The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe

by Fay-Cooper Cole

Among some primitive peoples, only the men take part in the songs. The early chanting of all peoples was quite likely by men. Probably the most primitive harmony was a perfect fifth resulting from the attempt of men with different ranges to sing together. The difference between a bass and a tenor voice is just about a fifth. Between an alto and a soprano it is about a fourth. The difference in these voices made it impossible to sing melodies of wide range in unison, and so the basses and tenors sang in consecutive fifths. When women took up the chanting, they sang either in fifths or in fourths.

These harmonies appealed to them, and so continued in use even when there was no exigency on account of restricted range.

Referring again to the Da-eng ceremony, it is interesting to observe that the three different parts of this ceremony are in distinct scales, and that the part sung by the girls alone, is diatonic in character while the other two parts are pentatonic.

Conclusion.—I have long been of the opinion that the music of different peoples should be given more consideration by scientists in their endeavor to trace cultural relationships. In years gone by, ethnologists have attached too little importance to the bearing which music has on their science.

I am of the opinion that every peculiarity, even to the smallest element that enters into the make-up of a given melody, has some influence back of it which has determined the element and shaped it into combination. It is not unlikely that a thorough study of the music would reveal these influences, and through them establish hitherto unknown ethnological facts.

I believe that a careful study of a large number of the songs or instrumental pieces of a people will reveal a quite definite general scheme of construction which can be accepted as representative of that people alone; and if such an analysis be made of the music of many peoples and the findings so tabulated that the material will be comprehensible to ethnologists trained to that branch of musical research, many interesting and instructive side-lights will be thrown on the question of tribal relationship. Page 483

I realize that to examine exhaustively and then tabulate the characteristics found in the music of just one of the many peoples of the globe would be something of an undertaking; but nevertheless I believe the work should be undertaken in this large way, and when it is, I am sure the results will justify the experiment.

I appreciate that there is an intangible something about music, which may prove baffling when it comes to reducing it to cold scientific symbols and descriptions. Take, for instance, quality of tone. Each one of us knows perfectly the various qualities of the different speaking voices of friends and acquaintances, yet how many of us can so accurately describe those qualities to a stranger that he also may be able to identify the voices among a thousand others. The tabulation of such elusive qualities would have to be in very general terms. Such indefinable characteristics would, to some extent, have to depend for comparison upon the memory of those workers who had received first-hand impressions. It would be something like a present-day musician identifying an unfamiliar composition as belonging to the “French school,” the “Italian school,” or the “Russian school;” and yet, this same musician might not be able to point out with definiteness a single characteristic of that particular so-called “school.”

Though I have held these opinions for several years, I am more than ever convinced, since examining these few Tinguian records, that something really tangible and worth while can be deduced from the music of various primitive peoples, and I trust this branch of ethnology will soon receive more serious recognition.

Manifestly it would be unwise to draw any unalterable conclusions from the examination of but fourteen records of a people. But even in this comparatively small number of songs, ranging as they do over such a variety of applications and uses, it is possible to see tendencies which the examination of more records may confirm as definite characteristics.