who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

1953. Social organization of the singing group. Without going into the veryinteresting and important subtleties of the interrelationships between theparts and singers within a traditional singing group in different cultures(which could be a good topic for a separate big-scale research), in thisbook this parameter concentrates simply on the number of the singersof each part in a polyphonic texture. Which part/parts are performedby the individual singer and which part/parts are performed by a groupof singers? There are cases when the groups of singers perform all theparts. In other cases the individual performers perform most of theparts, and the big group performs only one part (this occurs in themajority of cases in polyphonic cultures). And finally, there could becases where individual performers perform all the parts. Althoughgender differences are another very important part of the socialorganization of many polyphonic traditions (also a good topic forseparate research), the gender aspect will only get a limited attention inour classification.4. Scales. Traditional polyphonic singing uses different types of scales:diatonic, pentatonic, tetratonic, hexatonic, tetrachordal, pentachordaletc. As if this is not enough, each of these scales might contain a fewsubtypes as well (e.g. pentatonic can be minor, major, or neutral; it canalso be without a half tone, or with a half tone, etc.). We will have aspecial look at the diatonic scale systems based on the use of perfectoctaves, perfect fourths, and perfect fifths (creating accordingly thescales systems of the octave diatonic, fourths diatonic, and the fifthsdiatonic). This parameter (scales) is the most technical, and I’ll do mybest to give simple explanations in the text to the non-professionalreaders.5. Rhythm and metre. The rhythmic and metric nature of the music iseasier for a non-professional reader to understand than the system ofscales. Polyphonic traditions use all the varieties of the existing metres:simple duple and triple metres, array of complex metres, and the freemetre. The polyphonic nature of music, which requires rhythmicallywell-coordinated and coherent singing, naturally favors more simplerepetitive rhythms (for example, simple duple rhythm dominates sub-Saharan African and western Georgian polyphonic singing traditions).Interesting cases of the polyphonic traditions with a free metre will beanalyzed later in the chapter.All parameters of this five-unit set are fundamentally important for the musicallanguage of each polyphonic tradition, although their importance for comparativeresearch is not equal (at lest, in this study). The reason for this is the difference instability and the availability of the information on different parameters. Some of theparameters seem to be extremely stable (e.g. type of polyphony, or the vertical