In the act of song the same uniting force is present. To sing with
another involves a contagious sympathy, in perhaps a higher degree than
is the case with any other art. There is, in the first place, as in the
dance, a unity of rhythm. Rhythm is based upon coöperation and, in turn,
immensely strengthens the possibility of coöperation. In the
bas-reliefs upon the Egyptian monuments representing the work of a large
number of men who are moving a stone, we find the sculptured figure of a
man who is beating the time for the combined efforts. Whether all rhythm
has come from the necessities of common action or whether it has a
physiological basis sufficient to account for the effect which rhythmic
action produces, in any case when a company of people begin to work or
dance or sing in rhythmic movement, their efficiency and their pleasure
are immensely increased. In addition to the effect of rhythm we have
also in the case of song the effect of unity of pitch and of melody, and
the members of the tribe or clan, like those who to-day sing the
Marseillaise or chant the great anthems of the church, feel in the
strongest degree their mutual sympathy and support. For this reason, the
Corroborees of the Australian, the sacred festivals of Israel, the
Mysteries and public festivals of the Greeks, in short, among all
peoples, the common gatherings of the tribe for patriotic or religious
purposes, have been attended with dance and song. In many cases these
carry the members on to a pitch of enthusiasm where they are ready to
die for the common cause.
Melodic and rhythmic sound is a unifying force simply by reason of form,
and some of the simpler songs seem to have little else to commend them,
but at very early periods there is not merely the song but the recital,
in more or less rhythmic or literary form, of the history of the tribe
and the deeds of the ancestors. This adds still another to the unifying
forces of the dance and song. The kindred group, as they hear the
recital, live over together the history of the group, thrill with pride
at its glories, suffer at its defeats; every member feels that the
clan's history is his history and the clan's blood his blood.
§ 4. FAMILY LIFE AS AN IDEALIZING AND SOCIALIZING AGENCY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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