bruno nettl - infant musical development and primitive music

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Title: Infant Musical Development and Primitive MusicAuthor: Bruno NettlSource: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring, 1956), pp. 87-91Published by: University of New Mexico

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INFANT MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND PRIMITNE MUSIC

BRUNONETIL

I

N A

STUDY

by Roman Jakobson some statements are made concerning the

relationship between infants' linguistic development and the distribution of

phonemic distinctions throughout the world. It is the purpose of the present paper

to examine the possibility of similar relationships in music. Jakobson believes,

and

demonstrates, that those phonemic distinctions which are most common in the

languages of the world also appear earliest

in

children's speech.

For

example, the

distinction between vowels and consonants

is

found in all languages and

is

also

the first distinction made by children when learning

to

speak. This paper compares

some of the developments in the performance of

~ u s i c l

traits by small children

with their distribution in non-Western and folk music.

Although both children's speech and the music of non-Western cultures are

not

as well documented and as definitively analyzed as language, it seems possible

to make some statements on the basis of what is already known. Some interest in

this area has been shown by musicologists, notably Curt Sachs, who says:

It

is

exciting experience to learn that the earliest known stage of music reappears

in the babble songs of small children in European countries. For once the ontogenetic

l w is

fully confirmed: the individual summarizes the evolution

of

mankind. (Later,

Sachs asserts

J

These children could not

be

suspected to have been influenced by a single

trait of our own music. Thus

we

cannot but accept their babbling

s

an ontogenetic

reiteration of man's earliest music and, inversely, conclude that the music

of

today's

most primitive peoples

is

indeed the first music that ever existed.

2

This

paper, however, is not concerned with the evolutionary aspects of the

problem. The author neither accepts nor rejects such an approach. It

is

certainly

possible to interpret whatever parallels there are between children's singing and

primitive music in ways other than the ontogenetic recapitulation of phylogeny, but

interpretation is beyond the scope of this paper.

The

most important study in the field of infant musical development

is

by

Heinz Werner,

3

whose work was concerned with the creative efforts of children

1 Kindersprache Aphasie und allgemeine Lautgesetze (Uppsala Sprakvetenskapliga Sal

slcapets Handlingar, 1940-42A).

2 he Rise of Music in the Ancient World (New York, 1943), pp. 43, 44.

3

Die melodische Er{mdung im friihen Kindesalter

(Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien,

Philosophischhistorische Klasse, SitzUngsberichte 182 [1917], no. 4 .

87

VoL. 12, 1956


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88

SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY

between two and

five

His conclusions on the various stages of musical develop

ment are based entirely on the created improvisations of children,

not

on the way in

which they handled songs which were taught them. The present author has largely

corroborated Werner s findings, using a single, younger subject of his own, with

the additional scope

of

learned songs.

This

consisted

of

observing which musical

traits the subject learned earliest, which ones appeared late, and with what accuracy

they could be negotiated.

In

order to compare the order in which these developments appear in children

with their frequency in non-Western music, the various aspects

of

musical style

are separated and presented individually. A number

of

common ones, such as

harmony and polyphony, do not appear here because they are not found in infant

musical behavior. Furthermore, the ages

at

which the developments take place are

omitted because, while the author and

Werner

agree in general on the order, the

actual time of emergence differs greatly. Following

is

an outline for the order of

appearance of various stylistic traits in infants music.

Form

1

simple repetition

of

a single short phrase, with slight and unsyste

matic variation;

2 short strophes, made

up

of two, three, or four phrases, with little

variation. Some of the phrases in a strophe are usually identical;

forms like

AABA

and

ABBA

are common.

Rhythm

The

only characteristic type

is

a series

of

notes

of

equal length, fol

lowed

by

a longer note at the end

of

the phrase.

Melodic

contour 1

descending;

2 undulating without specialization;

3. arc-shaped, with ascent followed

by

gradual descent;

4 ascent, followed by two peaks and descent.

Intervals

1

minor thirds and major seconds;

2

major thirds and minor seconds;

3

neutral third (between major and minor third ;

4. intervals smaller than half-tones; quarter-tones;

5 larger intervals, in order of size, beginning with perfect fourth.

Scale

1 two tones;

2. three and four tones;

3 more than four tones.


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IN F N

T MU

SIC

L DEV

ELOP

MENT

89

Cade

nces

1. phra

se end

s on lo

westt

one;

2. ph

rase en

ds on

a repe

ated t

one se

quence

;

3. p

hrase

ends o

n a to

ne in

the m

iddle

of th e

range

of the

entir

e

pie

ce.

Ra

nge

1. m

inor th

ird;

2. p

erfect

fourt

h ;

3.

dimin

ished

fifth;

4.

large

r than

dimin

ishedf

ifth.

It is n

ot easy

to est

imate

the fre

quenc

y of a

given

trai ti

n the m

usica

l styles

of

the

world

. Alls

tyles a

re by

far fro

m kno

wn, ev

en in

a limit

ed way

, and,

indee

d,

it

is

not p

ossible

to dis

tinguis

h am o

ng mu

sicalstyles inthe way it

is

po ssible

to

define

or del

imit la

nguag

es. In

other

words,

while

w

e kn

ow ra

ther w

ell w h

at a la

nguag

e

i

s we

do n

ot know

what

const

itutes

a m us

ic. H

oweve

r, a la

rge en

oughs

amplin

g

of th e

styles

in va

rious p

arts o

f th e

world

exists

to ena

ble on

e to m

ake

at le as

t

appro

ximate

ly ac

curate

statem

ents

about

the d

istribu

tion

of mu

sical t r

ts -

whe

ther th

ey are

confi

ned to

sm al

l grou

ps of

tribes,

are fo

und t

hroug

hout o

ne

conrin

ent, or

are c

ommo

n thro

ughou

t the w

orld,

an d th

e like

. I

t s on su

ch gen

era li

zed st

atem e

nts that

th e

follow

ing te

ntative

conc

lusions

are b

ased,

and th

eir

impres

sionis

tic n at

ure m u

st be

remem

bered.

Th

e simpl

e form

of re p

eating

a sing

le mus

ical ph

rasew

ith va

riation

s, earl

iest in

i

n infa

nts, is

co mm

on thr

ougho

ut the

world

.

It

is

the o

nly fo

rm in

some

simple

cultu

res, su

ch as t

he V e

dda o

f Ceylo

n an d

the Fi

nno-U

gric M

ordw

in and

Votya

k,

and

is th e

basic

form

of so

me com

plex

prim it

ive sty

les, no

tably

some

of

Negro

Af

rica.F

urthe

rmore,

i t is f

oundi

n thec

hildre

n's son

gs, lu

llabies

, game

songs

, and

song

s in ta

les in

most

culture

s thro

ugho u

t thew

orld,

even w

here

the m

ajority

of

son

gs hav

e mor

e comp

lex fo

rms. Th

e oth

er for

m of

i

nfants

' singin

g, a s

trophe

con

s

isting

of from

two

to

fou

r phra

ses w

ith the

frequ

ent re

petitio

n of o

ne, s

found

in folk and primitive music th roughout th

e wo

rld, ex

ceptin

g only

the s

imple

st

m

usical

styles

of all.

This

type

of form

, when

learn

ed byc

hildre

n, usu

ally ap

pears

i

n lear

ned so

ngs ra

ther t

han im

provi

sations

. How

ever,

i t has

been

noted

in the

autho

r's in

fant su

bject

that th

e tend

ency is

tol

earn m

ultipl

e-phra

se son

gs w it

h

re

petitio

n mor

e easily

than

thosew

ithou

t, and

this fa

ct is p

arallel

ed inn

on-W

estern

music.

T

heu

se ofat

le as

t oner

epeate

d phra

se in a

strop

he pre

domin

ates th

rough

out

thew

orld.

R

hythm

ic de

velopm

ent i

n infa

nts s

repres

ented

by on

ly one

stage

, that

of

un

differ

entia te

d note

lengt

hs wit

h a fin

al lon

g note.

This

kind o

f rh yt

hmic

struc-


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90 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY

ture

is

not too common in primitive music, although it

is

present in some of the

simplest musical styles. Final length, the use of a contrastive last note in a phrase

or

song, is prevalent throughout the world, however.

The

melodic contours sung

y

small children coincide, in their order, with the

frequency of melodic contours in primitive music. Descending contour seems to

be

the most widespread throughout the world. It appears in different forms, from

the slight descent from one tone to the other in the two-tone melodies of the Vedda

to the cascading descent of

many songs of the Plains Indians and Australians. Gen

erally undulating melodic contour is also widespread, while arc-shaped ones are

more restricted. The latter are found in many parts of the world, but everywhere

their distribution is more sporadic. For example, among the

North

American In

dians, arc-shaped contours are most prominent among the Navaho and in the east

em United States. Elsewhere they tend to he rare. This distribution is wide, but

spotty. More specialized melodic contours, such as an arc with two peaks, are quite

rare in the world.

Melodic intervals in infant music do not follow the worldwide frequency as

well

as

does contour.

1)

Minor thirds and major seconds do seem

to

be the most

common melodic intervals, followed y

2)

minor seconds and major thirds, always

with approximate intonation.

3)

Neutral thirds, while they are quite frequently

found in primitive music, are not nearly as common as perfect fourths and fifths,

which appear later in children. (

4)

Intervals smaller than minor seconds are rela

tively uncommon in the world s music. They are quite prevalent in the Near East,

and found occasionally elsewhere, hut there is often evidence that they do not

constitute a significant distinction even where they do appear.

Scales

of

two tones are widely distributed in the world,

hut

in all but the very

simplest styles they are used only in special songs: children s, lullabies, and the like.

The greatest frequency

is

held y scales with four and five tones. Thus we may

say that while two-tone scales are found in a few more cultures than pentatonic and

tetratonic ones, the latter appear in much larger numbers. We may note also

that

while in children s musical development the two-tone melodies occupy a distinct

stage in contrast to those with three and four tones, which occur together, in primi

tive and folk music there seems to be a close relationship between two-tone and

three-tone melodies. In some primitive styles, e.g. Modoc, Vedda, Kuhu (Su

matra , two-tone and three-tone melodies are used in the same song styles, and

variants of the same tunes may have both two and three tones.

Cadences in primitive music tend to be on low tones rather than others. How-

4 George Herzog, Rhythmic Cadence in Primiti l e Music (Bulletin, American Musicological

Society, vol.

3, pp. 19-20, 1939).


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I

N F A N T MU

SICAL DEV

ELOPMENT

9

ever all

th ree

of

th e

cadences in

infant musi

cal developm

ent have a

worldwide

distri

bution.

The

range

s of a minor

third and a

perfect four

th are very

common in m

usic

thro

ughou t the w

orld.

The

fou

rth

is

more c

ommon in c

ontras t to its

place in in fa

nt

music

al developme

nt.

The

thir

d stage a dim

inished :fift

h however is

rarer in the

musical s

tyles

of

the

world than

other range

s

ot

mentio

ned for inf

ants for

example the

perf ec t :fifth

sixths an d t

he octave.

From this

brief survey

we

may dra

w the follow

ing tentative

conclusions

.

O

n

the w

hole there

is

some correl

ation betwee

n the order o

f the appeara

nce

o

f

music

al

t

ra its in infa

nts and the

frequency

of

those traits

in the music

al cultures

of

the

worl

d.Th is corre

la tion

is

stron

gest in form

scale an d m

elodic conto

ur

but

weak

er

for me

lodic interva

ls cadences

and range.

WAYNE

UNIV R

SITY

DETRO

IT

MICHIG

AN

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