412 



PICURIS CHILDREN'S STORIES 



[ETH. ANN. 43 



The number of repetitions of a melody in its entirety appears to 

 be extremely variable and indefinite in the different performances 

 of many primitive peoples. In this small group of songs, therefore, 

 it does not seem safe to consider the number of repetitions of the 

 ABC phrases as fundamental to the structure, although in the 

 first four songs and their other renditions the indications are that 

 the number of repetitions is fixed. 



Song No. 9 (p. 379) is a pure binary form throughout. Each A 

 contains two sections of two measures each. Metrically the song 

 alternates regularly from two to three part meter in a pattern of 

 2, 3, 2, 3, etc. Each phrase has a total of exactly ten beats. Two 

 well-defined rhythmic groups appear in a and b, repeated incidentally 

 to the repetition of these sections. Other renditions of No. 9 are 

 29 and 30 (pp. 442, 443). 



Tabular Analysis No. 9 



Song No. 10 (p. 379) is structurally very similar to No. 9, although 

 the tunes are different. Two A phrases each contain two sections, 

 the first composed of two measures, but the second having three. No 

 metric or rhythmic pattern stands out from the rather irregular 

 succession of metric and rhythmic groups. For the most part, how- 

 ever, although the measures are irregular in length, a triplet move- 

 ment in subsidiary groups imparts a smoothness to the swing which 

 might almost be taken for metric regularity. Four other renditions 

 of this tune, Nos. 31, 32, 33, 34 (pp. 443, 444), are closely similar to 

 it, with only the usual minor variations. 



Tabular Analysis No. 10 



The last song, No. 11 (p. 397), is not really a song, but merely a call. 

 It was given eight times, each two being succeeded by a pause of some 

 length. I have therefore concluded that two statements of the call 



