Elements of Folk Psychology: Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of MankindWundt, Wilhelm Max
Science
Elements of Folk Psychology: Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
Wundt, Wilhelm Max
Ethnopsychology
Closely connected with the dance is _music_, the preparatory stage of
which is constituted by the participation of the voice in the rhythm
of the external movements of the body. These articulatory movements,
which form a part of the mimicking activity of the face, supplement the
dynamic rhythm of the dance with the melodic rise and fall of tones.
The emotion which finds its outlet in the dance itself, then seeks a
further enhancement through objective means. These means also involve
the activity of the bodily organs; noises are produced by clapping the
hands, by stamping on the ground, or by the rhythmic clash of sticks.
In the latter case, the transition from instruments of noise to those
of tone is easily made. The earliest forms of tone instruments are of
two sorts, according as they copy the production of sound by external
means, on the one hand, or by the vocal organs, in the accompanying
tones, on the other. Thus, the two original forms of musical
instruments are _instruments of concussion_ and _wind instruments_. In
origin, these are directly connected with the dance. They are natural
means of intensification created directly by the emotion, though later
modified by systematic invention. The later development of musical art
continues to remain in close relation to the two main forms of the
dance, the solemn ceremonial and the ecstatic dance, between which
there come to be numerous transitions. From the most primitive to the
highest stages of music, we continually find two sorts of musical
expression, the _sustained_ and the _animated_. These correspond to the
contrasting feelings of rest and excitement, which are experienced even
by animals, and which man therefore doubtless carried with him from his
natural state into his cultural life. With the progress of culture,
these feelings constantly become more richly differentiated.
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