ABSTRACT
The chant-like quality which the quarter note rhythm lends to the singing is reinforced by the variability of the melody, its lack of a clearly defined tonality, and the prevalence of repeated notes and small intervals (seconds and thirds) betwen adjacent notes of the tune. The melodic stanza appears to consist of three or four phrases whose contour is preserved in each verse but not the melodic detail. Thus each phrase is realized differently and can only be characterized in general terms: phrase A (bars 1-2, 7-8, 15-16, 21-22) covers an overall range of a fifth or sixth and consists of a falling figure rounded off by a slight rise and fall; phrase B (bars 3-4, 9-10, 17-18, 23-24) has a more limited range of a second or third and comprises primarily repeated notes or oscillations between two pitches; phrase C (bars 11-12 and 25-26 only) is again restricted to a third in range and makes use of repeated notes, but ends with a rising scale and a prolonged bar in the case of bar 12; phrase D (bars 5-6, 13-14, 19-20, 27-28) resembles phrase A in its range and falling contour but ends with a repeated note or stepwise ascent. The exception to this last feature is the final bar of all in which the teller signals the end of the singing and the tale by letting the pitch level glissando down to a note below die melodic range used hitherto, and quickly curtailing that note in the manner of a staccato.
