110 THE NATURE OF MUSIC 



are still later. The pentatonic stage of melody is evi- 

 denced in all primitive music in one of three ways : 

 either these melodies precede or are approaching the 

 pentatonic stage, or they have reached it or they have 

 passed it. Not only was the pentatonic stage the 

 natural product of the progressive development of 

 music j>er se, but the entire development of the lan- 

 guage and art of music up to the present time was 

 dependent on the attainment and passage remote 

 ages ago of the pentatonic stage of melody. 



8. Certain tones like do, mi, sol and others first 

 appeared in melody in the relation of regnant tones 

 (components of regnant harmonies). Certain tones 

 like re, la and others first appeared in the relation 

 of by tones (components of byharmonies). We have 

 seen how V and IV were transmuted from byhar- 

 monies to regnant harmonies. We are about to see 

 how regnant I is transmuted into a byharmony. 

 The point to be noted here is this. Every such 

 change of a tone's original relation to a new relation 

 marks not alone the progress of melody consequent 

 on the progressive development of its inherent poten- 

 tial harmony and harmonic relations, but it at once 

 marks the progressive development of the harmonic 

 sense, which is the proximate cause of the progress 

 of melody and expansion of harmony, and which 

 steadily though slowly led to the eventual discovery 

 or perception of harmony itself. The evolution of 

 harmonic perception affords a striking example of 

 the extreme slowness of the evolutionary processes of 

 perception in general. Although from the first and 

 through countless ages melody has asserted its inherent 



