3. Kauwerawet Vocal Music

The Kauwerawet or Takutameso tribe lives in the montain range near the bank of the Mamberamo River. Dr. J. Kunst undertook his research on its vocal music.

Two of its songs were recorded. Each has more than one version and was sung by four different tribesmen.

After recording both songs and their versions, Kunst and his colleagues made further study on them. They wanted to know which parts of the melodies could be considered the most fundamental and which were variations.

Various Musical Elements of the Kauwerawets

For that reason, they had a closer look at the various elements of Kauwerawet music. What elements?

Their songs were very short, each time sung with different words. For example, one song used three different texts, each with different words. The texts are given here in their syllabic and single-syllable word forms.

The first version: En-ce ma-ri-ri bo pi-ra-wa ri-ni-o /mak a ti bi-bi-dan. There are eighteen syllables: the first line has twelve, and the second line six syllables.

Ence, a bird hunter, came from across the sea. He was killed in the highland because of love. This is the only translation Le Roux provided from the Kauwerawet songs.

The second version: A-na ma-u ki-tau ki-ta ta ra mau /sab-a-ta bu-nu ki-ta. This version also has eighteen syllables: the first line has eleven and the second seven syllables.

The third version: En-ce bo-ya bo-ya, ko-bo ra-mak o so /tom a ko-ja sa-tu. There are also eighteen syllables: the first line has twelve and the second line six syllables.

Despite the same total number of syllables in the three versions, the words for each version are different.

The translation available from one of the versions does not help us understand the meaning of the other two. We, therefore, cannot determine whether each version is a different verse that supports a main idea or one that stands apart.

In addition, the text or words of the songs are strophic. The songs are, therefore, repeated.

Meanwhile, their meters are rather free. In other words, the songs are not so strictly controlled by one type of time signature, such as 4/4 or 6/8. Such meters of the Kauwerawet songs remind us of the Gregorian chants and psalms sung in Christian services that are also meter-free.

Furthermore, the number of syllables in a line is highly varied. In the three versions of one song, the numbers of syllables in both lines of the first and third versions are the same but those in the first and second lines of the second version are slightly different. In another example, the variations in the numbers of syllables of the lines of various versions of other songs are different. These variations obviously affect the rhythms of the melodies.

To understand further the change of rhythm caused by the addition or subtraction of the number of syllables in a line, I will add some words to the first verse of a Papuan folk song from the northern-coast tribes of Dutch New Guinea, composed in the diatonic major scale and entitled Gara-Gara Janda Muda (Just Because Of A Young Widow). The original lyrics and the number of syllables of each line are as follows:

Ga-ra-ga-ra jan-da mu-da, 8 syllables

ga-ra-ga-ra jan-da mu-da, 8 syllables

ru-mah tang-ga ja-di ru-sak, 8 syllables

ru-mah tang-ga ja-di ru-sak. 8 syllables

The English translation: Just because of a young widow, just because of a young widow, the married family falls to pieces, the married family falls to pieces.

In total, there are thirty-two syllables in this folk song. The same number of syllables in each line makes it not only symmetric but also determines the types and patterns of note combinations used.

Now, the same lyrics will be modified by adding irregularly the number of syllables in each line, as follows:

Ga-ra-ga-ra Yo-se-fi-na jan-da mu-da, 12 syllables

ga-ra-ga-ra jan-da si Yo-se-fi-na, 11 syllables

Ru-mah tang-ga pa-ce ja-di ru-sak, 10 syllables

ru-mah tang-ga-nya ja-di ru-sak. 9 syllables

English translation: Just because of Josephine, a young widow, just because of Josephine, a young widow, the married family of the man falls to pieces, the married family of him falls to pieces.

Now, there are forty-two syllables that form the lyrics of this song but with irregular number of syllables for each line. In order to sing the additional syllables to the melody, a singer has to add some notes with different values to the original melody. The addition simultaneously modifies the rhythmic pattern of the song.

The expansion of the original lyrics of the coastal Papuan folk song - popular around the 1980s - explicates Kunst's discovery of the highly varied numbers of syllables in the lines of some song versions of the Kauwerawets. Such additions remind us of those in modern popular songs in which a solo singer sometimes adds words and therefore extra notes to an original song backed up by a duet, trio, or choir. The addition in a modern popular song however supports the main idea in the lyrics of the song.

What other typical characteristic is noticeable from the music of the Kauwerawet tribe? The imitation of bird voices woven by a singer into his song. When the recording was made, the imitation of bird chirps or twitters by the singer was not only woven into the song but also pleasant to the musical ears of the phonogram recorders. During the recording, the crow of a rooster and the natural quacks of ducks around the site for recording were even recorded and formed "natural" rhythm with the imitation of bird chirps or twitters by a male singer. Komasa, one of the male singers, was an expert in imitating bird songs.

Imitating bird songs was not only through the human voice. They could also be imitated by traditional musical instruments in other parts outside the area inhabited by the Kauwerawets, such as in the northeast coast of Dutch New Guinea. G. A. J. van der Sande, a Dutch researcher who joined an expedition to Netherlands New Guinea early 2oth century, observed the skills of the coastal people living in the Humboldt Bay in imitating bird songs through their sacred flutes. These are not the nine-hole bamboo flutes - thinner than the thick bamboo and with more space between two joints - used in modern flute orchestras, such as in church services. This bamboo flute probably originated from the influence of Molluccan Christians who brought it to Dutch New Guinea at the turn of the 2oth century; since then, the bamboo-flute orchestra has become a musical tradition among Papuan Christians. The sacred flute van der Sande noticed was made from a long piece of thin bamboo with more space between two joints. One of its end had a hole with a sliced circle that resembled the U letter; this part that was close to the end was carved with various motifs. The flute was sacred because it was used only in traditionally sacred rituals.

The Indonesian language distinguishes between "bambu" and "buluh" just termed "bamboo" in English. Both belong to the same plant family. The bambu, however, is thicker than the buluh and has less space among its joints when compared with that among the buluh joints.

A modern nine-hole flute is made of buluh. The sacred flute used in the Humboldt Bay as witnessed by van der Sande was also made from buluh.

Why were bird songs imitated in the traditional music of the people living in northeast Dutch New Guinea and of the Kauwerawets? Van der Sande presumed the birds whose songs were imitated through the sacred flutes in the Humboldt Bay were a part of the religious beliefs in their pre-Christian tradition. Based on van der Sande's presumption, Dr. J. Kunst also presumed that the bird-song imitation in the songs of the Kauwerawet tribe also originated from their traditional belief.

The technique of imitating animal voices in traditional songs in Papua was also observed among singers of the Pesechem tribe. It lives along the slopes of the southern part of the present-day Jayawijaya mountains. According to Kunst, however, the animal voices the Pesechem songs imitated through the Pesechem singers were intertwined and served as musical ornaments.

In fact, imitating animal voices has become a singing technique in some commercial music of the 20th century. It is apparent, for example, in the hoarse singing voice of a famous black-American trumpeter and jazz singer of the last century: Louis Amstrong. In some of his songs (such as Hello, Dolly), he imitated a voice similar to that of the growl of a dog or wolf - in short, a jungle voice - which was later known as "growl" in modern pop/jazz singing techniques.

Aside from the various jungle voices woven into traditional and modern music, Kunst's ears that were accustomed to European melodies perceived two distinctive characteristics of the traditional songs of the Kauwerawet tribe. First, they are short; and, second, they tend to descend the scale.

According to him, both indicate the earliest layer of Papuan culture. Both show primitive melodies equal to those of the Australian aborigines. Due to their identical cultural layer, the Kauwerawet melodies belong to the Australian (aborigine) type of music. Similar music was also discovered in the songs of the native islanders in the Torres Strait, between north Australia and south Dutch New Guinea. ". . . it is undoubtedly the most primitive music known at the present day."

What about the melody rhythms of the Kauwerawets and the tribes living in the Humboldt Bay as well as on the island of Yapen? The rhythmic patterns or forms of their melodies are simple. Some tones have small values followed by a tone sustained slightly longer, usually a low-sounding tone. The rhythm however can develop if the melody is accompanied by a text or words. The addition of the text can result in the combination of sixteenth notes, triplets, and quintuplets. The frequency of using triplets - each lasting for one beat in, for example, 4/4 songs - in Kauwerawet melodies was already observed in the traditional music of Papua New Guinea, later called Papua Nugini. The one-beat triplets are also heard in the melodies of the Humboldt Bay and Central Mountain Range tribes. Dr. J. Kunst himself listened to 6/8 songs containing triplets when he observed the songs of the singers from the Humboldt Bay and Yapen who took part in the Ethnographic Exhibition in Weltevreden - nowadays, Jatinegara (Jakarta) - in Batavia.

The use of triplets and quintuplets does not indicate typical rhythmic patterns of Papuan melodies. Triplets are also very common in the traditional melodies of the aborigines in Queensland (Australia) and in those of the Melanesians along the coasts of New Guinea as well as in those of the ethnic groups living in Nias, Sunda (West Java), and Flores in the former Dutch Indies.

To understand the cores of such melodies to identify their nature in a nutshell, Kunst frequently used melodic form schemes. In particular, what are the melodic form schemes of the two Kauwerawet songs discussed at the beginning of this chapter and their versions? Kunst gave two notes on their schemes, with the second scheme as the most clearly identified.

The first and second melodic scheme shows the range of one octave. While the first starts and ends with its C tonic, the second begins and ends with its F tonic, rare start and ending in modern music. The downward movement of the melody is obvious from each scheme.

What are the scales then that underlie the melodic structures of both Kauwerawet songs? The first scale is composed of four main notes, one of them - the tonic (I)- is repeated. The second scale was an estimate from the results of three different recording. The E and D notes were estimated to exist in the scale.

The capital Roman numerals under each note of the three scale forms demonstrates the types of intervals used. The scale forms, however, are not based on Western major or minor scales; as a result, we may find it hard to apply whole tones and semitones in Western music to the three Kauwerawet music scales.

For example, the distance between the highest C and A notes in the second scale show a third interval (C-B-A) in the Western diatonic major C scale. According to rules in Western music, Roman numeral III should have been written under the A note. In the scale underlying the Kauwerawet melody, however, the A note is the second note after the highest C. Therefore, the A note forms a second interval with its previous C note. In short, it is the note sequence in that Papuan traditional scale that determines the type of interval used.

What types of intervals were frequently sung by the Kauwerawet singers? According to Kunst, the average intervals they sang include the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth intervals.

Another recording of Kauwerawet songs demonstrates a mixture of solo and choir singers. There are four male singers, one of them can be considered the solo singer whereas the other three form the choir also joined by the solo singer. The solo singer always sings the melody and three singers sing along at the key notes of the song.

The third scale forms the basis for the solo song. Meanwhile, the scale for the choir uses the E and B notes, each of which is lowered to a semitone and becomes Eb and Bb. Both notes remind us of the blues notes in blues music in America.

The principal note for the choir begins from the first F note. It lasts until the second F note one octave lower. Based on Western musicology, the choir part, however, was added as a harmonic line to the solo scale by Kunst.

At the choir section, the voices of the four singers do not sound in tune. According to Western standards of good singing, the rhythm and melody in their singing are ragged, "untidy". However, they are in unison when they sing sustained notes. Kunst said their typical choir singing is an important characteristic of primitive music.

Another variation of one of the Kauwerawet songs results in another melodic form scheme and scale. The scheme is shown at the third melodic scheme. Its scale - the fifth scale -has the E note that seems to be suggested in the scale.

The Modernization of Kauwerawet Songs

The music of the Kauwerawet or Takutameso tribe belongs to the most primitive music. This category is known from three prominent characteristics: its melodies are short, they tend to descend the scale, and the choir singing is ragged. Their music, according to Kunst, indicates the earliest layer of the history of the Papuans.

In spite of these, some other characteristics of their songs can be traced forward to modern music, including that performed in Indonesia. Other characteristics are typical of Kauwerawet music and that of other tribes in Dutch New Guinea and Papua New Guinea. What characteristics?

• The song texts are strophic, a characteristic noticeable in a lot of modern songs influenced by Western music in Indonesia.
• There are slightly free meters in the songs. This tendency can also be noticed from psalm songs and Gregorian chants used in Christian services in Indonesia and abroad.
• The imitation of bird songs in the Kauwerawet songs and the playing of the sacred flutes in the Humboldt Bay seem to be connected to the religious beliefs of these tribes. For the Pesechem tribe, the imitation of animal voices is a musical ornament. In modern music of the last century, the imitation of animal voices, such as the growl in some of the songs sung by Louis Amstrong, reminds us of their primitive origin.
• Other characteristics of the Kauwerawet melodies include their brevity, tendency to descend the scale, and ragged choir singing. These characteristics are rare in modern music, except in short children's songs, "Amen" or "Hallelujah! Amen" songs in Christian services, commercial advertisement songs or melodies, and some disco songs.
• The typical rhythmic patterns of the Kauwerawet songs include different intervals and notes with different values, including triplets and quintuplets. In particular, triplets are also found in the melodies in the Humboldt-Bay, Yapen, Queensland, Melanesia, and Dutch Indies. Triplets frequently appear in modern music but quintuplets seem to be rarely used in modern music, such as popular music.
• The longest traditional scale known so far in Papuan traditional music has six notes. The shortest scale has four notes.
• The first to the sixth intervals are used in the scales. Rules about intervals for Kauwerawet melodies are different from those for Western diatonic music.
• The melodic form schemes for Kauwerawet songs are also typical because they are influenced by the scales that underlie them.

Obviously, there are some main characteristics of the melodies of the Kauwerawet and other Papuan tribes discussed so far. Some can be observed in modern music in Indonesia that are influenced by Western music. Others are typical of Papuan songs; they are not found or hard to find in modern music.

To enable Papuan ethnic music to be a part of the music of this century, professional Papuan and non-Papuan musicians have to modernize it. Life is change; therefore, the traditional Papuan music has to change, too. It has to be adapted to the musical trends of this century if it wants to become a part of modern music. Few people seem to like traditional music as it is. The majority, however, who are used to modern music will feel alienated from such traditional music. Therefore, Papuan traditional music has to be modernized, adapted to the demands of modern life.

How can Papuan and non-Papuan musicians modernize Papuan ethnic music with such characteristics? The following answers are subjective:

• Modernizing traditional Papuan songs should not eliminate their characteristics, including their typical features. Their elimination will make them identical with those of modern songs. Without identity, the modernized Papuan songs will lose their typicality and the chance for adding at least a new genre to the world music heritage.
• The recreation of traditional Papuan songs needs their modernization power from modern music, such as melodic and harmonic variations. Nevertheless, their typical marks have to be retained to strengthen their identity.
• Both secular and religious modern songs can be recreated based on the characteristics of traditional Papuan songs.
• The most primitive element of the songs can be emphasized by recreating it. The newly created music can express the primitive sides of man, such as his jealousy and tendencies for revenge as well hatred.
• To modernize Papuan ethnic music, musicians should be professional. They also need to show perseverance if they want to achieve significant results.

2. The ABC of Western Music (2)

Whether composed on the basis of the diatonic, chromatic, or natural minor scale, a melody has certain general characteristics. What are they?

Motive

The melody is formed from a core idea called a motive. In Western music, a motive is a short but recognizable melodic figure. It indicates the smallest possible subdivision in musical analysis.

A motive to a melody is like the central pillar to a house. From this central pillar, a constructor builds a house by adding other pillars, a framework, walls, and a roof. He also refines his work, paints the walls, adds decoration and ornaments as well as other construction details to such a degree that the house looks great, completely different from the first time its construction started with the central pillar. The motive is the central pillar; its development into fascinating details is the melodic development of the motive into a wonderful creation of musical pillars, framework, walls, roof, refinement, painting, decoration and ornaments as well as other details of sounds.

In the composition of Western melody, its motive is usually at its beginning, lasting for around two bars or measures. It can be repeated - by using the same or different tones - in other parts of the melody.

Here are some examples. The motive of the Christmas song, Silent Night, Holy Night, can be heard when the congregation sings, "Silent night, holy night". The core idea of Yamko Rambe Yamko, a Papuan folk song in a vernacular language which is popular in Indonesia, is at the beginning of the song where singers sing, "Hei, yamko rambe". G.F. Handel's Great Hallelujah has its melodic motive at the beginning of this great song where the choir sings "Hallelujah!" and then repeats the motive several times.

Note Combinations

A melody is composed through the combination of notes of various values and rest periods among notes. Notes sustained for some beats are combined with notes lasting for one beat, half a beat, a quarter beat, an eighth beat, a sixteenth beat, a thirty-second beat, and so on. The time for rest is usually indicated by a comma (where a singer stops temporarily to inhale) or a rest sign. In the tonic sol-fa (the "number or cipher notation") system, the rest sign is indicated by a zero (0).

A melodic composition needs time for rest. A melody without rest signs can be tiring for both a singer and listeners.

Scales

A melody is composed from a scale. The commonly used scales have already been explained.

Harmonic and non-harmonic tones

A melody can use harmonic or a combination of harmonic and non-harmonic tones. The harmonic tones are those used in various chords whereas the non-harmonic tones are those not being parts of chords but are inserted as variations among harmonic tones.

In the key of C major, the major C triad, for example, has the C-E-G notes. Each pair vertically forms the third interval. The three notes sound harmonic. They sound non-harmonic, however, when a note forming a second interval with its adjacent note is added. Because there are two pairs of third intervals, there are also two non-harmonic notes that are inserted: D between C-E and F between E-G. The combination of harmonic and non-harmonic tones results in an extended vertical sounding of notes: C-D-E-F-G.

The addition of non-harmonic tones to the harmonic ones is meant to smoothen the motion of a melody and produce certain musical effects. A bass guitar player who embellishes his harmonic with non-harmonic tones could make the melodic line he picks sound flexible and fascinating to listen to.

The melodic motion

A melody can show various motion. It can start with a high note then descends and ends with a low note. This is often the case with traditional melodies from Papua. For instance, Yamko Rambe Yamko, begins with the highest tonic note at its beginning and ends with its lowest tonic note. Besides, the melody can begin with the lowest note and ends with its highest. This is typical of Billy Joel's My Way. If you sing it in the key of C major, you will begin with its lowest note: G. You then move through various intervals, pitches, and rhythmic patterns higher and higher until you reach the climax of the song at the D note that corresponds to the word my in the last line: I did it my way. Still another melodic motion is comparable to climbing and going down a hill. You begin your singing journey by sounding a low note when you are in a valley, you step-wisely climb up and go down a hill several times, jump up and down over different steps, walk straight ahead, ascend to its highest peak and descend to its valley and stop for a rest there. This is the typical motion of Oh, Danny Boy, which was popularized in the 1960s by the wonderful baritone-bass male singer from America, Jim Reeves. A lot of great songs use the third motion.

Multiple keys and meters

A melody can move by using one or several key-notes. For example, it uses one key-note such as C major and then changes its key-note in the middle to E major before it returns to C major. The melody can also use one type of meter such as 4/4 or changes it: the melody begins with 4/4, then changes it to 2/4 on its way and ends its movement by going back to 4/4. There is clearly variation in the melodic motion.

Pentatonic scales

The influence of ethnic or traditional music results in the composition of songs based on pentatonic scales. The term "pentatonic" is derived from penta (five) and tonic, the adjective of tone, a noun; therefore, a pentatonic scale literally means a five-tone scale.

One of the scales seems to be widely used among a lot of ethnic groups, communities, and societies. In the key of C major, it consists of five notes: C-D-E-G-A. This type of pentatonic scale underlies the composition of traditional songs of various ethnic groups in Indonesia, such as the Papuans, Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, and Bataks. The scale is termed laras slendro in Java and is noticeable in various folk songs in Javanese, such as Lir Ilir. It forms popular gospels of the Black-American communities in the USA, including Swing Low, Sweet Chariots, Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, and Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen; it also underlies the internationally famous Auld Lang Syne from the Scottish people and even various popular songs from China and Korea. An American popular song of the 1980s, Kung Fu Fighting, was based on the same scale. The Christians recognize it in that simple but enduring song, Amazing Grace.

Some Indonesian Christian composers used the pentatonic scale of that mode to compose some church songs for the congregation. Kidung Jemaat, a hymn book used particularly in main-stream Protestant and Catholic services in Indonesia, contains songs using this scale. Subronto Kusuno Atmodjo, a German-educated musician, used the scale to compose Betapa Kita Tidak Bersyukur. C. Akwan, a Papuan musician, used the same scale prevalent in the ethnic or traditional music of coastal Papuans in the northern part of Papua and West Papua to compose Gembala Baik Bersuling nan Merdu, one of the most beloved songs frequently sung in church services and recorded by Christian singers and musicians in Indonesia as well as in Holland. The same scale underlies, for example, Semua yang Tercipta by M. Karatem, an experienced musician from Southeast Mollucas in the eastern part of Indonesia. The song was published in Nyanyikanlah Kidung Baru, a hymn book used by the Indonesian Christian Church, a main-stream Protestant church.

Another pentatonic scale of a different mode and not so widely used is called laras pelog in Javanese. In the key of C major, it has the following notes: C-E-F-G-B.

The pentatonic scale with such a mode also formed the basis of some Christian compositions in Indonesia. Subronto Kusumo Atmodjo used this in Roh Kudus Turunlah and Puji Allah Pencipta published in Kidung Jemaat. The same hymn book contains a pelog song by Father Soetanta S.J., a Catholic priest and Dutch-educated musician. Rev. Dr. Sutarno, a former president of Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java, composed two Christian pelog songs in Nyanyikanlah Kidung Baru: Ya Tuhanku, Kasihanilah Daku and Amin, Haleluya!. (Historically, the university was established around mid 1950s by main-stream Protestant educators from Indonesia, supported by the churches where they were members.) The three composers are Javanese.

In his book, Dr. J. Kunst mentioned anhemitonic scales also found in Dutch New Guinea. They have two, three, four or five tones.

Anhemitonic scales? What are they?

An anhemitonic scale is a shorter term for an anhemitonic pentatonic scale. We will look further into the one that has five tones. The tone area in this scale is divided into five different tones of an octave without semitones. The anhemitonic scale is also a term used in relation to primitive melodies with larger tonal range.

The complete tones of the C-D-E-G-A pentatonic scale that has five tones but without semitones should be C-D-E-G-A-C. The last C, though repeating the first, is one octave higher than the first. Each pair of tones forms a second major interval except the E-G and A-C pairs, each of which forms a third minor interval or four semitones. Its scale is also formed from two core melodies; each core has three notes. To understand this better, divide the six tones of this pentatonic mode into three. The lower three notes - C-D-E has E as its core melody; the higher three notes - G-AC has A as its core melody. Such a mode of pentatonic scale that has two core melodies and three notes for each core is a part of anhemitonic scales frequently noticed in primitive melodies.

Some other types of anhemitonic scales that are of pentatonic nature are as follows:

The name of each scale is derived from its lowest and highest notes. Each scale that has six notes is divided into two core melodies; each of them has three notes. The core melodies are indicated by the whole notes. The highest whole notes in the second and third scales are given but not counted because they are repetitions of their lowest tones of the same name. The lower three notes with the core melody of the first scale on the top left, for example, are EG-A; the higher three notes with their core melody are BD-E. It is not hard for you to analyze the core melodies and the notes of the other two scales.

Melodic range

Songs - that include melodies - are composed within certain range. For congregational or community singing, the lowest and highest limits of the range are average. If a song contains a note that sounds too low, singers with high voices such as soprano or tenor will face some difficulty in singing that note clearly. If the song contains a note that sounds too high, singers with low voices such as alto and bass will also face some difficulty in singing a note that sounds too low clearly. For solo singers, the melodic range is adapted to their suitable parts of voices, such as soprano, alto, tenor, and bas, and also to the melodic range achieved naturally - with no forced attempt.

Huembello, a traditional song from Ayamaru area in the western part of Dutch New Guinea, has a very limited tonal range. It has four tones, another example of the anhemitonic scale. To a certain extent, the scale reminds us of the blues scale. The song was modernized into a pop (funky) style and popularized in the late 1970s or early 198os by the Black Brothers, an Indonesian pop band from the former Irian Jaya - now Papua and West Papua. (For some unknown reasons, the group moved to Holland, Australia, and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.)

Diru-Diru Nina, a traditional pentatonic song from Yapen-Waropen in the northern part of Papua also modernized into an exciting reggae song by the same band, has a rather limited tonal range. The song which is a mixture of solo, duet, and trio has five tones sung by the lead singer. Simplified in the key of C major ( not the original key used by the Black Brothers), the five tones are C-D-E-G-A . The children's song from Biak, Apuse, composed by using the diatonic major scale uses one octave in its main melody. The song was also modernized into another pop song by the Black Brothers. Sajojo, a song in a Papuan language composed by one of the band members and also popularized for the first time in Indonesia by the band has nine notes. The famous Christmas hymn, Silent Night, Holy Night, uses eleven notes from the diatonic major scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F. The last four notes sound higher than the previous ones. All these songs with different tonal range can be sung by a solo singer or by a group of singers.

Melodic forms

Modern melodies from Indonesia influenced by Western music adhere to certain forms. One of them is called the strophic form. Simply said, a song having a strophic form repeats exactly or almost exactly its lyrical verses. The simple gospel, Amazing Grace, has more than one verse; yet, each verse repeats the same melodic line. The song shows an example of strophic form. Another famous hymn, How Great Thou Art, is also strophic in its form. The first four bars of this Swedish folk song turned into a church song are repeated in the next four bars. Then comes the refrain whose first four bars are also repeated almost the same in the next four bars.

The opposite song form is called the non-strophic form. A non-strophic melody keeps changing and does not repeat its parts or itself.

Key-note and tempo

A melody has a key-note and a tempo. The key-note is known from the key signature of a musical composition. It may have one or more than one sharp (#) or flat (b) written at the beginning of the notation or neither of both. In the last case, the melody is in the key of C major. The tempo is indicated at the beginning of a composition like this: q=100 or MM=100. It means the song is played for 1oo beats per minute (bpm). MM stands for Maelzel's Metronome, a tool for measuring various music tempos, from the slowest to the fastest.

The metronome as we use it today was invented by D.N. Winckel, a Dutch instrument maker in Amsterdam, at the beginning of the 19th century. Then, Maelzel, an Austrian instrument maker from Vienna, did some improvement to Winckel's invention and exploited it after he established a metronome factory in Paris (France) in 1816. Since then, the metronome has been named after Maelzel despite the fact that it had been Winckel's invention.

Melodic form scheme

For the sake of melodic analyses, music experts have discovered a way to summarize so many notes in melodies into their essential notes and motion patterns. This technique is called melodic form scheme. The scheme is controlled by the type of scale used in a melody.

The essential note is represented by a harmonic half note while a non-harmonic note is represented by a quarter note. A non-harmonic note is not a part of the notes in a chord; for the sake of variation or creating a certain effect, the note is inserted into the chord.

Let us take the C major chord in the key of C major as an example. Its triad has the C-E-G notes that form harmonic or chord tones; each note forms a third interval with another. The triad becomes a mixture of harmonic and non-harmonic tones when other notes outside the key and chord are added. Two non-harmonic notes: D and F can be added; the D is inserted between C-E and the F is put between E-G. The added notes form a second interval with the three notes of the C major triad.

The Biak's folk song, Apuse, put in the key of G major has in its main melody all the diatonic tones of the scale except the second note (A). The primary chords used for this song indicate that there are some non-harmonic tones inserted here and there in some chords, all without any inversions.

The diatonic chord notes , in their triad and dominant-seventh structures, are as follows: G (G-B-D or doh-me-soh), D (D-#F-A or soh-te-ray), D7 (D-F#-A-C or ray-soh-te-ray-fah), and C (C-E-G or fah-lah-doh). All the notes form the harmonic tones of the chords.

The non-harmonic tones are found in the chords of D7 (B or me) in the second and sixth bars and of G (B and C or fah) in the fourth bar. They form some variation and effects in the chord tones.

The main melody of Apuse covers one octave, with the A note implied in its harmonic tones. Its starts with the lowest G and ends with its highest. The diatonic major G scale used includes G-B-C-D-E-F#-G (doh-me-fah-soh-lah-te-doh).

To summarize Apuse, the experts in music choose only one stemless note to represent each type of harmonic and non-harmonic tones in the main melody. Such a summary is technically termed by Kunst as a "melodic form scheme".

What is the melodic form scheme of Apuse, then? The following notation shows the scheme:

You will frequently come across the analysis of such essential pillars of melodies when you read the research of Dr. J. Kunst on the traditional music in Dutch New Guinea. By understanding its essence, you (if you are or want to be a musician) will be easily helped to develop other melodic schemes into typically Papuan music by neatly blending Papuan and modern music elements.

Harmony

Simply said, harmony is the structure of chords. The easiest way to understand harmony is by studying the triads of a diatonic major scale. There are within a scale such as C major two types of triads: primary and secondary triads. In their chord symbols, the primary triads in C major include C-F-G/G7. The secondary triads cover Dmin-Emin-Amin-Bdim. Each triad is formed from a third interval with different qualities. The triads become chords through the addition of one tone or more. The primary chords are major, including the dominant seventh chord G7. The first three secondary triads are minor and the last chord is diminished. They are all diatonic chords because they are formed from the notes of a diatonic major scale, such as C major.

The major chords are generally used to express an optimistic mood. The minor chords are usually used to convey an introspective mood. In vocal music, both types of mood are determined by the melodic form adapted to the meaning of its lyrics.

In addition to the chord structure, harmony also includes voicing. It is the choosing of chord tones you want to play or sing. A complete chord can have more notes than the ones you need to play on your guitar, piano, organ, or to make your song arrangement into two to four parts. A C13 chord, for example, has seven notes in the key of C major: C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A. You need three chord notes to play on your organ or piano and six others to strum on your guitar. Obviously, yo have to make some choices of which chord tones you need. The choices you make are called "voicing".

Harmony is a musical concept typical of Western music. It is not found in the traditional music of the Papuans in Netherlands New Guinea. What was often discovered by Kunst in his research was community singing (in unison). If he detected any voice blends similar to harmonized songs in the West, they did not follow the rules of Western harmony.

Related to harmony is the term "harmonics". It is a term used for the acoustic phenomena of music. The phenomena result from the fact that there are no pure tones that you can hear. (You can hear a pure tone, for example, from a tuning fork.) A pitch in harmonics is actually a composite, a blend, of many overtones also called partials . These notes are not heard as clearly as the the tone for which the pitch is named: the lowest note or fundamental. The overtones serve to establish the perceived timbre or tone-colors of the musical sound.

To illustrate, we will use the C note in the bass stave of the C major key as the fundamental note you can sound on your guitar. When you strike C, the fundamental note, on a string of your guitar, do you listen to that note only? Well, you listen to it clearly, but it is not the only note you perceive acoustically while you sound the string. If you listen closer, you will vaguely perceive other notes that sound together with the fundamental. These vague sounding notes can be another C an octave lower than the fundamental note, a B that forms a perfect fifth with the lowest C, an E, a G, and another B above the fundamental note. All notes other than the fundamental note (C) are called "overtones" or "partials". When you strike the guitar string, you actually sound a blend of the fundamental note and the vaguely distinctive other notes of the harmonics to create a certain tone-color of the string on your guitar.

Rhythm

Rhythm in the form of musical notation energizes the meaning of the lyrics in a song. The feeling for rhythm should therefore be compatible with the feelings in the words of the song.

In practice, the power of rhythm in the form of a musical notation is enhanced by musical accompaniment. In modern popular music, the musical accompaniment is called rhythm, style, idiom, tradition, genre. Those who are familiar with playing Yamaha PSR 3000 keyboard will notice various rhythms at Styles written near the top of the keyboard. You will notice the Ballad button that contains Classical Piano Ballad and the Hard Rock button. Each style is equipped with four types of buttons for rhythmic variation or breaks called "fill 1, fill 2, fill 3, and fill 4".

You can adjust your choices of the various rhythms at the keyboard with the atmosphere, mood, and meaning of the song you want to play. A good song should match or show some sort of "cooperation" with its rhythm and the meaning of its lyrics. If a lyrical message is mellow and is supported by its melody, the rhythm or style that supports both should also be mellow. Certain types of mellow ballads at the Yamaha keyboard are suitable for expressing a mellow message and melody. If a lyrical message and the melody that supports it are romantic, are marked by feeling and preferring grandeur, passion, and informal beauty, their relevant rhythm should also be romantic. Classical Pop Ballad at that keyboard is suitable for accompanying the romantic lyrics and melody. If the lyrical message is strong, the melody and its accompaniment should also be strong. Hard Rock matches the strong message and melody.

Enhancing a song atmosphere and mood through the unity of lyrics, melody, and style is a standard rule in composing and performing modern songs. This rule falls to pieces if a conflict occurs among the three of them. The energetic samba and salsa, on the one hand, become weak if you play either of one them using a relaxed or romantic idiom. The rhythm you use is not suitable. On the other hand, lyrics about an idyllic or pristine country or rural area become unsuitable if their melody moves energetically and fast and their musical accompaniment is lively like disco, funky, or heavy-metal rock. To make all of them congruous, the songs should be performed according to their typical styles, atmosphere, and the moods of their lyrics.

These idioms are related to dynamics. Any song needs energy. Even calm songs need intensity to enliven them. Rhythm helps enliven or energize music.

The Blending of All Musical Elements

In modern or Western music, all the general and specific elements should be blended to strengthen the main message of a song. A general rule about this says: All elements of a song should work together to heighten the feelings of the meaning of the message.

One application of this rule is the synchronization of melodic and word accents. A lot of modern songs in Indonesian, whether popular or classical, lack this principle of compatibility for reasons that are too many to be explained here. What can be said here is that composers of melodies and their lyrics with conflicting accents seem not to understand or not to have understood yet the rule about suitability.

For instance, there is a conflict of melodic and word accents in Burung Kakatua (the Cockatoo Bird), an old, Indonesian, quick-waltz, and popular song of the 1950s. If we read the beginning section of the lyrics following the normal Indonesian accents, such as those used by radio and television announcers, we can easily identify the strong accents (indicated by capital letters) and weak accents (indicated by small letters) of the words. The syllables getting strong accents are read louder than those getting weak accents.

BU-rung KA-ka-TU-a HING-gap DI jen-DE-la.

NE-nek SU-dahTU-a, gi-gi-NYA TING-gal DU-a.

(The cockatoo bird is perching at the window.

Grandmother is already old; she has two remaining teeth.)

(The word “gigiNYA” (her teeth) can also be accentuated on its second syllable: giGInya.)

The Indonesian lyrics follow Indonesian traditional poetry called pantun, similar in some way to limerick. Each pantun verse consists of two couplets; the first suggests the second by sound or similarity. In the old days, the pantun was often sung in contests where a boy addressed a quatrain to a girl who had to answer with a quatrain of her own. Some pantun are similar in their tone to limerick when they sound humorous in the second couplet.

What we hear, however, when we read the word accents by matching them with the melodic accents is incongruous to the point of evoking a humorous effect.

To get the effect, read the syllables of the words following the strong accents given on the first notes on the first counts of the measures (bars) - indicated by dashes - and the weak accents on other notes - represented by curvy lines. Your voice should sound louder on the strong accents.

Like Burung Kakatua, many other Indonesian songs show the same incongruity. They include popular songs (secular and religious), ethnic and national songs composed in Indonesian, and even church songs.

One of the few national songs whose melodic and word accents fit in perfectly is Maju Tak Gentar composed by Cornel Simanjuntak, a famous musician from Batak, North Sumatra. Few of the Christian hymn books that strictly obey the blending of all musical elements include Kidung Jemaat, Mazmur dan Nyanyian Rohani, and Nyanyikanlah Kidung Baru (to a certain extent).

Ready for Your Music Exploration

Your understanding of several aspects of the rudiments of Western music will hopefully make things easier for you to understand the research of Dr. J. Kunst on traditional Papuan music better. As we go along, I will explain other technical terms not covered in this chapter.

Introduction

If you are musically talented, you can compose songs based on traditional scales in Papua. If you no longer remember the scales, you can study again the results of scientific research on traditional Papuan music. Then, you can compose typical Papuan songs. It would be better if you could arrange its musical accompaniment as typically as possible.

Dr. J. Kunst can help you develop modern music based on Papuan ethnic music. He had conducted some research on traditional Papuan music by the end of the 1920s and in the 1930s. His works on traditional music in the former Dutch Indies, now Indonesia, and Netherlands New Guinea, now Papua and West Papua, have been studied at various universtities, both in Indonesia and abroad. He is even considered a pioneer in that branch of musicology called "ethnomusicology".

Three Times to Netherlands New Guinea

New Guinea, probably the largest island in the world, is located in South Pacific. It is divided into the independent Papua New Guinea in the east and the western half that belongs to Indonesia. The Indonesian half consists of two provinces: Papua and West Papua. The western half was named "New Guinea", "West New Guinea", "Netherlands New Guinea" or "Dutch New Guinea", and "West Papua" during the Dutch colonial period.

Though the western half had been known for centuries, it became a Dutch colony in the 19th century. On May 1, 1963, the Dutch sovereignity over the western half of that huge island was officially handed over to Indonesia, previously a Dutch colony in Southeast Asia, which claimed since its independence in 1945 that the western part belonged to it.

Dr. J. Kunst conducted his research on Papuan ethnic music at the western half of New Guinea called "Netherlands New Guinea", "Dutch New Guinea", or simply "West New Guinea" before the Second World War. Here lived hundreds of tribes with different levels of civilization. The relatively advanced Papuans - mostly of Melanesian stock - lived along the coasts while their relatively backward fellow Papuans lived in the highlands. Whatever their cultural progress was, all of them sang and played songs and music in different languages, recently totalling around 270 vernacular languages.

Most native Papuans are Christians. The largest part of them are Protestants of various denominations followed by the Catholics and Muslim adherents. However, traditional beliefs - particularly, in the highlands and other remote areas - are still practiced.

It is against such socio-cultural and political backgrounds that Dr. J. Kunst undertook his research on ethnic music, including Papuan music, before WW II. He is famous in ethnomusicology because of his monumental works on traditional music in the Dutch Indies. Three English editions of his research on traditional music, among others, of Java, Sunda (West Java), and Papua, an old name for Netherlands New Guinea, were published after his death.

His published research however does not refer to the western half of New Guinea as any of the names already mentioned. To avoid possible confusions by readers of his research, he simply used the name "New Guinea" or "Western New Guinea" to refer to this part.

I prefer to use "Netherlands New Guinea" or "Dutch New Guinea" to refer to New Guinea that Kunst used in his book. It can also be confusing to readers of this blog if the use of the name "New Guinea" as Kunst used it makes it hard for them to identify which part of the island of New Guinea is meant: Papua New Guinea in the east or Papua and West Papua in the west. However, I also use "New Guinea" to refer to the whole island.

The research of this Dutch ethnomusicologist in Dutch New Guinea was undertaken for the first time in 1926. J. Kunst participated in the Dutch-American New Guinea Expedition led by C.C.F.M. Le Roux, a Dutch ethnographer and topographer. Through the aid of Le Roux, Kunst was equipped with sixteen phonograms for recording songs and flute music of the Takutameso or Kauwerawet tribe in the highlands of Dutch New Guinea. (The recording, however, was made by Le Roux.) Kunst was not able to record the music of the Awembiaks and Dems, two pigmy tribes in the highlands. So, Le Roux and Muhammad Saleh, his assistant, who knew their songs by heart recorded their songs separately for him. Le Roux whistled them; Saleh played them on a violin.

In May 1929, Kunst had a chance to encounter Papuan music from Netherlands New Guinea. During this month, the Royal Batavia Society for Arts and Science celebrated its 150th anniversary in Batavia, now Jakarta. The anniversary was held together with the Fourth Congress of Science for the Pacific in Batavia that included an ethnographic exhibition. At this exhibition, communities from all over the Dutch Indies exhibited or performed their arts. The communities included a number of Papuans from Dutch New Guinea. They came from various tribes from the northern coasts of this area: Waropen, Yapen, and Humboldt Bay (where the present-day Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua, is located.) Kunst had the opportunity to record various songs of these tribes.

Kunst then made an official visit - not related to music - to Netherlands New Guinea in 1932. He had the opportunity to record various songs from the Papuan communities living in Waigeo, a large island of the Raja Ampat Archipelago, and Sorong, a town located at the western tip of the whole island of New Guinea. Around this year, he got a collection of songs recorded from the Marind, Ye, and Kau-anim tribes in the southeastern coast by Verschueren, a Dutch Catholic priest. The recording was made by Verschueren in Merauke, a small town in the southern coast locted near the border with Papua New Guinea. Kunst also got a collection of twenty-four songs from the Marind-Anim tribe noted down by Mr. Soukotta, an Ambonese police officer working in that region.

His last visit to Netherlands New Guinea came when he joined another expedition to this region in 1939. The expedition was organized by the Royal Dutch Society for Geography led again by Le Roux. During this expedition, Kunst had the opportunity to record the music of tribes living in the Central Mountain Ranges and songs of the Utah people in the southwest coast of Netherlands New Guinea.

Three Research Results

After Kunst passed away, his research on traditional Papuan music for different periods of time was published as a collection of three research results by his wife. In 1927, Kunst revised the subject matter for his first research; its results, A Study on Papuan Music, were then published for the first time by the Scientific Research Committee of the Dutch Indies in 1931. The results of his second research, Songs of North New Guinea, were published by the Royal Batavia Society for Arts and Science also in 1931. The results of his third research, The Native Music of Western New Guinea, were published by the the Royal Dutch Institute for the Tropics in 1950.

The research results of J. Kunst were first published in Dutch. Later, the English editions of his revised works were published by the Royal Dutch Institute for Linguistics, Geography, and Ethnology in 1967. Martinus Nijhoff, a publisher in the Hague, published the results under the title of Music in New Guinea.

Why Ethnic Music Was Studied

During Kunst's period, researchers on primitive societies knew little about the traditional music of these people. The researchers did not have a general picture of what traditional music of remote tribes was. They, therefore, needed systematic understanding of the music of all peoples through phonography. At that time, traditional African music not much studied and understood was threatened by foreign music. If this traditional music was not soon studied and recorded through the phonogram, music experts were worried that they could be late in understanding the true nature of African music. Such worries also applied to music in the Dutch Indies, including that in Dutch New Guinea.

Concerning the people in Netherlands New Guinea, Kunst stated that ethnographers seemed to have reached a consensus. They said that the people of Netherlands New Guinea were a mixture of various races with different levels of cultural progress. They, therefore, presumed that they would dicover different and overlapping layers of cultures among the inhabitants.

Is this presumption right? Research on music in Papua during Kunst's period was very limited. As far as this limitation was concerned with what he had already known, he said traditional music in Dutch New Guinea seemed to support the supposition that the Papuans were heterogeneous. (Now, it is known that his supposition is correct.) Based on the research on music of the Papuan tribes living in the Central Mountain Ranges, Kunst concluded that there existed two groups of music with different characteristics: Kauwerawet music and music of the pygmy tribes. In general, it can be said that the songs of both groups prove that more than one wave of civilization have hit the cultural development of the Papuans in Dutch New Guinea.

Kunst's works on Papuan music will be used as my main references for this blog and its Indonesian edition. Other references and my own observation on Papuan music will be added.