The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine TribeCole, Fay-Cooper
Religion
The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe
Cole, Fay-Cooper
Tinguian (Philippine people)
_Conclusion_.--I have long been of the opinion that the music of
different peoples should be given more consideration by scientists
in their endeavor to trace cultural relationships. In years gone by,
ethnologists have attached too little importance to the bearing which
music has on their science.
I am of the opinion that every peculiarity, even to the smallest
element that enters into the make-up of a given melody, has some
influence back of it which has determined the element and shaped
it into combination. It is not unlikely that a thorough study of
the music would reveal these influences, and through them establish
hitherto unknown ethnological facts.
I believe that a careful study of a large number of the songs or
instrumental pieces of a people will reveal a quite definite general
scheme of construction which can be accepted as representative of
that people alone; and if such an analysis be made of the music of
many peoples and the findings so tabulated that the material will
be comprehensible to ethnologists trained to that branch of musical
research, many interesting and instructive side-lights will be thrown
on the question of tribal relationship.
I realize that to examine exhaustively and then tabulate the
characteristics found in the music of just one of the many peoples
of the globe would be something of an undertaking; but nevertheless
I believe the work should be undertaken in this large way, and when
it is, I am sure the results will justify the experiment.
I appreciate that there is an intangible something about music, which
may prove baffling when it comes to reducing it to cold scientific
symbols and descriptions. Take, for instance, quality of tone. Each
one of us knows perfectly the various qualities of the different
speaking voices of friends and acquaintances, yet how many of us can
so accurately describe those qualities to a stranger that he also may
be able to identify the voices among a thousand others. The tabulation
of such elusive qualities would have to be in very general terms. Such
indefinable characteristics would, to some extent, have to depend
for comparison upon the memory of those workers who had received
first-hand impressions. It would be something like a present-day
musician identifying an unfamiliar composition as belonging to the
"French school," the "Italian school," or the "Russian school;"
and yet, this same musician might not be able to point out with
definiteness a single characteristic of that particular so-called
"school."
Though I have held these opinions for several years, I am more
than ever convinced, since examining these few Tinguian records,
that something really tangible and worth while can be deduced from
the music of various primitive peoples, and I trust this branch of
ethnology will soon receive more serious recognition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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