbouring Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric
nations living somewhat further. The minor and diatonics prevail
everywhere, the features of anhemitonics and even pentatonism
are apparent, the rhythmic pattern is free, and in some calendar
and ceremonial songs it is somewhat stricter. Lithuanian monody is
undistinguished from the monodic music of the Eastern and even
Western Slavs (especially the Eastern Poles). The differences are apparent not in the melodic pattern, but in the language. Lithuanian
monody has very wide parallels, which are considered to be a constituent part of the monodic music of the Northern Europids.
In the Northern Europe there are no closer parallels to the polyphonic ethnic music of the Lithuanians. Parallel songs are somewhat similar to the songs of the South-west Latvians form the Cour105
Melofolkloristics
land ethnographic area. There is a similarity with the songs of the
Eastern Latvians from Latgalia; however, apparent differences are
observed, since the Latgalians sing the melodies of the major and
minor modes, echoed by the second voice, using not the highest degrees of the modes, like the Northern and Western Lithuanians, but
the lowest ones, just like the monodic melodies sung by the Southern and Eastern Lithuanians. There are also similarities with the
songs of the Estonians from the Setu ethnographic area; but their
melodies, contrary to the Lithuanian songs, are commonly lead by
the bottom voice instead of the top one. The features of parallelism, but not parallel song themselves, are also present in Russian
Bryansk and Kursk areas, however these songs, just like the songs
of the Latgalians, are closer to heterophony, because their melodies,
just like the songs of the Latgalians, are generally performed using
the lowest degrees of the modes.
In the Northern Europe there are no other analogues to the
Lithuanian parallel songs. When comparing ethnic music of Lithuania and the Central Europe, one will see that the parallel music
of the North-west Lithuanians and the nations of the Alpine and
Tartu regions is related the most. The monodic music of the Southeast Lithuania and Central Europe is hardly related.
Ethnic music of the Southern Europids is related to the Lithuanian music only through the parallel songs. There are apparent
links between the ethnic music of the North-west Lithuanians and
separate secluded territories. This pattern demonstrates that the
polyphony of the North-west Lithuanians, similarly to other local
races of the secluded islands, can be related to the polyphony of the
Great Black Race of humanity.
In comparison to monody of the ethnic music of the South-east
Lithuanians and the Great Black Race, it is clear that the links with
the Negroid monodic songs are scarce, because the songs of the
latter are based on a rather broken and clipped melody resembling
shouting. There is plenty of shouting intonation in the Lithuanian
106
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
songs as well; however, their melodies are rather expressive and amplified. There is very little of this sort of conditional expression in
the monodic songs of the Negroids.
The monodic songs of the South-east Lithuanians and the Australoids of the Great Black Race have a close relation. The lamentation of the women of the New Guinea practically has no differences
from the lamentations and even from the rye harvesting and wedding songs of the Dzūkians: the same continuously repeated minor
third intervals, the same main tones of the melody are emphasised,
the same rather free rhythmic pattern, and practically the same expressive performance. And if it was not for the beat of a tabor (also
rather free, even irregular), at first sight the songs would be hard to
discern.
The polyphony of the Lithuanians and the Great Black Race are
rather closely related. There are vivid links and even equivalents to
the Lithuanian polyphony, which does not have analogues in the
music of the Central European and Southern Europids. Polyphonic
songs of the Central Africa are practically the same as the sutartinė
hymns, only they are performed syncretically as is typical to the
ethnic music of the Black Race: by accompanying the rhythm using
rattles, making dance-like movements and even dancing. Multiple
similar features relate the polyphonic music of Biržai region and
the Negroids of the Central Africa with the collective instrumental
music of the Australoids of the Melanesia. The music is played by
instruments similar to Lithuanian wooden pipes sets of horns and
two or three whistles. Every instrumental part, like in the Southeast Australia, consists of continuously repeated rhythmic formulae, and the melody line, similarly to Lithuanian music, is generally
obscure, and most importantly, there is a sequence of instrumental
voices interlaced on the basis of a strict rhythmic pattern. If not
for the rattle accompanying this collective instrumental music, one
would not be able to discern it from the wooden pipe, horn and
lumzdelis music of the North-east Aukštaičiai.
107
Melofolkloristics
The same can be said about the links among the parallel ethnic music of the Aukštaičiai, Žemaičiai and Suvalkiečiai, and the
Negroids and Australoids. According to formal qualities it seems
that there are no essential differences between the parallel ethnic
music of the Lithuanians, Negroids and Australoids: the same melodic nature is apparent and a method of leading and echoing using
a stronger second (or third) voice. More similarities that are both
formal and direct were found when comparing the parallel songs
of the North-west Lithuanians and Australoids. Similarities are
found regarding the basic performance principle as well as the melodic pattern, which is based on practically the same twists. If it was
not for the intervals of the fourths and sevenths of the Australoid
songs, just like in the aforementioned case with the polyphony of
the North-east Aukštaičiai and Negroids of the Central Africa, it is
difficult to discern the songs of Aukštaičiai, Žemaičiai, Suvalkiečiai
and Melanesian Australoids at first sight.
It is even possible to say that the parallelism of the North-west
Lithuanians and the Australoids (especially from Melanesia) is interrelated typologically (i. e. being very similar from the first sight)
and genetically (possibly of the same origin). Due to this fact it is
thought that the parallelism of the North-west Lithuanians, just
like the polyphony of the North-east Aukštaičiai, which is the exception of the ethnic music of the Europids of the Great White Race,
could be the remainder of the times of the so called Western Racial Stock. According to anthropological data, the Great White and
Black Races separated from this stock 28,000–37,000 years ago. Hypothetically, Lithuanian polyphony could be 28,000–37,000 years
old, because the parallels of this musical style are apparent even
today in the music of the Black Race.
Monody of the South-east Lithuanians is the basis of the ethnic
music of the Great White Europids Race and is considered to be a
constituent part of the ethnic music of the North Europids. However, there is hardly enough evidence to support the relation of the
108
Ethnic Music of The Cultures of Humanity
monody of the Lithuanians and all the Northern Europids only to
the period of formation of the local race of the Northern Europids,
since the monodic music of the Lithuanians and all other nations
and ethnic groups of the Northern Europe has apparent formal
links to the monody of all Europids of the Great White Race, and
even to the Mongoloids of the Yellow Race. Namely, the monody,
as the most distinctive feature of the style, unites the ethnic music
of all great races. There are also enough similarities based on the
modes. Pentatonism – the main mode of the Great Yellow Race –
clearly exists in the ethnic music of the White, as well as of the
Black Race.
Therefore, one might say that despite the fact that Lithuanian
monody is closely related to the monody of the ethnic music of other nations of the Northern Europe, its origin could precede the polyphony, where such parallels are absent. Hypothetically, monody
could go back to the periods of formation of even both racial stocks
of humanity – Eastern and Western.
Monody of the Lithuanian ethnic music, which maintained the
main features of the ethnic music of the White Race, has undergone drastic changes in the course of time, while in its structure polyphony remained practically the same from the earliest time, even
though it did not carry on syncretism and performance of magical
nature to our days.
Important Concepts
Aerophones
Anhemitonics
Contrapuntal polyphony
Heterophony
Hornpipe
Horns
Kanklės
Literary songs
109
Melofolkloristics
Lumzdelis
Monody
Ožragis
Parallelism
Pentatonism
Polyphony
Sutartinė
Wooden pipes
Tasks
1. How is ethnic music distributed in Lithuania?
2. Where are Lithuanian polyphonic sutartinės present, and
what is typical to them?
3. Where are the parallels of Lithuanian parallel and polyphonic music extended to?
4. Listen to a CD or DVD recording of Lithuanian ethnic music
and determine the style of the performed music.
5. Listen to a CD or DVD recording of the ethnic music of the
Europid nations of the Central Europe, compare them with
the recordings of Lithuanian polyphonic music and determine similarities and differences.
6. Listen to a CD or DVD recording of the ethnic music of the
Negroids and Australoids of the Black Race, compare them
with the recordings of Lithuanian polyphonic music and determine similarities and differences
Recommended Literature
R. Apanavičius (2009a); D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė (2002).
III. Connection Between the Ethnic and
20th Century Popular Music
Jazz, which emerged in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century,
is based on the ethnic music of the Negroids interlacing with the
religious songs, the spirituals, as well, and later, when white Americans started playing jazz, country music element was added. The
origin of the name jazz remains unclear. It could have originated either from an abbreviation Jaz of the name of a black musician Jazbo
Brown, or from the mark Jas of another such musician Boisey James,
or from razz the distorted name of instrumental ensembles of the
black Americans51. The early or classical jazz was based on improvisation; the main genre was blues. Jazz performers played and sang
in the bars, restaurants and clubs without any notes. They wore evening clothes. In the 1920s jazz was already played at the concert and
dance halls, and small orchestras started to form into the big bands.
They started using notes and writing scores. The most popular style
of jazz, the swing, had emerged. Combination of jazz with a symphonic orchestra lead to the formation of the sympho-jazz, and jazz
music became popular in Europe and all around the world.
In the USA jazz orchestras, the big bands, recorded the music of
all the greatest films of the 1930-1950’s Hollywood. It is still popular
and being listened to.
After World War II the progressive jazz emerged, the deviations
of which were based on jazz, rock, world music and other trends.
Improvisation prevails, and they play and sing without the use of
111
Melofolkloristics
notes. The performers wear everyday clothes, use various musical
instruments and sound amplifying and electronic equipment.
Country music. This is a “village” style music, which emerged
in the North-east USA in the 1920s, and which is based on the ethnic music of the Central European Europids –descendants of the
British Isles – adding the improvisations borrowed from jazz and a
stringed musical instrument banjo – a hybrid of a mandolin and tabor – which emerged in the USA in the Negroid environment. The
rhythmic pattern is regular, the melodies are catchy, the performers
wear the cowboy clothes and shovel hats, therefore, country music
as a sign of “American” identity became very popular in the USA,
and as a counterbalance of the jazz city culture it was and is heard
in the greatest Hollywood films. The most famous jazz swing singers started their career as the performers of the country music.
Rock. The origin of the name rock ‘n’ roll, which originated from
the rhythm and blues, and which was later abbreviated to rock, is even
less clear. In early 1950s the founder of this trend, Alian Fried the journalist of the Cleveland radio music shows, probably borrowed a compound word rock ‘n’ roll from the slang of the black American young
people, which means sexual intercourse. Big Beat emerged in Great
Britain in 1964 as a contraposition to the American rock. It was founded by a famous Liverpool four – the legendary ensemble The Beatles.
Folk rock added traditions of the folk music, and the disco style introduced a particularly stable, even, monotonous and sharp rhythm. This
style emerged when the youth discotheques became popular52.
The performers of the rock music wear demonstratively everyday clothes, use various attributes and accessories of the youth subcultural groups. The variety of heavy metal influenced the Heavy
Metal Headbangers movement.
The music is sharp, clipped and based on an even rhythm, the melodies have similarities with the melodic pattern of the ethnic music of
the Negroids and Europids. It is performed without notes, with the use
of electrical music instruments and sound amplifying equipment.
112
Connection Between the Ethnic and 20th Century Popular Music
Pop music emerged in the USA only in the early 1970s, and approximately at the same time the description “popular music” or
pops caught up in Europe as well. This is the so-called “mass” or
“mass culture”, average taste trend of the commercial industry, seeking to be not only attractive and accessible to all layers of society,
but also bearing profit for its performers and concert organisers.
Latin American Music became popular all around the world in
the 1930s at the same time a famous tango dancing appeared. The
music interlaces the melodic pattern of the ethnic music of the Southern Europids of the Iberian and Apennine Peninsula and the strict
and square rhythmic pattern of these Europids and Negroids. The
performers wear carnival clothes, which are loved in the countries of
the Latin America, sombrero hats, and use the stringed instruments
brought from the Mediterranean Sea region and the Iberian Peninsula by the Southern Europids – guitars, mandolas and their local varieties. Various rattles and flappers are used to support the rhythm.
Important Concepts
Big band
Disco
Ethnic music
Folk rock
Guitar
Heavy metal
Jazz
Latin American music
Mandolin
Pop music
Popular music
Progressive jazz
Rock
Rock-n-Roll
Sympho-jazz
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Melofolkloristics
Swing
Tango
World music
Tasks
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
When, where and on what basis did jazz occur?
When did rock emerge and who gave it its name?
What rock deviation emerged in Europe?
What do the performers of jazz, rock and pop wear?
Listen to various CD or DVD recordings of the world popular
music of the beginning of the 20–21th century or use Internet,
and determine the trend of the popular music.
6. Use various CD or DVD recordings of the world popular
music of the beginning of the 20–21th century or use Internet,
and determine, what kind of clothes the performers wear.
7. Which trend of the popular music is most related to the performance traditions of the ethnic music?
Recommended Literature
J. H. Kwabena Nketia (1974); Music in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2004); E. Southern (1983); The Musical Human. (2006)
References
1. Kunst J. Ethnomusicology. The Hague, 1959; Merriam A. P. The Anthropology of Music. Evanston, 1964; Czekanowska A. Etnografia muzyczna. Metodologia i metodyka.
Warszawa, 1971; Nettl B. The Study of Ethnomusicology. Urbana, 1983.
2. Čiurlionytė J. Lietuvių liaudies dainų melodikos bruožai. Vilnius, 1969; Aukštaičių
melodijos. Parengė Laima Burkšaitienė, Danutė Krikštopaitė, Vilnius, 1990.
3. Schneider M. Geschichte der Mehrstimmgheit, I. Berlin, 1934; Lomax A. Cantometric. Washington, 1983; Жордания И. М. Грузинское традиционное
многоголосие в международном контексте многоголосных культур (к
вопросу генезиса многоголосия). Тбилиси, 1989.
4. Apanavičius R. Etninė muzika ir žmonijos rasių išsiskyrimo teorija. Liaudies
kultūra, 1998, Nr. 2, p. 7–11.
5. Жордания И.М. Грузинское традиционное многоголосие…, c. 201–202,
215–216, 241–246, 277–278, 295–296; Народное многоголосие, этногенез и
расогенез. Советская этнография, 1988, N 2, c. 24–33.
6. Apanavičius R. Etninė muzika ir žmonijos rasių…; Baltosios rasės etninė muzika. Pietų europidai. Liaudies kultūra, 1998, Nr. 4, p. 9–12; Baltosios rasės etninė
muzika. Centrinės Europos europidai. Liaudies kultūra, 1998, Nr. 6, p. 17–20;
Baltosios rasės etninė muzika. Šiaurės europidai. Liaudies kultūra, 1999, Nr. 4,
p. 11–16.
7. Алексеев В. П. Человек: эволюция и таксономия (некоторые теоретические проблемы). Москва, 198, c. 282–283.
8. История Европы, I. Древняя Европа. Москва, 1988, c. 47.
9. История Европы, c. 35.
10. Ceramas K. Pirmasis amerikietis. Vilnius, 1986, p. 144.
11. Hannig B.R. Trumpa Vakarų muzikos istorija. Vilnius, 2000, p. 16–16.
12. Apanavičius R. Etnointonavimas. Tradicija ir novatoriškumas meninėje kūryboje.
Klaipėda, 1994, p. 38–40.
13. Жордания И. М. Грузинское традиционное многоголосие.., c. 239–241.
14. Y. Zhordanya considers heterophony to be a transitional sub-style. See: Жордания И. М. Грузинское традиционное многоголосие., c. 6.
15. Schneider M. Op. cit.
16. Жордания И. М. Грузинское традиционное многоголосие…
17 Picture 1–24: Apanavičius R. Etninė muzika. Teorijos klausimai. Darbai ir Die­
nos, 2001, t. 25, p. 7–38.
18. Багадуров В. А., Гарбузов Н. А., Зимин П. Н. и др. Музыкальная акустика. Общая редакция Н. А. Гарбузова. Москва, 1954, c. 16–18; Bičiūnas V.
Muzikinės akustikos pagrindai. Vilnius, 1988, p. 22–23.
19. Багадуров В. А. и др. Op. cit., c. 18, 184–185.
20. Apanavičius R. Etnointonavimas.
21. Expedition materials of 1992–1996 from the Institute of Ethnomusic. Archive of
the Institute of Ethnomusic.
22. Schneider M. Op. cit., S. 20.
23. Paliulis S. Daudyčių poveikis sutartinių muzikai. Muzika, 4. Vilnius, 1984, p. 87–95.
24. Zhordanya is also prone to explain parallelism by the influence of the academic
music.
115
Melofolkloristics
25. Čiurlionytė J. Op. cit., p. 296–311; Aukštaičių melodijos, p. 27–30.
26. Apanavičius R. Tautos kilmę praskleidžia etnomuzika. Darbai ir Dienos, 1995,
Nr. 1(10), p. 69–84.
27. Рюйтел И. Исторические пласты эстонской народной песни в контексте
этнических отношений. Таллин, 1994, c. 64.
28. Багадуров В. А. и др. Op. cit., c. 180 – 218; Bičiūnas V. Op. cit., p. 145–186.
29. Bičiūnas V. Op. cit., p. 180–181.
30. Багадуров В. А. и др. Op. cit., c. 193.
31. Bičiūnas V. Op. cit., p. 180–186.
32. Apanavičius R. Baltosios rasės etninė muzika. Pietų europidai.
33. Despite the fact that contemporary research of cultural studies avoids using the
term race, the comparison of ethnic music features and their distribution worldwide showed that such features are mostly related to racial diversity.
34. Алексеев В. П. Op. cit., c. 282–283.
35. История Европы, I., c. 49 – 65.
36. Meyers Konversationslexikon. Bibliographishes Institut & F. A. Brokhaus AG. 4th
ed., 1885–92 omline. Maps from Meyers Konversationslexikon //www.familypedia.wikia.com/…/Category:…
37. Šimonytė-Žarskienė R. Skudučiavimas šiaurės rytų Europoje – totemistinės
pasaulėžiūros reliktas? Baltijos regiono muzika. Žurnalo „Tiltai“ priedas, 2001,
Nr. 8, p. 72–81.
38. Алексеев В. П. Op. cit., c. 82–83.
39. Жордания И. М. Грузинское традиционное многоголосие…, c. 270–271.
40. Kwabena Nketia J. H. The Music of Africa. New York, 1974, p. 94.
41. Gansemans J., Smidt-Wrenger B. Zentralafrika. Muzikgeschichte in Bildern, 9.
Leipzig, 1986, S. 172–173.
42. Apanavičius R. Baltosios rasės etninė muzika. Pietų europidai.
43. Šventasis Raštas. Senasis ir Naujasis Testamentas. Vertimas iš hebrajų, aramėjų
ir graikų kalbų. Vilnius, 1998, p. 287.
44. Apanavičius R. Baltosios rasės etninė muzika. Centrinės Europos europidai.
45. Boiko M. Sutartiņu pēdas Lātvijā. Latviešu muzika, 18. Rīga, 1989, l. 64–110.
46. Lietuvių liaudies instrumentinė muzika. Pučiamieji instrumentai. Sudarė ir
paruošė Stasys Paliulis. Vilnius, 1959.
47. Apanavičius R. Baltosios rasės etninė muzika. Šiaurės europidai.
48. Rimantienė R. Akmens amžius Lietuvoje. Vilnius, 1984, p. 284–290; Gimbutienė
M. Baltai priešistoriniais laikais. Etnogenezė, materialinė kultūra ir mitologija.
Vilnius, 1985, p. 46–56.
49. Apanavičius, R., Motuzas A. Lietuvių sutartinių regionas: muzikinės kultūros
sąveikos su dirvožemio bei paviršinių uolienų danga mįslė. Lituanistica, 2010,
t. 56, Nr. 1–4 (79–82), p. 129–143.
50. Apanavičius R. Šiaurės Lietuvos kultūros paveldas, III. Etninė muzika. Kaunas,
2009, p. 337.
51. Southern E. The Music of Black Americans. Second Edition. New York–London,
1983, p. 361.
52. Avramecs B., Muktupāvels V. Pasaulio muzika. Vilnius, 2000, p. 270–271.
116
Description of Concepts
Academic Music
Professional music created by known or unknown composers according to the rules of creation of music of a particular era.
Agogics
Changes of the tempo in performance of the music compositions.
Ainu
The Mongoloid Asian nation of an unknown origin living on the Hokkaido Island in the north of Japan and in the mouths of the Amur
River in Russia. It has the features of the anthropological types of both
the Europids and the Australoids.
Americanoids
The local race of the Great Yellow Race living in the North and South
America, also referred to as Indians.
Anhemitonics
The modes without semitones. The semitones are either omitted or the
intervals of the whole tones or close to whole tones are continuously
formed between the sounds.
Anthropology
The science studying the human origin and development. Physical anthropology researches biological human peculiarities, while cultural
and social anthropology – peculiarities of the lifestyle and environment.
Archaeology
The science studying the lifestyle and culture of prehistoric humanity
based on excavations.
Augmented Second
An interval between the tones of the acoustic scale larger than the
major second (200 ct), and smaller than the minor third (300 ct); comprises approximately 250 ct.
Australoids
A local race of the Great Black Race living in the South-east Asia, Australia and Oceania.
117
Melofolkloristics
Black Race
The Great Race of humanity, referred to as the Negroids, living in Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania.
Contrapuntal Polyphony
A style of the ethnic and academic music, when several vocal or instrumental voices are heard.
Diatonics
A type of a mode, when the tones forming the melody sound practically in a row, without avoiding or omitting any intervals.
Drone
Variety of polyphony, when one or two voices leading the melody are
continuously accompanied by a larger group of singers using a strong
long voice.
Eastern Racial Stock
The Eastern source of origin of the races of humanity, which could be
located in Asia.
Eights
Intervals between the tones forming in the highest space of the overtones
of the acoustic scale equal to one eighth of the set tone according to the
temperament system – 200 cents. Comprises approximately 25 cents.
Ethnic Culture
Traditional culture of humanity, peculiarities of the lifestyle and existence, and customs.
Ethnic History
History of traditional culture of humanity determined according to
the historic sources, archives, and data acquired from the museums
and during expeditions.
Ethnic Music
Traditional music of humanity, passed on from generation to generation as cultural heritage.
Ethnomusicology
The science studying traditional music of humanity. Also referred to
as music anthropology, music ethnology and music folkroristics.
Europids
Representatives of the Great White Race.
118
Melofolkloristics
Facture
Peculiarities of arrangements of the voices in the music compositions
of the ethnic and academic music.
Fourths
Intervals created between the tones in the highest area of the overtones of the natural acoustic scale, which are equal to one fourth of
a tone established in accordance with the temperament system – 200
cents. It comprises approximately 50 cents.
Great Races
The races of humanity separated from the Western and Eastern Racial
Stock. It is believed that the Europids and Negroids separated from
the western stock while the Mongoloids from the eastern one.
Harmony
Sequence of distribution of the accords of the academic polyphonic
music.
Yellow Race
The Great Race of humanity, also referred to as the Mongoloids, living
in Asia, Europe and America.
Jazz
A style of popular music, which emerged in the USA in the beginning
of the XX century from the ethnic music of the Negroids and religious
songs, the spirituals, including the elements of the ethnic music of the
Europids as well.
Linguistics
The study of the origin and development of a language.
Local Races
Parts of the great race of humanity, which have not only the unifying
common features, but also apparent differences, which however are
not greater than the similarities.
Major
A type of a mode based on the prevalence of an interval of the major
third – approximately 600 ct – in a melody of a so called “happy”
nature.
Melody
Distribution of the tones according to a certain order and meaning.
119
Melofolkloristics
Mesolithic
The Middle Stone Age.
Minor
A type of a mode based on the prevalence of an interval of the minor
third – approximately 500 ct – in a melody of a so called “sad” nature.
Mongoloids
The representatives of the Great Yellow Race.
Monody
The style of the ethnic and academic music, when independent of the
number of performers, one vocal or instrumental voice is present.
Monophony
A variety of monody, when one or several voices performing a melody
do not separate from it.
Music of Latin America
A trend of popular music, which emerged in the III – IV decade of the
XX century in the Latin America – countries speaking Spanish and
Portuguese.
Negroids
The representatives of the Great Black Race.
Neolithic
The New Stone Age.
Overtone
A side-tone of the natural acoustic scale, which is formed when the
main tone is played.
Palaeolithic
The Old Stone Age.
Parallelism
A variety of polyphony, when the second or third leading voice echoes
the leading voice of the melody along all its curves.
Pentatonism
A type of modes, when in the melody based on five tones the intervals
of the overtones are avoided by omission.
Polyphony
A variety of contrapuntal polyphony with independent continuously
repeated voices.
120
Melofolkloristics
Pontic Type
An ancient remnant anthropological type of the Europids found in
the Balkans and Caucasus. The features of this type are present in the
Carpathians and the South-east Lithuania.
Pop Music
Popular music – a trend of popular music formed in the 1970–1980s.
Pre-bar
An unstressed tone before the stressed strong part of the rhythm of a
melody – the so called beat.
Progressive Jazz
A deviation of the post-WWII jazz, which melted together the features
of other streams of the popular music.
Racial Stock
Theoretically speculated source of origin of the races of humanity.
Rhythm
The regular or irregular patterns of arrangement and development of
the melodies of the music compositions.
Rock
A trend of popular music, which emerged in the USA in 1950s. Otherwise referred to as rock’n’roll.
Sequence
Repetition of the melody or a part of the melody at a different height.
Temperament
Even arrangement of the intervals between the tones forming the
melodies.
The Bronze Age
The age following the Neolithic of the New Stone Age, when humanity
learnt to make tools and jewellery of bronze. Also referred to as the
Copper Age.
Western Racial Stock
The western source of origin of the race of humanity, which could be
located in Asia, South-east Europe and North-east Africa.
White Race
The Great Race of humanity, also referred as the Europids, living in
Asia, North Africa and Europe.
121
Recommended Literature
Apanavičius R.
Monody and Polyphony of Ethnic Music: Problems of Beginning. Mūzikas
zinātne šodien: pastāvīgais un mainīgais: Zinātnisko rakstu krājums.
Daugavpils: Saule, 2010, p. 7–15.
Problems of determining of the historical periods of emerging of the
most characteristic features of the world‘s ethnis music. Mūzikas
zinātne šodien: pastāvīgais un mainīgais: Zinātnisko rakstu krājums.
Daugavpils: Saule, 2009, p. 153–161.
Lithuanian Polyphonic Sutartinės: Problems of Chronology. Vēsture: Avoti
un Cilvēki. Vēsture XII. Proceedings of the 18th International Scientific
Readings of the Faculty of Humanities. History XII. Daugavpils: Saule,
2009, l. 9–15 (2009a).
Ethnic Music of the Balts and Slavs: Is it the Relic of the Neighbourhood or
Common origin? Ethnic Culture: Traditions and Innovations. Kaunas:
Vytautas Magnus University, 2004, p. 27–32.
Ethnic Music of Northern Europides in the Context of the Ethnic Music of
the Human Races. Tiltai, 2000. Nr. 4, p. 137–143.
Kwabena Nketia J. H.
The Music of Africa. New York, 1974
Merriam A. P.
The Anthropology of Music. Evanston, 1964
Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopaedic History.
University of Texas Press. Vol. 1, 2004
Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopaedic History.
University of Texas Press. Vol. 2, 2006
Nettl B.
The Study of Ethnomusicology. Thirty-one Issues and Concepts. Urbana
and Chicago, 2006
Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė D.
Sutartinės. Lithuanian Polyphonical Songs. Vilnius, 2002
Southern E.
The Music of Black Americans. Second Edition. New York–London, 1983
The Musical Human: Rethinking John Blacking‘s Ethnomusicology in the
Twenty – First Century. Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2006
World Music in Context: A Comprehensive Survey of the World‘s major
Musical Cultures. OUP USA, 2005
122