Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-20
hAGTiME NOT NEGRO. But
SCOTCH.
BUT
''ra 'nspey Keel, Italian Opera and
QUITE Separate the synoopation Of
the "Spirituai.p VI

oe'te separate the Syncopation of
the Spiritual"
II. r. Krehbel in the New yo,k r.,
biihe tells us that the syncona,iox,
when Is the most marked rvthimiesl
Characteristic of the present nonuIar
songs and dances. is not of Negro h,t
scotch origin, being what used IN no
called the Scotch snap" or scotch
JERK. 1t occurs when the emnhasis
Is shifted from the strong to the weak
part OF time-unit by making the
hfst note of two into which the beat
Is divided take only a fraction of the
time of the second The repetition of
the effect becomes very stirring and
leads 10 sort of rythmical intoxica-
tlon eXemplified in the use of the de-
wee not only in the first beat of the
| measure, but in other beats also. and
even in the fractional divisions of a
peat no matter how small they may
have been" Mr.. Krehbiel further
says:
hen this species of syncopation,
! Known as the Scotch, or Scots SNAP.
or catch, became popular in the Ital-
IAN opera airs of the 18th century it
was held to be the offspring of a de-
vice commonly found in the popular
music of Scotland. II is character
| istic element of the Strathsprey reel,
anc the belief has been expressed that
II got into vocal music from the fact
that Burns and other poets wrote
words for Scottish dance tunes. 1t
was in great favor with many of the
Italian composers of the 18th century,
SAYS J. Muir Wood twriting in Groves
dictionary of Music and MusiciansD,
FOR Burney, who seems to have In
vented the name. says in his account
OF the Italian opera in London in l14S
| that there were at this time two
! notes in melody" He blames Coo
chi, Perez and Jammelli, all three
masters concerned in the opera, Vol
| ogeso," for being lavish of the snap.
| What Wood here remarks about the
pseudo-Seotch music of the 18th CEN
fury as it was cultivated in the music
| halls" declared Mr.. Krehbiel. may
be said of latter day 'ragtime,' which,
especially in the turkey trot' and
! tango dances, monopoliZes the music
! almost to the exclusion of melody
and harmony The rythmical device
under discussion is also found in the
| popular music of Hungary. where ii is
called ALA Zoppa Qimping). Here IT Is
unquestionably the product of poetry.
DR.. Aurel Wachte1, discussing the mu-
| sic of the Magyars, says that the
rythmical construction of their bal
| lads Is most closely allied to the pecu-
liarity of the Magyar language, which
| distinguishes the short and long sylla-
| bles much more sharply than any
other language spoke by the peoples OF
Germanic-S Slavic Romantic origin. The
character of the Magyar tongue does
| not tolerate that prosodicaiiy long
syllables in song shall be used as
short or vice versa.
Now whether the rhythms OF
| dance music be derived from the songs
which gave time to the feet or the
original dancer or the rhythms OF poe
| try were borrowed from the steps OF
| the dance, il would seem as If the de-
! termining factor was the word. the
most primitive music was vocal. Po-
! etical song had it's origin in improVis-
alton would be clogged unless musical
and verbal rhythm could flow togetth-
er. The rhyth3nical snap of the AM
erican Negroes is in all likelihood an
aboriginal relic, an idiom which mas
| taken so powerful a hold on them
| that they carried il over into their
new environment just as they did the
! melodic peculiarities which l nave IN
Vestigated. 1t was so powerful an I'M
pulse, indeed, that it broke down the
| barriers interposed by the new IAN
guage which they were compelled 10
adopt in their new home. Tor the
! sake of the snap the creators OF the
| folk-songs of the American Negroes
/ did not hesitate to distort the metrical
structure of their lines. In scores upon
scores of instances trorchees ike
Moses, 'Satan, mother, brother,
sister and so forth, become lambs.