(Songs oj the Copper Eskimos 225 



comes in, as with most prelude types of pisik, but the beginning differs somewhat 

 from the beginning of the refrain in the verse proper. The first verse is quite 

 regular according to the form established for the pisik with prelude. That is, 

 the connective is the ordinary type, and the first phrase of the verse starts out 

 with new material. That the second phrase is also new is not a great departure. 

 One notes in the refrain a slight resemblance to the C phrase, and the D phrase 

 is repeated exactly. The second verse also opens with the customary connective 

 and for the first two phrases follows the first. In place of the refrain, however, 

 there are two more phrases with long extensions for each, which only remotely 

 resemble it, melodically, and not at all in the words. Without the customary 

 connective we meet again the E phrase slightly modified, followed by the F, 

 G and D phrases as in the first verse and its refrain. The text gives the refrain 

 as covering all these phrases, and in words it must be confessed that it does 

 resemble the opening part of the song, if not in music. It has been already 

 stated that a singer would often sing over the tune of the song with some such 

 syllables as these, in order to establish it clearly in mind, whereupon he started 

 with the verse, and this is probably the explanation of many songs with preludes 

 of burden syllables where the music is the same or nearly the same as that of 

 the verse. But singers must also have failed to recall verses now and then after 

 having started the song, and it is suggested to my mind that in this case that is 

 just what happened, and the singer filled out with these syllables and stopped 

 near the end of the refrain. The E" phrase is not quite like the others owing 

 to the longer verse preceding the burden syllables, so that the failure to come 

 out right for the beginning of the E phrase has changed the rhythm consider- 

 ably and possibly accounts for the way in which the song was concluded. 



With the irregular tonality it is impossible to fix satisfactorily the degree 

 of the first note, which is made on the last quarter-beat. Before the tune is 

 stopped, F major has become established as the tonality and the final note is the 

 third degree of the scale. The song should be compared with No. 61 which is a 

 much more corrupted version. 



88540—15 



