Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/29

 CHAPTER I

PRIMITIVE OR SAVAGE MUSIC

5. In General.—Some form of music is found in every part of the uncivilized world, from the islands of the southern Pacific round to the Americas, and from the equatorial zone far toward the poles. This extensive diffusion points to a spontaneous use by all races of song, dance and instrument as means of expression, amusement and even discipline. The primary impulse to music seems to belong to mankind as a whole.

Although most savage music is crude and to us disagreeable, yet its interest for the student is considerable. By noting how it arises, how it is used, and with what it is associated, we gain insight into the essence and relations of the musical impulse. The widespread combination of song with dancing, mimicry and poetry, as well as with religious exercises, challenges attention. The painstaking care in fashioning instruments is impressive and instructive. The naïve experiments in scale-making suggest the probable sources of modern theory. The analogies between the musical efforts of primitive adults and those of civilized children have a bearing upon current pedagogy. For the critical student of either history or æsthetics, therefore, the facts of savage music are valuable.

The great difficulty of the topic lies in the variable accuracy and clearness of the first-hand reports of the facts that come from travelers, missionaries and other observers.

6. As a Social Institution.—In primitive conditions music is first of all a social diversion or play, affording an outlet for surplus animal spirit, stimulating emotional excitement, and helping to maintain muscular and nervous energy. Singing and dancing are always conspicuously social—a centre of interest for perhaps a whole village or tribe. The craving for popular activity in these ways often leads to stated gatherings of a festal character, the ceremonies usually being specifically associated with an occupation or event, as with hunting, agriculture, worship or war, or with birth, sickness or death. The