New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-06-21
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.
FoLK-soNGS AND THE PHoNoGRAPH.

II is 10 be hoped that this is only the hrst OF d
lonp series of volumes that shall cover she entire
field Of aboriginal American lore. There VIII come
n time OF reflection when to the general public as
well as 10 the scholar in his closet everything oaO
has been said in candor and truth about the Amer
lean Indian will be Of the deepest inierest-a t.ie
when the hatred Of the frontiersman VIII give
place TO a calm Judgment on the remarkable CIVIL
ization so full of thought, of curious usages, OF
primitive wisdom which the AnglC-Saxon still calls
savagery. Dr. Fewkes has made good beginning
His study of the dances and religious ceremonias
az Zuni Pueblo bears every mark of the utmost
care in observation and description. But by far
the most valuable part Of this volume has result
ed from his attempts 10 reproduce the songs which
regulated the movements Of the dancers.
Though the effort which he has made to pro-
vide students OF primitive aboriginal or folk music
with material for study must be set down as purely
tentative the chapter in his record devoted 10 Iuni
melodies is extremely interesting. The study Oh
folk-muso, which will doubtless some day con-
tribute significant share TO chronological deter
minatiOn, if ii is not recognized as most abe
handmade of philology is yet in its infancy, ana
the few who have undertaken TO lay the founda-
ton for what may become new science have been
greatly embarrassed by the paucity and untrust-
worthiness Of materials. Unusual faculties are
required to collect data In this field The gift OF
absolute pitch it is called, that is the ability TO
recognize the degree of gravity or acuteness of
given sound independently Of its relationship to
other sounds is the possession Of the few even
among professional musicians 1t would be the
most valuable factor in the outfit OF an ideal col
ector Of savage music, but since it is denied to the
vast majority Of musicians. creative as we'll as
executive, it is not likely to be among the pos
sessions Of ordinary travellers and 1nvestl-
gators sufficient knowledge of the theory
of the art to enable correctly TO write down
a melody after hearing 1t is almost as rare. and
even this knowledge is embarrassed in the pres
ence of melodies which can not be brought into
consonance with the rules Of the occidental art.
There are evidences in the record before us that
a species of this embarrassment confronted DIR.
Fewkes's collaboration in the musical department
Of his study. Mr. BENJAMIN Ives Gilman, Of Cam
bridge. who found that working under circum-
stances far more favorable than ever folk-music
investigator worked before he was yet at loss
at times how to determine the pitch of a sound
or how 10 record it, To explain what we mean
by this. we must state that instead of trusting to
his faculties. DR.. Fewkes used the phono-
graph to capture and record the music which he
wished TO subject 10 special study. This sub
stitution Of a scientific method for the frequently
inefficient methods that have obtained heretofore
is quite interesting an element in the study as
the results which have been recorded. Unfortu-
natrly Dr. Fcwkcs seems at the outset to have
overlooked the fact that absolute fidelity of re-
production could only be secured by absolute
synchronism in the revolution of the cylinder in
the two processes making the record and giving
il ont. He used treadle motor when the
Zunians sang into his instrument, and for the sake
of seadincss Mr.. Gilman used electric motor
when listening to the songs and transcrbng them.
IL was found that increase in the number Of rev.
olutiOns rendered the sounds moro acute. and this
fact in spite of Mr.. Gilmans carefully recorded eX-
periments will furnish food for the sccptic when he
discovers that popularity OF this music which we
can not recall in any other savage music is fire.
quent shifting Of pitch up and down semtone or
less The fact that in each instance the harmonic in
tervals most frequently used in the melodies are
unchanged by this strange shifting, and that in
most cases the new pitch or key is maintained
until the end Of period, would seem to indicate
that the popularity is inherent in the music.
but the element of uncertainty introduced by
the use Of the treadle motor remains to challenge
the value of the record.
But that is not the greatest embarrassment met
by Mr.. Gilman. He too, was unwilling to trust
entirely his musical faculties, and so in TRANSCRIPT
ing the songs as they were reproduced by the
phOnograph he called in the aid Of harmOnium.
lie did not undertake to determine tOnalities,
but recorded each note individually. treating the
white keys as representatives Of the diatonc
scale of C-maior, and the black keys shsrps.
In six Of the nine songs he discovered that the
photograph gave out sounds not to be found in
either his diatonic or chromatic series Of tones
These Emergencies he has indicated in his tran
scrptiOn by noting the nearest interval found in
the scale OF the hamonium and modifying il
vaguely with the word "sharpcd' or fatted," as
the case might be. Here ii is that the uncertainty
Of the photographic record is most 70 he deplored.
If these temporary alterations from the chro-
matte scale at the basis of our music are not due
to mechanical causes they would seem to prove the
use by the Zunians Of intervals smaller than our
semi-tones, and thus establish, measurably at
least q relationship with the music Of the Maories
of New-Zealand and the cannbals Of the Marque-
sas Islands. in which smaller intervals than the
semitone are employed, or even HndoO. and
Arabic music and the trichords in the enharmOnic
genus of the ancient Greeks in which semi
tones split into halves. This would have
an interesting bearing on the evolution Of the
modern scale which, because Of its mathematical
properties hasty writer's have for so long set down
as the scale Of nature. 1t would also throw light
on the possible future of music when composers
will begin 10 long for other harmonic and melodo
combinations than are possible under the dominion
of the chromatic scale We think the presence of
smaller intervals than the SemitOne in the music of
Zuni extremely likely and il it was not pro-
duced by local causes in the phonoCrnph. we
would incline to the belief that an
effective use Of the quartertone by the Zunians
is as an intermediary in the shifting of pitch al
ready alluded to- The second song noted by
Mr.. Gilman opens in the key Of b but changes
after few Of the ambiguous tones TO B-fat.
Mr. Gilmans conclusion after study of the
melodies is that they are. strictly speaking, not
based on such q law Of music as we call scale.
what we have in these melodies" he writes. 4" is
the musical growths out of which scales are elabo-
rated. and not compositions undertaken In
formity to norms Of interval order already fixed
in the consciousness of singers" The statement