Reconstruction of Proto-Melody

Author(s): Charles L. Boilès

Source: Anuario Interamericano de Investigacion Musical , 1973, Vol. 9 (1973), pp. 45-63
Published by: University of Texas Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/779906

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RECONSTRUCTION OF PROTO-MELODY

Charles L. Boiles
Indiana University

Relatively few of the world's musical cultures have developed a

glyphic means for notating their music. Even cultures possessing some
form of music writing have notated very little of the corpus of their musi-
cal traditions. In the absence of historical documents containing notated
versions of traditional songs, it has been impossible to discuss musical
evolution in most cultures, and any opinion as to what may have been the
parent form of contemporary melodies has remained mostly unsubstanti-
ated conjecture. Nevertheless it may be possible that we can now obtain
some notion of earlier, non-written musical traditions by adapting to our
use the paradigmatic postulates of the comparative method, a technique
designed to define change and determine earlier forms of contemporary
phenomena.

Use of the comparative method implies acceptance of some basic

assumptions. The paradigmatic approach of the comparative method as-
sumes that it is possible to contrast two or more related sets of behavioral
manifestations in order to determine their exact relationship. A reconstruc-
tion of the parent form from which an ordered sequence of behavioral
events is thought to have developed is the most simple means of indicating
the relationship believed to exist between two related forms of any given
type. Thinking of contrastable forms as similarly structured series of be-
havioral events is the most convenient, for it permits adapting comparative
methodology to the study of numerous genres of human activity. Thus in
terms of the comparative method paradigm, one may investigate any array
of two or more series of behavioral acts in order to determine what may
have been the original series of events from which they developed. To
illustrate with a non-musical example, liturgies constitute structured series
of magico-religious events that may be contrasted, and if one were to make
a comparative study of Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Greek Ortho-
dox, and Coptic liturgies, one would very likely be able to reconstruct the
sequence of events most characteristic of early Christian worship. Another
non-musical example is provided by the notable reconstructions of proto-
languages as achieved by nineteenth- and twentieth-century linguists. By
means of contrasting cognate words in two or more related dialects or
languages, linguists have been able to reconstruct those sequences of
phonemic events that probably were the parent forms of later language
phenomena. For the purposes of the present discussion, the melody of a
song may be considered to be composed of an ordered sequence of musical
events. It is my proposal here to show that related patterns of musical-
event sequences may be contrasted and that a comparative examination

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of cognate melodic forms will result in reconstruction of proto-melodies.
For this exercise, a procedural technique has been developed, and its four
basic assumptions are as follows.

The first premise is that something present in each of the musical arti-
facts under consideration gives an indication that, at one time, these com-
positions had a common origin. It is therefore assumed that two songs
enough alike to be considered cognate are genetically related and have
developed from an older form.

As the second premise, it is understood that the corpus of musical ex-

amples must be accepted as the total available sample. Any conclusions
based on the total available sample are accepted as being completely valid
until new evidence is produced. This assumption obviates dilemmas posed
by possible sampling errors, allowing the investigator to proceed with
confidence even though new evidence encountered in the future might
alter his results.

Thirdly, the validity of a reconstructed form is limited to the amount

of information advanced in support of it. Therefore, correctness of a proto-
form is dependent on the accumulation of the best available evidence
found in extant examples; at no time should any reconstruction be made
because "theoretically it ought to be so."

Lastly, the reconstructed form is purely hypothetical; being based,

however, on elements found in closely related pairs of traditional songs,
the reconstruction is assumed to be the most likely form from which the
members of each pair were derived. A corollary of this assumption is that
it is impossible to reconstruct elements which have been completely lost
at some stage of development.

Material appropriate for reconstruction should demonstrate certain

basic musical characteristics indicating that the tunes in question have had
a common origin, and tunes exhibiting a recognizable degree of related-
ness are said to be cognate. For the present demonstration, eleven cognate
versions of the Spanish romance, Don Gato, have been selected and are
presented in Figure 1.

Structural form in the cited tunes is somewhat varied in the sundry

examples, but analysis of component phrases reveals two basic melodies
for setting two basic portions of each stanza of text; two subsidiary melod-
dies found in some of the versions are used for setting vocables. In this
presentation, the two test settings and one of the vocable settings will be
reconstructed; the other vocable setting is not represented by sufficient
examples to attempt its reconstruction. The three musical entities to be
reconstructed here will be called Constructions I, II, and III, and in this
discussion it is understood that the term "construction" is defined as being
any significant grouping of melodic motifs.

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 Extremadura (E1) (Mendoza 1940:93)
Pl-M r ., jj , 1 r Js .p I,,IJ'r
Extremadura (E2) (Mendoza 194-9)
.4l!r r rrrl'J.ll j JI, l~lr l~J

j r i rJ r i MJL 1J 11
Extremadura (E3) (Mendoza 1939:3781

4^slr J rl^ ; ^rCJ l^ r r:l;r ^ ^C

Extremadura (E) (Mendoza 939:378)

Brunete (B ) (Garcia M.1960:III:46)

4 4sI,0 11t' lJP l ?
Brunete (B2) (Garcia M.1951:1:78)
;~ ~)r' ;11l itS;ll~ 'lJ ; Ai l
Salamanca (S176) (Snchez 1943:164)
4 21| 2 |221 ~ rttr|?rl ^211r ?ii ;1
Salamanca (S211)

(Sanchez 1943: 173)

A r ?~ ?II$r -J. ,;11'

Algete (AL) (Garcfa M1951:I:88)

San Pedro Manrique (SP) (Schindler 1941, no. 802)

b, q )Ir \, 211 I J I j - G I ) llr 5,
Aldealsenor (AS) (Schindler 1941, no. 562)
'3l'll JIJJlJ.! i J i ?,J lr Grr 'tr r
Figure 1.

A paradigmatic assumption of the comparative method is that one

can proceed backward by triangulation and eventually posit for each sub-
group of examples a "dialect-free" melodic construction. Procedural requi-
sites of such triangulation are of the following types. The material must
be retranscribed so that all examples have the same tonal centers and
rhythmic values, for this makes it possible to compare like elements with
each other. Also, comparative method requires that triangulation schema
or diagrams be established for affirming the correct selection of features to
be reconstructed; the following paragraphs describe the structural devices
used for this purpose.

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 Reconstruction necessitates arranging the melodic material in a man-
ner permitting exposition of the infrastructure of cognate melodies. It has
been discovered that analysis of the infrastructure allows basic melodic
correspondence to be more easily ascertained; accordingly, the material
must be separated into its various components and prepared in special
comparative formats. As a procedure, this preparation of the material is
as lengthy and tedious as the actual process of reconstruction, but without
it one cannot very well establish the combinations of contextual features
requisite for making a meaningful comparison of cognate melodic material.
Therefore, melodic elements such as pitch, rhythm, and interval are treated
separately as ordered sets of features, and commensurable procedures are
used to make structural analyses of each set.

To expose the infrastructure involved with pitch and interval, the

tunes must be reduced to the rudimentary groups of pitches of which they
are composed. Thus the cognate melodies are changed into ordered sets
of pitches by converting all examples to whole-note values and eliminating
all repeated notes. Having done this, one is left with nothing more than
skeletal series of notes that are to be assigned positions in an analytical
matrix structure. From these matrices or comparative formats one may
derive paradigm models to be used in the reconstruction process.

The first model to be reconstructed is related to determining where

pitch change occurs at any given point in a majority of the melodies. For
every locus common to a corpus of cognate melodies, it is assumed that
the pitch occurring with greatest frequency is the one that most likely
existed at that position in a parent melody. For analyzing this positional
incidence of pitch change, a matrix is prepared as follows. Staffs for each
of the cognate melodies are placed in a vertical arrangement, and each
staff of the matrix is divided into numbered segments corresponding to
the syllables used in the song text. Where more than one note is used for
setting a syllable, a corresponding number of segments are assigned to its
position on the staff. The pitches of a melody, now in their whole-note
notation, are placed in the numbered segment of the staff according to the
point at which they occur in the melody. As shown in Figure 2, the array
of pitches thus disposed in the matrix structure may now be examined to
discover the statistical incidence of pitch change as it occurs at every
point in the text setting. Those pitches having the greatest incidence for
any given melodic position are assigned to that position in a linear struc-
ture called the Pitch Order. With respect to notation found in this struc-
ture, statistically predominant pitches are notated as a whole note, and in
the case of an almost even split the predominant pitch for that position
is accompanied by the pitch of lesser incidence which is notated with an
x; pitches occurring with equal statistical significance are both notated at
that position with an x, and in the absence of a predominant pitch, nothing

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 B1 4 ,-'--,
IIIf.I",*,
I ',',-
I I, ,
I " I-
* ^,-I _,-
o.. -o
- oI9 I,
_
Il Yl-- - -

AL
I4) ! I I I I ~ I i 0 ? ld I ' I I I I v I

4i 1 1' .. 0 V 0' ,I. I . ,010 0 -

E2 O ?'~~~
O ,^ 1 , 1 1 , 1 ^ l0 ! I o . . I , I |

I' j.& I I 0 ? <? .0 --? c- -

4 . - fd ?t "J)
[ d1 [ | I I I I I 1 I I 1~ I [ w I I I I I I I
lOl IlI 0 - " 0 , l
00
S211

-'? 0~ ~ ' 0 ..
4- ,,~,
, -[oq
,

S176 I~~? I
I I 1
I 1,
I I 1
' II .I 1
I 1
1 1
I I
IO I 0
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I

JL -G, 0 "o o 1- " 0 " -- rt 0

1 "" ?
AS 4 .. 0 - A~~~~~~~~d1
-~ 0 #0 -.?Or. 4

-- O ~,( . ~ q t-
^ ,<? ! I . I I I I | 1^ 1 . " I *

B2

SP

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Figure 2.

is notated in the model. The resulting Pitch Order for the three construc-
tions of Don Gato is depicted in Figure 3.
Two types of information can be gained from making this statistical
analysis of pitch change. It becomes immediately apparent where a given
pitch seems to have been most important in proto-melodic forms as well as
where there are points that were subjected to change. From the latter situ-
ation, one easily recognizes the points at which it will be necessary to ar-
rive at a more complex solution for existing correspondences such as those
where pitch s of one example has become pitch y in another. Concerning

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Figure 3. Pitch order for cognate melodies of

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the reliability of this model there is a caveat, for an a' in a context of de-
scending intervals is not a melodic feature identical to an a' found in an
ascending order of pitches; only where considerations of tonal harmony
are involved might one accept both these as being the same a'. Also, even
in cases where the pitch order is identical, there may be displacements
with regard to the numerical position when repeated notes occur at differ-
ing points in a text setting, and the statistical incidence for all positions
will be consequently affected. For these reasons the statistical Pitch Order
will therefore not necessarily conform to that of the pitches in the final
forms of reconstructed melody, but it will aid in making decisions about
which notes to favor in the triangulation process.

Another comparative matrix is designed to discern positional contexts

of melodic fragments; it is constructed by locating similar pitches or
groups of pitches within the same numbered positions on each staff of the
analytic structure. From this operation will result a configuration of the
motivic pitch groupings common to the corpus of cognate melodies.

In Figure 4 may be seen an example of positional structure. Com-

ponents of this structure are the sequences of pitches used to set the first
line of text for Don Gato, and they represent the infrastructure of the
melodic entity that has been designated Construction I. At position 1 is
located the initial e' found in eight of the examples. Located at position 2
is the a' found initially in three examples and close to the beginning of all
other examples. The g#' in position 3 belongs to an example unique among
the corpus of melodies, and therefore the presence of this pitch requires
leaving a blank for all other examples; because of this unique example, an
a' placed at position 4 requires another blank for the other examples. At
position 5 is placed the b' that in all examples occurs in a context of being
preceded by an a', and this uniformity of correspondences is also found in
the c" at position 6. Evidence of change becomes quite apparent with the
next note. On the one hand, there may have been an addition or deletion
at this point; on the other hand, it is possible that the b' occurring in some
melodies was changed to an a' in others. The surrounding context of notes
resolves the problem fairly simply, for almost all the examples have an ante-
penultimate a' followed by a penultimate b'; if this pitch motif is aligned
in all the examples, it becomes evident that for five of the melodies there
is no b' or its substitute at position 7. The antepenultimate a' is located
at position 8 and is followed by the penultimate b' at position 9. At posi-
tion 10 occur the passing notes found in three of the examples at this point
in their melodies. Melodic movement dictates positioning of the final notes;
those finals resulting from a descending movement are placed at position
11, and those resulting from other types of melodic movement are placed
at position 12.

In making this positional structure, some of the first steps of recon-

struction are also performed. For instance, it will be noted that the pitches

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 B1

AL

4 ?. _

4 i
4 -T-
G 0. .l 4
I "
0 4,
10) I

4 101 ! a !
1?O I I I ! I I 1 I I I I

S211

S176
4 1-I
I I i ?I -
I I I I- , 0I 1,i i
I 1 I

AS

'I I I I i I I I 0 1

SP
T i r 3 I I i I ' i 89 i i I
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Figure 4. Positional structure.

for Example E1 correspond to the setting of its seco

than that for the first line; this substitution is justifie
of pitch order found in other examples organized lik
songs of this type, the second line of text is a repeat
melodic settings of both lines are likewise repeated.
it may be inferred that the first-line setting for E
transposed up a third from the original melody wh
more faithfully reflected in the setting for the second
ferences already noted and discussed are that ext

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Example B1 and that some type of major change occurred to affect the
melodic structure at position 7. Related groupings of notes may now be
observed, and from the positional organization of this diagram, some of
the salient features of the proto-melody's infrastructure begin to become
apparent.

Another triangulation procedure of singular importance to reconstruc-

tion is that of analyzing the constituents of each cognate melody. For our
purposes, a constituent may be defined as any melody, melodic motif, or
melodic fragment which enters into some larger construction. It is axio-
matic that, in any specified musical continuum, all but the smallest melodic
constituents are constructions, and all but the largest melodic constituents
are constituents. In order to reconstruct proto-melody, it is necessary to
establish hypothetically what are the original, immediate constituents from
which the parent tune is constructed. An Immediate Constituent is one of
the two or more melodic constituents of which any musical structure is
directly formed. In terms of analytical hierarchy, the Immediate Constitu-
ents of a given melodic construction are its constituents at the next lower
level; those melodic constituents on any still lower level are constituents
but are not Immediate Constituents. Constituent analysis is concerned with
isolating similar groupings of pitches assumed to be present in cognate
melodies. Structural analysis of Immediate Constituents differs from that
of Pitch Order in that it is concerned with a higher level of constituents;
whereas Pitch Order is only related to the statistical incidence of pitch
change found at each point in the tunes, the Constituent Order ascertains
the sequence of interrelated groups of pitches. Thus Pitch Order and con-
stituent Order may sometimes be very similar, but they will not necessarily
be identical. By selecting the Immediate Constituents most common to a
majority of examples, a paradigm model of the Constituent Order can be
constructed.

The corpus of cognate melodies consists of two basic groups, and in

Figure 5 are seen the constituent analyses of Constructions I and III as
given for each of the two groups. To discern the order of Immediate Con-
stituents in any construction, rectangles are placed around similar pitch
groups, and the point of cut-off should occur where one or more examples
show divergence from the rest; similarity may consist of either identical
pitch or identical interval patterns. Each pitch group enclosed by a rec-
tangle is considered an Immediate Constituent, and overlapping rectangles
emphasize points of cohesion among the Immediate Constituents; for pur-
poses of identification, every rectangle representing an Immediate Con-
stituent has been assigned a capital letter according to alphabetical order.
From the evidence presented in Figure 5, there are five verifiable Immed-
iate Constituents for Construction I and six Immediate Constituents for

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 Construction I Construction III
r TD
A B C E

B1

o 9o

AL
* - *-J L

E ?B~~ ~9C

4> 3

:-- -O' =- '

D",

S211
01?~~ 0 0

S176
b m " o L ? ' < t ? ,

C E

AS Bt

41 9
A66 D

0 r- '- e --|
B2

~~, 9 0 %, * ~~~~~~~~,
SP

Figure 5.

Construction III. However, some of the Immediate Constituents hold the

same position at given points in the cognate melodies, and these will be
shown as correspondences in the structure illustrating hypothetical Con-
stituent Order.

When constructing the hypothetical Constituent Order for Don Gato,

it becomes apparent that we are working with two basic groups of melo-
dies. In Construction I, it will be noted that six of the examples have the
Immediate Constituent marked C whereas five have the corresponding
Immediate Constituent marked D; also, in Construction III, Immediate
Constituent A of some examples corresponds to Immediate Constituent B
in others. From this evidence it is necessary to construct separate Constitu-
ent Orders for Group One and Group Two. Immediate Constituents are

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chosen according to two criteria: greatest statistical frequency and greatest
interlocking with other Immediate Constituents. The Constituent Orders
constructed for Group One and Group Two are found in Figure 6.

A 13 6 , A C r c -A
roup One i I I I [
ATwo e r I- = ec D"

ooup Two , o II I Is-o -- II

Construction I Construction III

Figure 6. Immediate constituent orde

Occasionally other criteria such as rhy

or tonal set may be used for justifying r
is based on the predominant note val
whereas interval statistic is based on the
juncture of the melody. These criteri
neither member of a pair of melodies
lated in either of the hypothetical order
illustration will suffice to clarify this p
7 in Example X the pitch is a' whereas
the Pitch Order and the Constituent Order it is found that a b' is indicated
for position 7, and due to this circumstance one is faced with a dilemma
because neither of the possible pitches to be reconstructed exists in either
of the hypothetical orders. However, the problem may be solved by having
recourse to the statistical incidence of intervals at that juncture in all the
melodies. Let us suppose that in a majority of the examples the note at
position 7 was approached by a rising second; by comparison, in Example
X the a' was approached by a falling third whereas in Example Y the
movement toward the c' was by a rising second. For this particular case,
the c' would be reconstructed because its interval and melodic movement
were most like the majority of examples at this juncture in the melody.

Having established criteria for triangulation procedures, it is now

possible to proceed with the actual process of reconstruction. All examples
are aligned as illustrated in Figure 7, each note being given a slot for its
corresponding syllable in the song. The slots are numbered for the sake of
identifying every positional point in the tunes. For reconstruction, the
examples are now to be paired according to the greatest similarity because
those pairs having the most identical features are more likely to have a
common origin. Also, since there are two basic groups of tunes for Don
Gato, the reconstruction will proceed according to these groups.

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 Construction I Constr. II Construction III

B1
j-i rr ;r , fi
AL
* ,.J^ ^^r ^ jrl I.f, , J , r $,rI r,r I r
I~I I I Irr r Ir r
I !

44
.^ .r.r.
; J , r J,}
^,-,r
,r ,J
rr J-
, f,r r,,r 1J
, r ,r J *

.,- If,fr , Jr r ,
S211
4 , 1 f,^ ,,^l , ,-j-, , ,-j r?r r
S176
I r1r,
I 1,
I ,,
I ,, r r ,Ir I
r fI r
I
-
I I

~4V j al ! ff e e ,!, | ;},! , ,lr- lr,fCr

AS

4 ~J,,^ r.r ,f , 1 , , r r 'l f ,ff , !

B2
4 .^ .''.rir^~ ,,, ,
SP
t J -1 ^ r'rl, r , , ,r r r, rr'r r r 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Figure 7.

In Figure 8 can be seen the reconstruction of the proto-melody for

Examples E4 and AL. For slots 1 through 6 the pitches and rhythms of both
examples are identical and reconstructed as such. The pitches are identical
at slot 7, and the quarter-note is reconstructed here because it has the
greatest incidence for this slot. An e' is reconstructed for slot 10 because
this pitch exists at this point both in the hypothetical Pitch Order and in
the Constituent Order. The two notes for slots 11 and 12 are removed from
the constructed melody because they do not occur in any other example.
Identical melodic movement dictates that the reconstruction for slots 13,
14, and 15 have a rising second followed by a falling second; the actual
pitches are reconstructed according to statistical incidence for these slots,
and therefore are a', b', and a'. On the basis of the Constituent Order, the
melodic figure for slots 16 and 17 is reconstructed as a'-d". Slots 18, 19, 20,
and 21 are identical in the two examples and therefore are reconstructed as
e", f", e", and d" respectively. Slot 22 has identical pitches, and the
quarter-note value is reconstructed according to statistical incidence of this

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 C. I C.II C.III

I I -I r IFr I f , I I ' J f r r r r r'

1 2 3 4 5'6 7 8 9 10111 12 131141 16 17 18 19120121122 23 24'25

L 'J. 'r.rr r . 1 JJ JJ j T r rr r rrr

E4 AL

Figu r 1 I I I
Figure 8.

note. The c" of slot 25 is part of a melodic figure occurring in only one
example of these tunes and is therefore dropped from the reconstruction.
When there are not an even number of examples, comparative method
requires that one of the tunes be used a second time to reconstruct the
proto-melody of the odd member of the group. Since Example E4 is most
like Example E,, these two melodies are used for the reconstruction given
in Figure 9. The first six slots are identical and reconstructed as such. In
A
E 2
C.I
. .
C.II
E . .
C.III

* l Jr

E 2E4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Figure 9.

slot 7, the identical pitch b' is given a quarter-note value as indicated by

the rhythmic statistic. The reconstructed e' for slot 10 is identical for both
examples. Since the notes for Construction II are identical, they are recon-
structed as such in slots 13, 14, and 15. For Construction III, the quarter-
notes value is assigned the identical pitch found in slot 16 in agreement
with rhythmic statistic. Slots 17 through 21 are reconstructed because of
being identical, and a half-note value conforming to rhythmic statistic is
selected for the identical pitch of slot 22.

The positional matrix becomes an effective tool for reconstructing the

last proto-melody in Group One. Realignment of these melodies is required
if they are to be effectively compared. Thus Figure 10 shows the realign-
ment of melodic elements according to patterns found in the positional-
structure matrix, and this results in a greater number of either rhythmic or
interval correspondences of an identical nature. For slot 1, an e' is recon-
structed in conformity with Pitch and Constituent Orders. For the rest of
this reconstruction it seems best to drop the next three notes of Example

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 B,1 C. I C.III

J j I ^r r r r r J
'1 2 3 14 5 6 7 I8 9 10 16' 1 19 20 21122123124 I 25
E

4B1 I 2 , r ,r ItIrI I
41 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 16 1718 19 20 21 22 25'
1 2 3 4 15 6 7 10 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25

Figure 10.

B1 because they are unique to this example and since the positional matrix
indicates that slot 5 of this example should correspond to slot 2 of most of
the others. For B1 slots 5 through 10 are renumbered to read slots 2
through 7; also, the first two notes will be dropped from Example E3 be-
cause in no other example are there three repeated pitches with this open-
ing rhythmic pattern, whereas the note for slot 3 seems to conform to those
found in slot 2 in many other examples. Having made these adjustments,
for slot 2 the half-note a' is reconstructed as being common. The b' for slot
3 conforms to that of Pitch and Constituent Orders, while the notes for slots
4, 5, and 6 are found to be common to both examples. A quarter-note value
is assigned the identical pitch for slot 7 as indicated by the rhythmic
statistic, and slot 10 has a reconstructed e' as confirmed by Pitch and Con-
stituent Orders. Construction III shows agreement only with respect to
some melodic movement. The initial b' is reconstructed because it is also
found in at least the Aldealsefior example. According to the tonal set for
Construction III, the pitches used for slots 17 through 22 would most likely
be those of Example E3; the rhythmic values for these slots are those found
in a majority of examples. The final pitch occurring at slot 25 is recon-
structed according to Constituent Order and rhythmic statistic for this slot.

The proto-melodies that have just been reconstructed will eventually

be used for reconstructing a hypothetically much older version, the proto-
proto-melody. However, proto-melodies for Group Two will first be con-
structed before progressing to reconstruction of older versions.

The divergence that probably caused the difference in melodies of

Group One and Group Two seems to be represented in Example S211, for
its Construction I is like the melodies of Group One whereas its Construc-
tion III belongs to the melodies of Group Two. Since more of its character-
istics are those of Group-Two melodies it will be reconstructed as part of
this group. As shown in Figure 11, the note for slot 1 is reconstructed as an
e' according to Pitch and Constituent Orders. Slots 2, 3, and 4 are identical
and reconstructed as such. Rhythmic statistic dictates a half-note value
for the identical pitch in slot 5. In slot 6, the Pitch Order as well as the
Constituent Order for Group Two indicate that the a' should be recon-
structed. In slot 7, the b' is preferred because it exists there in a majority of

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 C. I C.III
S211

X I J J ?, , 1, 'r r llrlP
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 25

S 1 M9 rT 9-', J,,r, -, , ,
2 3 4 5 6 7 10 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25

11i
'1 I' SP
r r II, !r
I IrI IrI rI IrI,I
rrI IIr
2 3 4 5 6 7 10 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25

Figure 11.

examples. The g#' of slot 9 is unique among the examples and therefore
dropped. The b' reconstructed for slot 10 can be found in at least one other
example and is therefore more acceptable than the a' which is unique to
Example S211. For Construction III, the notes in slots 6 through 9 are re-
constructed because of being identical. Constituent Order justifies recon-
structing the b' for slot 20. The notes for slots 21, 22, and 25 are identical as
shown in the melodic realignment and are reconstructed as such. The final
a' of Example S211 is unique to this example, and thus it is not considered
for reconstruction.

Reconstruction of the second proto-melody in Group Two requires

realignment of Example S176 according to evidence found in Constituent
Order; this reconstruction is given in Figure 12. For slots 1 and 2 the iden-
tical notes are reconstructed. The pitch for slot 3 is reconstructed in agree-
ment with evidence found at this point in many other examples. Slots 4, 5,

^\^ ' Example

r , 6r j S211
r rFF rr rr Ir
or rui

and 6 e r because of being identical. Te pit

'2 '3 4 15 '6 7 10 '13 14 15 16 17'18 19 20 21 22 25

Figure 12.

and 6 are reconstructed because of being identical. The pitch for slot 7 is
identical, and the half-note value is assigned to it because in many other
versions it is common to this slot. The a' occurring in the original slot 7 of
Example S176 is not reconstructed because it is unique as compared to all
other examples. In respect to Construction II, questions of melodic move-
ment are to be considered. Because four out of seven songs have a move-
ment upward and then downward for this Construction, it is decided that it
is best to reconstruct g#' and b' for slots 13 and 14 respectively; the pitches
for slot 15 are identical, and the quarter-note value is assigned to all three

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pitches in this Construction because of rhythmic statistic for these slots.
For Construction III it is necessary to transcribe the S176 example up one
step; by doing so, a number of pitches found in both examples become
identical. Since all but one of the examples in Group Two have an initial
e", that pitch is reconstructed for slot 16 and given a quarter-note value in
agreement with the rhythmic statistic. The identical e" is reconstructed for
slot 17, and the half-note is selected because it is a durational value appear-
ing in this slot in other examples. The notes for slots 18, 19, 20, and 21, and
25 are identical and are reconstructed as such.

The final reconstruction of proto-melodies for Group Two involves Ex-

amples B2 and E1 as shown in Figure 13. In agreement with Pitch Order

, Jl21
1 2 3 I3 , 6I r,
4 5 7 9r1
10 11
'16r2r I II19I 20
17 18 Ir 212225
I.rr 25' I'
112,314~1 I6, I ro

'12'3 4'5 6 '7 ' 10 113' '15 '16'17' '18'19'20'21'22 25

1 (B2,J,j,j,S,r; I , r J J, r r
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25

Figure 13.

and Constituent Order, the pitch for slot 1 is reconstructed as an initial

e'. For slots 2, 3, and 4 the notes are identical and reconstructed as such.
The identical c" for slot 5 is reconstructed with the quarter-note value indi-
cated by rhythmic statistic. The identical notes for slots 6 and 7 are recon-
structed as such. The g#' of slot 9 is not reconstructed because it does not
appear in other examples. The identical e' is reconstructed for slot 10. For
Construction II, the notes are reconstructed in accordance with pitches and
rhythmic values found in a majority of the examples having a form of this
construction. For Construction III, slots 16 and 17 are reconstructed be-
cause of having identical notes. In slot 18, the a' of Example B2 appears in
a context that is unique among all the examples and is therefore not recon-
structed; rather, the e" which has a greater incidence in both the Pitch and
Constituent Orders is reconstructed here. The notes for slots 19, 20, 21, 22
and 25 are identical and reconstructed as such.

The next step consists of establishing the proto-proto-melodies by

making a comparison and reconstruction of the pairs of proto-melodies that
were just now reconstructed. Accordingly, proto-melody E4AL is com-
pared with proto-melody S211E2 as demonstrated in Figure 14. Since all
the notes for slots 1 through 10 are the same, they are reconstructed as such.
For Construction II, the notes of E4AL are added to the proto-proto-
melody because of reasons stated above when they were first reconstructed.
The notes of Construction III are also identical and are therefore recon-

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 E AL

E2 ! ,rl I , 1 jl:; J tr E4
E4 ;, E AL
2 J 31 1 1 719rrr
,24 ' 3 1 45 r .61 j J f1 8' 1 r r 1 I
1 ' 2 1 3 1 4 ' 5 1 6 'r7 '10 ' l '13'14 15r ' ' 16117'18'19 20 21'22 ' 1

Figure 14.

structed as such; the resulting tune is considered hypothetically to be the

parent melody of the two proto-melodies.

A similar comparison is made of proto-melodies E4AL and B1Es, as

shown in Figure 15. The notes of Construction I are found to be identical
and those of Construction II are added for reasons stated in the preceding
paragraph. For Construction III, it is necessary to decide which group of
E4AL

* j , l, C,r, r ^r ,J, , , , , , , ,| !t r C,rr, , ,

B1E3
rr Il ,,,I II I Irf' r rr,,, |
E4AL B1 E3

(, t - 1e' 2rr f JA r JrJ r r Jr J p; rfr r r rr r

' 3 1 4 1 5 ' 6 7 '0 13 14 15 ' 16 17'18 19 20'21122'

Figure 15.

pitches to use. Because more of the melodies constituting Group One have
the opening motif of a rising fourth, it is decided to retain this interval and
the pitches following it. Thus the pitches for Construction III are the same
as in proto-melody E4AL, and the final pitch of its companion proto-
melody is dropped because it does not agree with the Constituent Order at
this point in the reconstructed tune.

As given in Figure 16, one of the proto-proto-melodies of Group Two

may be reconstructed as follows. An initial e' is reconstructed in slot 1 in
agreement with the Pitch and Constituent Orders, and an initial e' is recon-
structed for slot 1. Slots 2 through 6 are identical in both proto-melodies
and are reconstructed accordingly. The two notes of Construction II are
reconstructed according to criteria already mentioned. Slots 16 through 25
are identical in both proto-melodies and are reconstructed as such.

Reconstruction of the other proto-proto-melody of Group Two is

shown in Figure 17. In agreement with Pitch and Constituent Orders, an
initial e' is reconstructed for slot 1. Slots 2 through 6 are identical in both

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 S211 SP

4 J r J I r I I I I I I I I rI l 121 rI
? 1 B2 J rI Ir r r r r r
I ,1 ! I I I I 1 r I I t , 19 ' 20 ' 21
S211 SP E1 B2
,~ :1. ? r J r l I rr r r r r rr r
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25

Figure 16.

S176 AS

EI |i l ' I , 1 I | , I i l I i I l I 191 ' 20 121 ' 22 ' 2

I ~ I I l 1 I I I I I l J I I r '19 20 21
S176 AS S211 SP

1^*-~$1 j.J
i rr9r),
'; r . rr .r , rr r r ,r,r
2 3 4 5 6 7 10 13 4 16 17 1 19 20 21 22 25

Figure 17.

proto-melodies and are reconstructed accordingly. The identical pitch in

slot 7 is reconstructed with a quarter-note value in accord with the rhyth-
mic statistic. Identical notes in the proto-melodies justify reconstructing
the e' at slot 10. The first note of Construction II is reconstructed according
to the best statistical evidence, and since more tunes have an a' in slot 13,
that pitch is reconstructed. The b' in slot 14 is reconstructed because it
agrees with the interval statistic at that juncture in the melody. The a' of
slot 15 is reconstructed as a quarter-note because of rhythmic statistic. For
Construction III, slot 16 is identical in the proto-melodies. Slots 19 through
25 are reconstructed on the basis of evidence found in the Constituent
Order and because the pitch sequence of proto-melody S176AS is no
found in other examples. Also, the major mode of proto-melody S176AS i
changed to minor so that it agrees with a majority of the other examples

We have now come to the point where the parent melodies for Group
One and Group Two may be reconstructed. The proto-proto-proto-melody
for Group One will look the same as either of its proto-proto-melodies be
cause they are identical, and thus further reconstruction is unnecessary.

In reconstructing the proto-proto-proto-proto melody for Group Two,

the areas of contrast are very small. The initial e' is reconstructed as bein
common to both forms as shown in Figure 18. The half-note value assigned
to slot 2 is justified by a majority of examples having the initial interval of a
rising fourth. For slots 3 through 10 the notes of both proto-proto-melodies
are identical and reconstructed as such. For Construction II, statistical evi-

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 S176 AS S211 SP

^ I 1 I I I ,' I, I l l I 18 19 20 ' 21 ' '

44 -J r Jr, J rr, r r r r r r,
S211 SP E1 B2 J

?'?4i3 ! r ^ .r *, l J ^,r,, ! C r, ,rrrr,

l I2li3IlI5 I 13 1 i 1617'18 192021' ' I
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 13 14 15 16 17118 19 20 21122 25 '

Figure 18. Proto-proto-proto-melody and hypoth

dence gives preference to the a' for slot 13, inter

for slot 14, and rhythmic statistic calls for a quarte
the identical a' in slot 15. Slots 16 through 25 are
proto-melodies and are reconstructed accordingly

It will not be necessary to attempt reconstructin

Groups One and Two. Given the fact that many exam
repeated notes at the beginnings of Constructions I
able that these characteristics found in the proto-pr
of Group Two would weigh in favor its features bei
parent tune.

As presented here, these reconstructions only rep

to use the comparative method for studying song
cultures. Much more development is needed to a
other types of music and world musical systems
these reconstructions it is possible to discern some u
tical approach. For instance, it can be stated that
particular song, the beginnings and endings of p
the greatest degree of change whereas pitches,
Constituents, seemed to be more constant through t
Through this technique there is a greater possibi
thetical glimpse into the past, seeing how notes w
there, and how durational values and pitches we
follow the process of musical diffusion, tracing an e
world area to its parent form located quite far away
musicologists willing to expend their energy in this
facts even hypothetically will prove most reward

REFERENCES CITED

Garcia M., Manuel.

1951 Cancionero Popular de la Provincia de Madrid. Barcelona:
de Investigaciones de Musicologia.
1960 Cancionero Popular de la Provincia de Madrid. Barcel
perior de Investigaciones de Musicologia.

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All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Mendoza, V. T.
1939 El romance Espaniol y el corrido Mexicano. Mexico: Ediciones de la Uni-
versidad Nacional Aut6noma.
1940 Cincuenta romances escogidos y armonizados. Mexico: E.D.I.A.P.S.A.
Sanchez, Anibal.
1943 Nuevo Cancionero Salmantino. Salamanca: Imprenta Provincial.
Schindler, Kurt.
1941 Folk Music and Poetry of Spain and Portugal. New York: Hispanic Insti-
tute.

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