Modal scales of the Dan Tranh

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Dan Tranh is a Vietnamese 17-string zither tuned to pentatonic modal scales. Each mode encompasses a given tuning and a specific mental expression or modal nuance, and ornamentation using pitch bends is an important embellishment. The Dan Tranh was tuned entirely by ear, and the repetition rate of the lowest-pitched string varied from G3 to E4 in data obtained over a 6-month period from a single artist (P.N.). The octave stretch was approximately 13 cents over 3 octaves with most of the increase in the upper octave, and was subtracted out to define a mean modal tuning. The intervallic distances and standard deviations in cents relative to the tonic of each mode are: Bac = [0, 188 ± 7, 500 ± 9, 698 ± 7, 891 ± 4], Ho Mai Nhi = [0, 166 ± 10, 513 ± 5, 695 ± 9, 859 ± 9], Oan = [0, 338 ± 9, 503 ± 6, 699 ± 6, 1026 ± 15], and Vong Co = [0, 375 ± 13, 519 ± 8, 704 ± 10, 866 ± 6]. The octave stretch and tuning variability are smaller than comparable data obtained in Western and other music cultures. The Vong Co mode strongly and the Ho Mai Nhi mode weakly violate coherehcy as defined by Balzano (1980), but two additional pitches in the Vong Co mode obtained through ornamentation restore coherency. The artist's ability to categorize isolated melodic intervals in a laboratory context will be discussed. [Work partially supported by NIH.]

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: