dBnsmoke] CHIPPEWA MUSIC — II 7 



as characterizing the music of other uncultured peoples. Concerning 

 the songs of the Asaba (Niger) people, Charles R. Day states:^ 

 "A preference for the minor third is rather noticeable, especially 

 at the conclusions." Rev. G. W. Torrance, writing of the Australian 

 aborigines, says: ^ ''The songs in compass rarely exceed the distance 

 of a third, and minor intervals predominate." Concerning the 

 Sumatrans William Marsden states:^ ''The Sumatran tunes very 

 much resemble to my ear those of the native Irish and have usually, 

 like them, a flat thii-d; the same has been observed of the music of 

 Bengal." In this connection, it is interesting to note that William 

 Gardiner * gives in musical notation the note of the plover and the 

 call, with its answer, of a small beetle, the former being represented 

 by the descending minor third F-D, and the latter I y the descending 

 mmor third B fiat-G. In these observations it can not be assumed 

 that the intervals heard by the travelers* were accurate minor thirds, 

 but that, to the ear accustomed to the musical standards of civiliza- 

 tion, the interval of the third was clearly a non-major interval. 



In the Chippewa songs it is noted that the percentage of minor 

 thirds, in both ascending and descending progression, is more than 

 twice that of major thirds, a reversal of the statement of tonality, 

 Table 1 showing the songs of major tonality to be about a third more 

 in number tlian those of minor tonality. This suggests that the 

 relation of the tones in these songs is an interval-relation, not what 

 might be termed a "key-relation," also that the interval is the 

 melodic nucleus of Chippewa song. The minor third is frequently 

 promment in songs wliich are major in tonality (see Nos. 140, 141, 

 151, 163). The major third constitutes a large proportion of the 

 intervals in some songs which are minor in tonality (see Nos. 29, 83, 

 99). A strong feeling for the interval in melody structure is shown 

 in No. 86, the framework of which consists of two intervals of the 

 fifth, and in No. 82, the framework of which consists of two descending 

 fourths. 



In order to determine the feeling for the interval in melody-for- 

 mation, a test was made which included the 40 songs recorded at 

 Waba'cmg,'^ the 50 war songs of Odjib'we (pi. 1) recorded at White 

 Earth, and 14 songs recorded by E'niwub'e at Lac du Flambeau. The 

 songs of Odjib'we did not show a single instance of "interval-forma- 

 tion," but it was found to characterize 4 (10 per cent) of the Waba'cing 

 songs (Nos. 136, 144, 148, 161), and 3 (21 per cent) of the Lac du 

 Flambeau songs, under observation. From the character of the 



1 Up the Niger, by Mockler-Ferryman, with chapter on musical instruments of the natives by Charles 

 R. Day, London, 1892, p. 272. 



2 Music of the Australian Aborigines, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, London, 18S7, p. 336. 



3 History of Sumatra, London, 1811, p. 19G. 



* The Music of Nature, Boston, 1838, pp. 232, 246. 



!> The combination fig is pronounced as in the word "finger,"not as in "singer." 



