"Istrian scale" refers both to a "unique"Thammy Evans, Rudolf Abraham (2013). ''Istria: Croatian Peninsula, Rijeka, Slovenian Adriatic'', p.17. .

musical scale In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Often, especially in the ...

of folk music genres from

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

and

Kvarner The Kvarner Gulf (, or , la, Sinus Flanaticus or ), sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal ...

which use the style.Two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale
, ''UNESCO.org''. It is named for the Istrian peninsula. Istrian folk music is based on a distinctive six-tone musical scale (the so-called Istrian scale), and the peninsula's two-part, slightly nasal singing. The two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale, a traditional singing practice characteristic of the Istrian region and the north Adriatic coastal area and islands, was inscribed in UNESCO's ''List of Intangible Cultural Heritage'' in 2009. Genres include ''kanat'' and ''tarankanje''; techniques include nasal tone, variation and

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, and

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

to the

unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

; and instruments include

double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and c ...

s such as '' sopele'',

shawm The shawm () is a Bore_(wind_instruments)#Conical_bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after ...

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

, and other instruments such as

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

s and '' tambura'' lutes. It was first named by Ivan Matetić Ronjgov early in the twentieth century, assisting his study and notation of

Croatian music The music of Croatia, like the divisions of the country itself, has two major influences: Central European, present in central and northern parts of the country including Slavonia, and Mediterranean, present in coastal regions of Dalmatia and ...

Description

Non-

equal-tempered An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, w ...

,Marušić, Dario.
Reception of Istrian Musical Traditions
, ''Musicology 7/2007 (VII)''
Reception of Istrian Musical Traditions
, ''doiSerbia''). the scale could approximately be notated as: E-F-G-A-B-C exatonic(see:

enharmonic In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...

), the first six notes of an

octatonic scale An octatonic scale is any eight-note musical scale. However, the term most often refers to the symmetric scale composed of alternating whole and half steps, as shown at right. In classical theory (in contrast to jazz theory), this symmetrical ...

on E. It may be thought of in various ways, such as the Gregorian Phrygian mode with lowered 4th, 5th, and 6th degrees (on E: E-F-G-A-B-C-D eptatonic. Performances feature diaphony and the

Phrygian cadence In Classical music, Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution (music), resolution, especially in music of the 16th cent ...

(in E: F and D moving to E). Sopile

Though, "relative intonation var esconsiderably from example to example nd between instruments" the scale has also been described as derived from

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to ...

subharmonic In music, the undertone series or subharmonic series is a sequence of notes that results from inverting the intervals of the overtone series. While overtones naturally occur with the physical production of music on instruments, undertones must ...

s seven to fourteen (approximately D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D')( and ).Ruland, Heiner (1992). ''Expanding Tonal Awareness'', p.43. Rudolf Steiner. . Described by

Kathleen Schlesinger Kathleen Schlesinger (1862, in Holywood, Ireland – 1953, in London) was a British music archaeologist and curator of musical instruments at the British Museum.A. R. Meuss, ''Intervals, Scales, Tones and the Concert Pitch C'', 2004 p. 27/ref ...

on the Greek ''

aulos An ''aulos'' ( grc, αὐλός, plural , ''auloi'') or ''tibia'' (Latin) was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology. Though ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or "double flute", it was usu ...

'' In

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

's String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5, something like the Istrian mode, but without its top note, is found. Uroš Krek's ''Inventiones ferales'' (1962) uses the scale, "in a disguised manner".

Tartini Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in the Republic of Venice. Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred of pieces for the violin with the majority of ...

may have studied the scale, and Bartók took note of the scale. Karol Pahor's cycle of 15 pieces, ''Istrijanka'' (1950), was the result of study of the Istrian mode, as was

Danilo Švara Danilo Švara (2 April 1902 San Giuseppe, Italy - 25 April 1981 Ljubljana) was a prominent Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bord ...

's ''Sinfonia da camera in modo istriano'' (1957). The Istrian mode occurs in

Josip Štolcer-Slavenski Josip Štolcer-Slavenski (Serbian Cyrillic: Јосип Штолцер-Славенски; 11 May 1896 – 30 November 1955 ) was a Croatian composer and professor at the Music Academy in Belgrade. British musicologist Jim Samson described Š ...

's ''Balkanofonija'' (1927). Throughout the areas of Istria and the Kvarner Gulf the distinctive vocal singing has spread, consisting of alternating half and whole steps, which, particularly in older singers' and instrumentalists' renditions, are untempered. The songs are sung by pairs of singers (male, female, or mixed) in a characteristic two-part polyphony in minor thirds (or major sixths) with a cadence to a unison or an octave. Singers distinguish the higher (''na tanko'' 'thin') part from the lower (''na debelo'' 'fat').Rice, Timothy; Porter, James; and Goertzen, Chris (2017).
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Europe
', unpaginated. Routledge. .

References

External links

*
Two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale
(UNESCO), ''YouTube.com''. *
Few words about traditional Istrian Music and Dance
, ''Istria from Smrikve''. *
The folk music of Krk Island
, ''Gold and Silver Dots''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Istrian Scale Musical scales Croatian folk music Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity Istria Hemitonic scales

Description

See also

References

Further reading

External links