CHAPTER V 



ORIGIN AND NATURE OF MINOR 



43. Origin of the Minor Consonance 



With the subject before us we resume our study of 

 the evolution of harmony in one voice, which is the 

 self-asserting harmony of melody. Music began with 

 one voice, that is, with melody, wherefore origins are 

 to be sought in one voice or melody. Our study is 

 centred in melody, our facts are the common har- 

 monic reports of melody, our test of truth is common 

 feeling and perception of the self-reports of melody. 

 This confirmed by common experience and observa- 

 tion is the truth of our theses, namely, that melody is 

 the indissoluble composite of rhythm and harmony 

 and not an element; that melody apart from mode, 

 that mode apart from harmony do not and never did 

 exist; that in one voice the harmonic reports of 

 melody are common reports and are not mutable 

 except through arbitrary personal selection; that the 

 efiicient accent on an isolated tone always generates 

 the major consonance, in other words, that the 

 natural harmony of a tone is major. Independently 

 the last thesis suffices to establish the priority of the 

 major consonance and mode. But overwhelming 

 and conclusive evidence of the priority of major is 

 furnished by bird-songs and primitive melodies most 

 of which are in major while the proportion of those 



