|
Fuegian music is conspicuous for its narrowness: a pair of notes at a distance of about a whole tone normally forms the motives and frequently the whole song (Y. 1-6, 20, 24; H. 28-34). It even happens that a song (Y. 16, 22) or its most important part (H. 36) is the result of a "lightening" of a single tone, following the fluctuations of dynamic stress. The dynamic of accentuating and of dropping syllables on weak beats are general reasons for tonal differentiating and amplifying of range. This is clearly shown by different variants: according to the strength of the accent a sharpening may or may not take place at the same place in the melody (beginning of Y. 9). In the same motive the differentiation may be distinct or hardly noticeable (Y. 6: h a, and immediately after h h). In one of the recordings of no. 1 (K. 6) the lowering of the weak notes hardly attains a semitone and often does not take place at all. It will hardly be wrong to consider even two tone melodies as fluctuations of a single tone due to accent: the rhythmic structure which is the indispensable basis of all musical formation and even in the case of "one-tone" melodies involuntarily involves tonal nuances, becomes more marked if the singer gives way to the natural tendency to sharpen or flatten the tone simultaneously with its growing weaker or stronger. (Even our own singers have to learn how to overcome the physiological correlation) of increasing volume and sharpening, or their voluntary compensation. Aboriginal singers are of course unable to do this.) It will depend upon the strength of the accent, but also upon odd circumstances and personal predilections how far apart the principal tone and the second tone in such cases will be from each other. Thus the range of a second will often be diminished to a semitone (Y. 17;. H. 3o) or enlarged beyond the whole tone, without making any difference from the point of view of melodic entity. From the point of view of their function often intervals which we hear (and write) as "thirds" are actually "seconds": amplifying of the steps like in the stanza close of Y. I7-I9 do not increase the number of "steps of the scale". Even Y. 21 only seems to be a three-tone melody, due to the fact that the principal tone h through an accent has been sharpened to c before its transition into the lower second a.
This at any rate might be considered as one of the first signs of a transition to three-tone melodies, even this differentiation being a product of accent: the initial accent sharpens the higher tone of an essentially two-tone melody, thus creating a third step with the function of a leading tone: it seems significant that the range of the leading tone is narrower than the step between the two principal tones (Y. 8, 9). In the same way the descent upon a weak syllable of a two-tone melody may add a lower toneðas an alternating note to the lower principal tone (Y. 7). These two factors combined can turn essentially two-tone melodies into four-tone ones (Furlong no. 12).
Besides the dynamic accents even the rhythm of the whole can differentiate the pitch of tone in the subdivisions of a motive. Already in many two-tone melodies the center of gravity in the first half of the stanza falls upon one of the principal tones -according to the initial accent usually the higher one- while it is shifted over to the other tone in the second half of the melody (Y. 4-7; cf. even Y. 10, motive a with b). In two-tone melodies the range of the shift depends upon the range of the step within the motive; but as yet range and number of steps are not increased, only the weight proportions of the two tones are shifted (Y. 4-6). Usually from the motive point of view the two parts are very similar, often nothing but variants of the same motive. If the motive forms a firm whole even from the point of view of tonal differentiation, it will follow the shifting of the level unchanged and thus the range and ;:umber of tones of the whole melody will be changed: two step motives form three-tone melodies (Y. 7, 12, 14; H. 34, 35), three-step motives form four-tone melodies (Y. 13, 23, 25; Furlong no. 12). Even a repeated shifting of level may take place (Y. 15, 11). Psychologically the amplifying of the range through shifting the motive has to be considered as a higher achievement than by means of accent; it presupposes that more enlarged formations like motives and half verses are considered as solid complex units, thus overcoming that "narrowness of conscience" manifested in the short breathed themes of certain Yamana songs (1-3, 17-20) and most of the Halakwulup (28-34). Even other phenomena point in the same direction.
The basis of all tonal organization is the tone step, the transition from a tone to a neighbouring lighter or darker one. At first the range of this step is practically unlimited; as for steps immediately following each other in the same direction their range proportions are controlled by a psychological law. When it comes to tone steps there is actually that quality of the tones to be considered which changes in parallel with the incitement frequency and which in more recent psychology is termed "lightening" (Helligkeit) as contrasted with that other upon which the similarity of octaves (fifths, fourths) and consonance are based ("Tonigkeit"). As everywhere else, this phenomen may even be observed with the Fuegians, when men and women sing together in a chorus: according to the range of their voices they sing in octaves (Y. 24 and others) or in fifths (Y. I3, I4) -but they mean to sing in unison and are probably entirely unconscious of their not singing in unison. (Real polyphony is not found anywhere in America.) The similarity of tones which here unifies the consonant bichords is even noticeable in the melodic progressions when the range is amplified. The narrowest interval of high degree of consonance, the fourth, the first one to be expected, is actually found in Fuegian songs as a factor of decisive influence upon intonation. Thus the second downwards in Y. 7 is enlarged to an "augmented second" (-minor third), probably due to the fact that the singer is still conscious of the upper principal tone with which the lowest tone now forms a fourth. Similarly in Y. 11 the singer from the high initial tone (c) through an intermediate tone (h) advances to the lower fourth (g), although the melody like so many others (cf. e. g. Y. 8, 9, 12) could just as well be kept within the frame of the minor third (c-a). When the motive is shifted in Y. 25 the minor third is enlarged to a major third and vice versa in Y. 13, 23 and in the second half of Y. 27 the motive shrinks from whole tone + whole tone to whole tone + semitone, so that the frame-tones of the melody again form a fourth (and no tritone!). These examples will perhaps permit the conclusion that the tonality of the first level is not simply left behind when shifting, but that its after effects in the conscience of the singer force him to adapt the tonality of the second level to the same so as to make both parts unite in a whole. In 14 this entity, if the melody might be interpreted in the same sense (?), would comprise almost the whole stanza ð a rather impressive achievement for the "narrow conscience" of a primitive!
It seems strange that fourths and fifths as melodic intervals do not occur at all in the present songs of the Yamana and only once in those of the Halakwulup (at the end of 36), while the medicine men of the Selk'nam seem to have a certain predilection for it (39; Furlong 2, 6, 7, 9; also 44). If this is not due to simple hazard in the choice of songs and singers it should be considered as a characteristic of the Yamana and Halakwulup style.
Tonal structure:
The organization of melodic movement is defined by the function of the tones. This can be rather manifold already in the simplest two- and three-tone songs. According to the weight lent to them by accent (strength, pitch, persistance) and frequency (repetition of tone) tones are divided into principal and accessory tones. The principal tone - the "tonic" of the melody- fixes the level which the melody leaves only to return to it presently. The deviation can take place downwards (e. g. in Y. I, 17) or upwards (e.g. in Y. 18; H. 32) or even in both directions (e.g. in Y. 13; S. 44). Principal and accessory tones can be connected with each other in three different ways: I) on a weak, unaccented beat the melody deviates to the accessory tone and immediately returns to the principal tone ("alternating note" e. g. in Y. I); 2) the movement glides into the accessory tone, which seems to be a kind of appendix to the principal tone ("Nachschlag", Y. 17; "Abton", Y. 18, "Aufton"); 3) the accessory tone leads to the principal tone ("Vorschlag", "leading tone" Y. 3, beginning; H. 28; S. 44 e "upbeat"). It should be noted that the up-beat although tonally weak, need not be unaccented; on the contrary dynamically accented upbeats on the strong beat are very frequent in all Indian songs. In the first place the functional relation of tones only principally concerns a certain motive or part of melody, it can change and can even be reversed within the same melody. Thus in the first half verse of Y. 4 a is the alternating note to the principal note h, in the second half verse h up-beat (leading tone) to the principal tone a. Thus it is often very difficult to decide which tone should be considered as tonic of the entire melody. In the preceding example one might conceive the whole first part in h as a stressed suspension which finds its resolution in a at the end of the stanza, but the close of the whole song -after all repetitions of the stanza in h contradicts this (The tonic is just as doubtful in e. g. 5, 35. Where the close is not expressedly marked, as by the pause in Y. 2, one can never be sure whether it is not simply the phonographic record that is ended). Decision is easier when a principal tone is accompanied by one upper and one lower accessory tone (Y. 8, 9, 27 first half; H. 35). But the final tone of the whole song in Y. 12 shows that even here there is room for doubt.
The melodies enlarged through shifting of motives do not present any new problems as far as their tonal structure is concerned. Characteristic of Fuegian songs and their narrowness is a certain lability of the function of tones which we because of their approximately -and sometimes only apparently- similar pitch denote with the same note. Apart from fluctuating intonation these songs have no "scale" in which certain steps once and for all could be fixed as weak accessory or "passing tones" (cf. a in S. 40) while certain others would be permanently united in a hierarchic system of graduated principal tones.
Melodic movement:
The downward trend of the melodic movement is a well-known feature of all primitive peoples and especially of the Indians. Even Fuegian melodies are characterized by this feature, but by no means in as clear and dominating a manner as with the other tribes of the American continent. Typical Indian melodies usually start on the highest tone and fall with each motive, continuing from motive to motive until they die away on the lowest tone. In the songs of the Fuegians there are few traces of this melodic style (Y. II; Furlong S. 9), in its pure form it does not occur at all. Here the narrow frame puts natural limits to the proportions of the downward trend. Undoubtedly the downward movement may be considered a rule at the beginning of the stanzas and motives and even when shifting motives; but there are exceptions. Many of them can be considered as some of the customary up-beat formations of the Indians (Y. 10, 25) notwithstanding the general downward trend. In other cases the upward deviation is essential to the initial motive (Y.27; H.32, 33, 35). And finally in a Yamana medicine man's song (18) and in one of the Selk'nam's (39) the motives simply consist in gliding upward from the principal tone, in increasing range towards the end of the stanza (18). Even in other songs we find this "rise" towards the close (Y. 17, 19) or immediately before the closes of the subdivisions (Y. 21; H. 35). We even find shifting of motives upward, at fixed points (Y. 27) or through the whole stanza (Y. 15). It is far more frequent that the stanza, even in melodies with a decidedly downward trend, does not end upon the lowest lone but returns to the higher principal tone -e.g. at the two-tone melodies- than the opposite. The upward trend manifested in all these phenomenona and their contrast to the musical habits of all other Indians are apparently essential to Fuegian music.
|
 INDEX: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HTML y diagramación: |
|
Contactos 
Next page
Lenguas y culturas de Chile