696 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



major scale, the flat the minor scale, and when one had first recog- 

 nized these differences, namely, the wide, light scale of major third 

 and sixth and the narrow, dark scale of the same minor intervals, 

 the differentiation was first accomplished. Tlie simplest experiment 

 can convince us of this. A melody in the major or even in the minor 

 third is exactly as dull and intolerable as a similar one in pure fifths 

 or fourths. The varying light and shade in constant changes from 

 the major to the minor third produce the intrinsic life. With the 

 introduction to these contrasts music became a really plastic, thi-ee- 

 dimensioned art. 



Only one question remains now to be answered. A harmonic 

 perception that can so clearly distinguish between large and small 

 intervals is conceivable only when the so-called principle of tonality 

 has been long established; that is, when the ear has become accus- 

 tomed to place every single tone of the melody in relation with a 

 dominant jfundamental tone from which the theme proceeds and to 

 which it returns. There has been much controversy as to how the 

 development of this sense of tone is to be regarded. It is agreed 

 that the fundamental tone which we to-day employ as a measure 

 for a long time accompanied the melody audibly. The bagpipe, 

 with its drone, serves as the classical instrument which offers this 

 pons asinorum to the unpracticed ear. Regarding the antiquity and 

 origin of the bagpipe nothing definite can be said. It is indeed not 

 necessary to wait for the discovery of the facts. As we know, the 

 drums of primitive people are often pitched to quite definite tones, 

 and if their regular rhythm accompanied the song, we have here 

 already a kind of organ point. Incidentally it may be remarked 

 that in the language of the orchestra the throbbing repetition of the 

 same notes in the bass is called a drum bass. 



The case of the drum organ-point of primitive people, which was 

 universal, is very similar to that of the discovery of a steam engine. 

 Primitive people boiled water, and with them, as elsewhere, the 

 steam raised the lid of the kettle, but a black Papin is unthinkable. 

 Now, turning to our own case, in the perception of the intervals 

 which are produced by accompanying the melody with a persistent 

 fundamental tone lies the origm of vertical hearmg. These inter- 

 vals could, however, only be heard by a people which through its 

 culture had been trained to it in the necessary manner. 



5. THE INCORPORATION OF THE FOREGOING MATERIALS INTO 

 CULTURE HISTORY. 



We shall confme ourselves to the most important points. 



The beginnings of music lead us back to that important stage of 

 history that is dominated by superstitious beliefs. It is concerned 

 with the cosmology which precedes all animism. Its traces are still 



