Society for Ethnomusicology

Older than Pentatonism?

Author(s): Walter Wiora
Source: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Jan., 1968), p. 164
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/850572
Accessed: 29/10/2009 12:28

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?etteri to tie Cditor....

Older than Pentatonism?

The reader of M. Kolinski's article "Recent Trends in Ethnomusicology"

(ETHNOMUSICOLOGY 11(1), Jan. 1967, p. 18) might suppose that in my book
Die vier Weltalter der Musik (1961) I suggested archaic melody-types of two
to four tones were older than pentatonism. This, however, is not correct. I
offered this opinion in an earlier article in 1956, but no longer in my book
in 1961, in which I discuss these types or 'scales' as a group closely con-
nected with pentatonism and for various reasons am inclined to suppose
pentatonism to be no less old. In the American edition of my book (The Four
Ages of Music, New York 1965), page 28f. reads: "Fourth, fifth, and octave,
those basic elements of musical harmony.. .were fundamental to the con-
struction of the oldest scales, like the tetra- and pentatonic. ... On the
basis of such factual tonal relationship, comprehensible without theory, no-
tation, and instruments, bi-, tri-, tetra-, and pentatonic systems evidently
took form as early as in Paleolithic times."
Walter Wiora
Saarbrucken, Germany

Sir:
This is a joint letter from Eishi Kikkawa and Leonard Holvik about
"Research into the Chronology of Danmono," by W. Adriaansz, in the Janu-
ary, 1967, issue of ETHNOMUSICOLOGY. The writer is Leonard Holvik, but
the comments are largely those of Professor Kikkawa, reported with some
elaboration after discussion of the article.
First of all, this is an expression of appreciation and respect for a sig-
nificant contribution to the study of danmono, and kumiuta as well. It will be
useful in Japan as well as abroad. The following differences in respect to
opinion or fact are offered within this context of appreciation.
Perhaps the most important point has to do with the conclusions. The
purpose here is not to question the accuracy of the observations or the logic
of relating danmono to kumiuta. Indeed, the evidence, taken as stylistic
analysis, and the supporting remarks are of the most valuable kind. The
purpose here is rather to emphasize certain points, already mentioned or
implied by the author, and to suggest that they may modify the interpreta-
tion of the evidence so much that conclusions about chronology, per se, should
be even more tentative.
For example, the common Japanese practice of composing by rearrang-
ing older pieces may mean that a work attributed to a given composer, if
only slightly altered by him, reflects more generally the style of an earlier
person or period. This same kind of confusion may be increased by the ca-
pacity of a composer to work in more than one style at a time, particularly
since one piece might be largely an arrangement of an older work and an-
other might be his own to a larger extent. Thus, Yatsuhashi may have only

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