Performance of Musical Scale in Traditional Vocal Homophony: Lithuanian Examples
Keywords:
musical scale, vocal performance, Lithuanian traditional singing, homophony, acoustical measurements, pitch perceptionAbstract
Acoustical measurements of pitches in a dozen songs exemplifying the Lithuanian traditional vocal homophony were carried out. Several phenomena were revealed. First, the entire scales experience gradual transposition (rise) from the beginning to the end of the song performances. Second, the transposition is supplemented with the gradual shrinking of the musical scales (the intervals become narrower). Third, the intonations of the scale degrees are dynamic, i.e. they depend on the musical (both melodic and harmonic) contexts. Fourth, the versions of musical scales work as certain markers for the idiolects (further studies could show if this might be extrapolated to the realm of dialects). All these insights raise issues about the perceptual qualities of the musical scales and their manifestations in the performance.References
Алексеев, Э. [Alekseyev, E.] (1976) Проблемы формирования лада [Problems of Mode Formation], Москва: Музыка.
Ambrazevičius, R. (ed.) (1999) Tai Mištūnų gražus kaimas. Dzūkijos dainos [How Nice the Mištūnai Village Is: Songs from Dzūkija], Vilnius: Lietuvos liaudies kultūros centras, Vilniaus plokštelių studija.
Ambrazevičius, R. (2005–2006) “Modeling of Scales in Traditional Solo Singing”, Musicae Scientiae, special issue Interdisciplinary Musicology : 65–87.
Амбразявичюс, Р. [Ambrazevičius, R.] (2013) “Акустические методы исследования звуковысоты в традиционном пении” [“Acoustical Methods in the Study of Pitch Phenomena in Traditional Singing”], Вопросы этномузыкознания [Problems of Ethnomusicology] 5: 82–101.
Ambrazevičius, R. and Budrys, R. (2012) “Pitch Evaluations in Traditional Solo Singing: Comparison of Methods”, 12th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 8th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Thessaloniki: School of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 58–63.
Ambrazevičius, R. and Wiśniewska, I. (2008) “Chromaticisms or Performance Rules? Evidence from Traditional Singing”, Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies 2 (1/2): 19–31.
Ambrazevičius, R. and Wiśniewska, I. (2009) “Tonal Hierarchies in Sutartinės”, Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies 3 (1/2): 45–55.
Četkauskaitė, G. (ed.) (1998) Lietuvių liaudies muzika II. Aukštaičių dainos. Šiaurės rytų Lietuva / Lithuanian Folk Music II. Songs of Aukštaičiai. North-Eastern Lithuania (book with CDs), Vilnius: Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademijos muzikologijos instituto etnomuzikologijos skyrius.
Četkauskaitė, G. (ed.) (2007) Lietuvių liaudies dainų antologija [The Anthology of Lithuanian Folk Songs] (book with CDs). Vilnius: Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija.
Dowling, J. and Harwood, D. (1986) Music Cognition, Orlando: Academic Press.
Енговатова, М. and Ефименкова, Б. [Engovatova, M. and Efimenkova, B.] (2008) “Звуковысотная организация русских народных песен в свете структурнотипологических исследований” [“Pitch Organization of the Russian Folk Songs in the Light of Structural-Typological Studies”], In Мир традиционной музыкальной культуры [The World of Traditional Musical Culture], Москва: Российская академия музыки им. Гнесиных, 6–44.
Friberg, A., Bresin, R. and Sundberg, J. (2006) “Overview of the KTH Rule System for Musical Performance”, Advances in Cognitive Psychology 2 (2/3): 145–161.
Гарбузов, Н. [Garbuzov, N.] (1980) “Зонная природа звуковысотного слуха” [“Zonal Nature of Pitch Hearing”], In Ю. Рагс (ред.) Н. А. Гарбузов – музыкант, исследователь, педагог [N. A. Garbuzov – Musician, Researcher, and Educator], Москва: Музыка, 80–145.
Харлап, М. [Kharlap, M.] (1972) “Народно-русская музыкальная система и проблема происхождения музыки” [“System of Russian Folk Music and the Problem of Origin of Music”], In С. Неклюдов (сост.), Е. Мелетинский (отв. ред.) Ранние формы искусства [Early Forms of Arts], Москва: Искусство, 221–273.
МЭС [MES] (1991) Музыкальный энциклопедический словарь [Musical Encyclopedic Dictionary]. Москва: Советская энциклопедия.
Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė, D. (1998) Sutartinės. Polifoninės dainos. 1935–1937 m. archyviniai įrašai / Sutartinės. Lithuanian Polyphonic Songs. Lithuanian Traditional Music (CD), Vilnius: Tautos namų santara, Vilniaus plokštelių studija.
Slaviūnas, Z. (1958) Sutartinės. Daugiabalsės lietuvių liaudies dainos. I t. [Sutartinės. Multipart Lithuanian Folk Songs.Vol. 1], Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla. Snyder, B. (2000) Music and Memory. An Introduction, Cambridge – London: The MIT Press.
Vyčinienė, D. (2002) Lietuvių tradicinė muzika. Aukštaitija. Aukštaičių daugiabalsės dainos / Lithuanian Traditional Music. North-Eastern Lithuania. Polyphonic Songs of Aukštaičiai (CD), Vilnius: Tautos namų santara, Vilniaus plokštelių studija.
Zwicker, E. and Fastl, H. (2007) Psychoacoustics. Facts and Models, Berlin – Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 MUZIKOLOGIJA-MUSICOLOGY
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
-
Ауторство — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. -
Некомерцијално — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
-
NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
