Rhythm

It is easiest to understand song, which originally was only part of the movement of the entire body, as "throat dance". It is the change of raising and lowering the limbs, of tension and relaxation of muscles that divides the sound phenomenona accompanying them: thus rhythmic motives arise which obtain firmness and regularity through repetition. Their characteristics necessarily have to be in harmony with the general motor behaviour of the race. This characteristic with its deep psychological roots is just as easy to recognize when looking at individuals in motion as when listening to their songs. But it is almost impossible to describe it in words; and if we wish to characterize the living entity we witness when mentally participating in the movement, by pointing out isolated features, we inevitably dissolve it and can not expect that anybody else should be able to reunite these parts to the original whole. And yet, analysis is the only possibility to follow the similarities and dissimilarities found in the immediate general impression into details, to prove their existence and communicate them to others. Yet, it should always be kept in mind that analysis is an emergency which can complete but not replace perception.

With the Fuegians as with other Indians not only the dances but also the songs have the same character of a grave, pathetic, impressive stride. The ring dance around a center -usually the fireplace- where one foot steps out and is brought down heavily, while the other is drawn after and placed near the first one with a similar (although less heavy) accent, may be considered as particularly characteristic. With the Selk'nam for example this is the traditional dance of the medicine men, at their festival gathering (pes‚re) as well as at the weather dance. (10) In the songs too the principal time values follow upon one another in a moderate, strictly constant tempo, each starting out with a more or less pronounced accent and decreasing strength while it lasts: thus the meter is essentially falling (trochaic). This basic rhythmic feature explains a whole series of details.

1. Meter:

With us the bar-line imports that the following beat is the heaviest of the group (strong beat). If one wished to use bar-lines in this sense with Indian melodies, every unit of time should be preceded by one, with the indication of 1/4 or 1/2 (see especially Y. 17, 18). (11) Consequently the number of units within a group can change without essential changes of the unique musical character of the motive. Thus "bar" b in Y. 10 may contain 3 or 2 or only I unit, 'bar" a 3, 4 or 5 units. Similarly in H. 37 the groups of generally 4 units may be shortened to 3 or 2 units or even lengthened by units placed in before or after. By lengthening the end the only motive of H. 29 is lengthened from 2 to 3 or 4 units, the motive of § 43 is widened by repetition of its beginning. Such "change of meter" does not only occur in the form of arbitrary variants in the repetitions, we also meet with it as a fixed form within the stanza. A time-value may be added in the beginning of the stanza (Y. 3, 6, 13) or half-stanza (Y. I4), at the end (Y. I5, 24; S. 39, 41) or at either place (Y. IO, I2). But even otherwise these motives are often lengthened (Y. 4: bar 3 versus bar I; Y. I: bar 3 of the half-stanza; Y. I6: second part versus first part) or rhythmically lengthened (Y 5: bar 2 versus bar I; see especially H. 33 the -only- motive C of the second part versus those of the first).

2. Due to the trochaic basic character of the rhythm there is no "up-beat" in our sense of the word which implies a lifting before the bar-line and a failing upon the heavy beat to an iambic. That the initial lengthenings -as in Y. 6, 12 but even in 10- have to be considered as introductory bars but not "up-beats" is besides the accent proved by the fact that they always comprise a whole unit of time, while the real up-beat -cf. Y. 26!-only makes use of a short fraction of the unit or at any rate sets in upon a weak beat and tends towards the principal accent. (Probably even the e in S. 44 should not be considered as an up-beat.)

3. The dynamic downward trend during the basic unit of time leads to characteristic rhythmic formations which sharply contrast our own habits and need a change of attitude on our behalf to be grasped correctly. While we in subdivisions have a tendency to lengthen the accented tone upon the "heavy beat", that is to make out of the Indian rhythm has a directly opposed tendency, to turn into a form which we easily misinterpret as syncope. The shortening sharpens the accent of the beat and gives even the "back-beat" an accessory accent; often a breathing space is inserted between the two (e. g. beginning of Y. 9). This type of movement dominates the rhythm to an extent which makes a regular division in twos seem like a weakening of the irregular. (12) Naturally this principle controls the structure of the greater units too, even they have to be considered in the same way: a motive consisting of three units like bar 3 of Y. 4 really only has two grouplets (1 + 2). How far the "down-beat" can be shortened is shown by the motive in Y. 12, bars 3 and 4, which forms grouplets of 1 + 5.

If we consider our time signatures not as simple registrations of beats (which is of no importance) but as types of rhythmic formations, it will have to be stated that our 3/4 meter -with its pattern of -does not occur with the Fuegians whose pattern is . (13)

Form (Structure)

a₁a₁a₂|a₁a₁a₂||a₁a'₁a'₂|a'₁a'₁a'₂

This two-part subdivision is carried even further in S. 39: already she motives themselves are grouped in 2 X 2 - a₁ = a₂ = -, they only differ in the end which is lengthened like a pause with two quarter-notes in a1 the two together form the verse and this verse, repeated four times, the stanza, the end of which is marked by a final point (=initial tone?). The structure of Y. I is rather similar: if the motive amplified to 6/8 is considered as an equivalent of the two preceding ones of 2 X 2/8 together, the scheme of the double verse will be as follows:

a₁a₁|a₂||a'₁a'₁|a₂,

and at the end of the stanza we again find the final point. Y. 7 is constructed of exact multiplications of 2. (14) If one disregards the (erroneous?) shortening of verse 2 by leaving out the second half bar, Y. 27 offers a particularly striking example. But in many other examples too (Y. 4, 5, 13, 14, 25, 24; H. 31, 35, 30) the verse divides into two, through shifting or variation of more or less contrasting halves of the motive, which can often be subject to further subdivisions towards 2, if the fact that even three-part groups are grouped in twos and that lengthening can always take place through adding beats before or after, is considered.

Even most of the other songs show a tendency towards a division into twos. At first glance of course the verse in Y. 2 seems to divide up into three parts, but on closer scrutiny the 2^e and 3^e third of the the verse prove to be equivalents of the first two motives ("bars"), and merely extended to double length (scheme: a₁a₂| B₁ B₂). Similar' in Y. 3, 6, 8, a pair of motives balances the first motive. (Y. 23 on the other hand rather seems to be the result of shortening a form like Y. 13.)

These cases might be considered as the influence of the basic rhythmic principle: the accented first is shortened, the unaccented is lengthened In some cases of course we even witness shortening within the stanza Thus Y. 9 may be considered as divided into 2 X 2 motive pairs the first group being lengthening by a introductory motive and the!z two last ones shortened:

(a₀| a₁ b₁ | a₂ b₂||c b₂ | c b'₂).

In Y. 15 the second group of the first phrase is lengthened by a final point, but the second phrase only brings this second group (in transposition); the first phrase is repeated three times, the second only twice.

We seldom find a pure division into three sections: In Y. II the two-part motive is shifted downwards in three stairs and contracted. In S. 44 the initial tone is sharpened by an accent in every third motive, but the motive itself is in two parts (6/8). In S. 38 a three-part verse is the result of the main motive twice repeated (in 2 X 2/4), with the addition of a shorter motive (2/4) as a kind of final point; but only at the second repetition of the verse the stanza is actually closed through a low tone and a rest.-H. 33 begins in three parts, but then it comes to a strange "augmentation" (!) of the motive and its in the beginning somewhat muddled structure takes on a clear two-part form.

The relatively complicated structure of H. 37 deserves particular attention. Essentially the division is in two parts: the normal form of the motives consists of four quarter-notes, the motives are joined in pairs, their second part (r) giving a refrain-like answer to the first; as a rule two pairs of motives form a verse and there again the second part (C) remains unchanged; every stanza consists of two verses. The pairs of motives are distinguished by the pitch of the initial part: A moves around the principal tone (c), B is lowered to it from the upper second, C from the third. Pairs B and C are often even preceded by a - up-beat-like! - motive which, even weaker than A lowers the level with a semitone and thus by enlarging the leap, augments the weight of B and C. This motive in triple meter never varies and even A retains its normal length of four quarter-notes. On the other hand B and C are often shortened ;) 3/4 (B^-, C^-), B on one occasion to 2/4 (A^--), r is shortened once (r^-), and lengthened to once 5/4 (r ⁺), once 6/4 (r⁺⁺) and at the same time accented by sharpening the initial tone (as in C). The stanzas in the phonographic record give the scheme:

Evidently weakening abbreviations are heaped up at the beginning, fortifying moments - prolongation, up-beat (e), sharpening (C, ^cr) - at the end of this (apparently 4-stanza) whole, as well as within every stanza and half-stanza. This tendency to intensify is entirely alien to Fuegian rhythm, it is diametrically opposed to the trochaic basic principle of the Indian type of movement. In spite of the downward trend of its motives, in spite of the amplifying of the range upwards - characteristic of Fuegian melody as compared with that of other Indians - European influence was without doubt exercised upon this song, as clearly testified by a number of other circumstances - the fifth range, enormous for the canoe-farig tribes, the "oily" delivery etc.

European influence

We learn from Agostini (15) that soon after they got settled, the missionaries recruited a small orchestra which played at patriotic festivals in Punta Arenas. What and on what instruments, we do not know. But the note proves how easily primitives and especially Fuegians with their talent for imitation absorb our music. This does not necessarily mean that they immediately renounce their own but the process of change is usually very swift, swifter than the explorer might cope with. In the beginning own and alien can stand side by side, clearly divided; but even this has its dangers, as the imported melodies almost inevitably tinge the autochtonous ones. No wonder that this influence is even more noticeable with the Yamana who were missionized so long ago, (16) than in the above analyzed Halakwulup song (H. 37). It seems significant that this influence is chiefly noticeable in profane songs. One of them, Y. 26, I should almost like to consider as a "yamanized" European (German?) folk song, a close relative to e; g. "Kuckuck, Kuckuck, ruft's aus dem Wald". The -genuine- up-beat, the -genuine- 6/8 rhythm, the thirds (d-h) which form a major triad with the principal tone (g) are all European. The shiftings of the rhythm in the second half clearly show that it did not suit the singers. Probably even the ending upon "the second step" is an adaptation to Fuegian customs. Even the third steps in 25, in the animal dance song II (which as or its melody resembles 25) and especially in the second half of 27 seem suspect. In a Yamana song recorded by Furlong the rising leading tone is narrowed to a semitone (no. 13), in another the men's chorus - same as in H. 35 - sounds like the parody of hymn singing in a small provincial community.

But at any rate, so far Europeanisms in Fuegian songs are still too isolated to dim the general aspect. Yet, undoubtedly, it is in the eleventh hour that authentic material has been set down in phonographic records.

Next page	INDEX:	Lenguas y culturas de Chile
Introduction	Musical characterization	Voice-quality and manner of singing. - Tempo	Melody
Range and number of steps	Tonal relationship	Tonal structure	Melodic movement
Rythm	Form (structure)	European influence	The position of music in culture
Kind of songs	Sound instruments	Conclusions	Bibliography