The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

Retracing Processes of Change: the Case of the Scales of the Setu Songs
(Southeast Estonia)
191
of the traditional Setu singers. Bi-linguistic thinking means here the co-existence of two main scale types
(supposedly of different historical and ethnic origin), both of which can be applied to the same tune types. In
fact, in the Setu song tradition it is quite usual that the same song tune (tune type) can be sung with different
scales. <strong>The</strong> musical examples (ex. 1, 2) demonstrate two variants of the same tune type, the first of which has
the one-three-semitone scale (transcribed as Eb-F#-G-A#-B) and second the diatonic scale (E-F#-G-A-B-C).
More specifically, in the Setu multipart songs more than two scale types can be found. It is possible to find
even 4 scale types: (1) the one-three-semitone scale (D-Eb-F#-G-A#-B), (2) the anhemitonic-diatonic scale
(E-G-A-B-C), (3) the pure diatonic scale (D-E-F#-G-A-B-C), which is obviously of a later origin, and (4) the
pure anhemitonic scale (E-G-A-B), which occurs much less often than the others. However, from the point of
view of the present research it makes sense to contrast the one-three-semitone mode with the other three scale
types and to consider the latter scale types as the realizations of diatonic musical thinking.
As mentioned above, the main scale types often form mixed and transitional structures, which makes an
aural transcription of the Setu songs very difficult. In the music transcriptions of the Setu songs one can find
plenty of accidentals including signs of microalteration; transcriptions of the same song recording made by
different researchers can differ remarkably. Some researchers even claim that the scales of the Setu songs are
irregular simply as a result of their very ancient origin (Sarv, 1980: 136). In my opinion the archaic character
of the musical thinking of the Setu singers manifests itself in the unusually wide zones of realisation of the
scale notes, but the variations in their pitch are mostly systematic and connected with the interaction between
the one-three-semitone mode and “diatonic” scales.
On the basis of the aural analysis of the multi-channel recordings I found two main types of such
interaction (Pärtlas, 2004), which are shown in the scheme (tab. 1). In the first case the one-three-semitone
scale (3-1-3-1, transcribed as E-G-Ab-B-C) becomes similar to the anhemitonic-diatonic scale (3-2-2-1). As
can be seen, the only difference between these two scales concerns the scale note Ab/A. In the second case
the one-three-semitone mode (which this time is transcribed as D-Eb-F#-G-A#-B) turns into the scale that
coincides with the harmonic minor (in this scheme G minor). Such a modification can be achieved by shifting
the two upper scale notes A#/A and B/Bb.
In this paper I will try to retrace the first process of diatonization of the one-three-semitone mode (tab. 1
a) by means of an acoustical analysis. Special attention will be paid to the central trichord of the one-threesemitone
scale, which, in the schemes and transcriptions, is written as G-Ab-B or F#-G-A#. This trichord is
the minimal form of the one-three-semitone scale, by which I mean that these three scale notes are present
in all the song recordings I will analyse. For that reason, the findings concerning this trichord should be the
most reliable.
To analyse how the one-three-semitone scale can be turned into the anhemitonic-diatonic scale, four
performances of the same tune type were chosen. <strong>The</strong> tune type under consideration occurs most often as
the work-game song “<strong>The</strong> Grinding Stone”, but it can also be used in narrative songs. <strong>The</strong> oldest of the four
performances analysed was made in 1959 with a tape-recorder (for the generalized transcription of this song
(ex. 3; audio ex. 1). This song was performed by the most famous Setu epic singer Anne Vabarna and her
daughter Od´e, who sings the upper subsidiary part called killõ. In the multipart sections of this song the onethree-semitone
mode can be heard quite clearly. Although the usual number of singers in a traditional Setu
choir is about 5-7, this performance seemed to be suitable for the purposes of acoustical analysis because in
the case of duo singing it is possible to follow the melodic lines of each singer. Normally the main lower part
called torrõ is sung heterophonically by the chorus, and in an ordinary mono or stereo recording the individual