New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-07-06
AFRO AMERICAN Fol KSONGS-A STUDY OF MUSIC OF NEGROES

man life struggle and death an evan.
present though lot necessarily terrifyl,s
contemplation.
That geographical and climatic conn.
items are OF the only determining fae.
tors in the choice Of modes Is eyidsn.
however. from the case Of Russia. wh,cs
extends over nearly 30 degrees OF lau-
tude and has so great variety Of c,,-
mate that the statement that the ma,
temperature varies from % degrees Fair.
enheit at Archangel to IS degrees a,
Kutais. In, the Caucasus. conveys only Ar
imperfect notion Of the climatic var,a.
bility OF the country. Yet the mimi,
mode is dominant even IN the Ukraine.
RUSSIA HOME OF THE MINOR.
II an attempt were made. therefore. 10
divide Europe into major and minor BY
drawing a line across the map from west
10 east along the parallel Of the 5Oth DE-.
gree Of latitude the rule would become
imperative as soon as the Russian Dor.
der was reached. Thence the isomodal
line would take a sharp southwark trend
is minor; and Russian folksong I am
prone to think, is the most moving and
beautiful folk music in the world. Other
influences than the ordinary are theretore
at work here, and their discovery mead
not detain the readers mind long. SUI.
fering is suffering whether 1t be physical
or spiritual whether II spring from the
unfriendliness Of nature or the harshness
of political and social conditions.
While Russian foksong is thus weight.
ed with sorrow, Russian folkdance is sin
gularly energetic and boisterous. ThIs
would seem to present a paradox, but the
reason becomes plain when it is, remem.
bered that a measured and decorous mods
of popular amusement is the normal ex.
preston of equable popular life, while
wild and desperate gayety is frequently
the reaction from suffering. There Is
gayety OF despair as we'll as Of content.
ment and happiness. Read this from DR..
Norman McLeods Note Book: NY
father once saw some emigrants from
Lochaber dancing on the deck Of an emf.
grant ship and weeping their eyes outl
This feeling is the mother Of Irish music.
II expresses the struggle OF a buoyant
merry heart to get quit Of thoughts that
often lie too deep for tears. II is the
music Of an oppressed, conquered but
deeply feeling, !mpressible. tanciful ard
generous people. 1t is for the harp In
Tara's halls""
RHYTHMs AND SCALES.
The rhythms of folksongs may be said
to be primarily the product Of folk.
dances, but as these, as rule, are In
spired by the songs which are sung for
their regulation, IL follows that there is
also a verbal basis for rhythms. Whether
or not this is true OF the rhythmical els-
ments which have entered into Afro
American folksongs cannot be said for
want of knowledge Of the languages
spoken by the peoples mot people, for
they were many and OF many kinds who
were brought from Africa 10 America as
slaves An analogy for the snap" which
is the most pervasive element in the
music which came from the Southern
plantations (he idiom which has been
degraded into "ragtime'D is found in the
folk music OF the Magyars of Hungary;
and there il is Individually a product Of
the poems.
Intervalic peculiarities are more diff
cult 10 explain than rhythmic, and are In
greater likelihood survivals OF primitive
clements Despite its widespread use, the
datonic scale is an artistic or scientific
evolution. not an inspiration or discoy-
cry in the natural world of sound; and
though II may have existed in primitive
music before 1t became the basis Of an
ART, there was no uniformity in It's use
The mort idiomatic music OF the Firms
who are an older race in the northern
European peninsula than any OF the Ger
manic tribes which are their rulers, Is
Continued on sixth page.