Rising and Falling Tonality in Seto Multipart Songs (South-East Estonia). The Kergütämine Technique and its Functions

Abstract

Changing pitch level (tonality) in traditional unaccompanied vocal music is a widespread but little studied phenomenon (Alekseyev 1986; Ambrazevičius 2014, 2015; Scherbaum & Mzhavanadze 2020). There is a well-known tendency towards gradual upward transposition, but the focus of this study is the much rarer phenomenon of abrupt downward modulation following a gradual rise in pitch regularly practiced in the multipart songs of the Seto (Southeast Estonia) and known as kergütämine (“relief ”). This study is the first attempt to describe this unusual technique by means of an acoustic analysis of samples belonging to the “primary” tradition. The main research material is composed of nine songs performed by the choirs of three prominent Seto lead singers, Anne Vabarna (b. 1877), Kreepa Pihlaste (b. 1892), and Veera Pähnapuu (b. 1916). The results of the analysis not only allow a thorough description of this technique, but also enable us to test three main hypotheses regarding the functions of kergütämine: 1) as a practical necessity to facilitate singing; 2) as a semantic and compositional device associated with the verbal text; 3) as an ancient custom that should be maintained. As a result of the study, one further explanation is proposed, namely that a rapid pitch rise originally had an independent aesthetic value and emotional and ritual functions in the Seto tradition, and the role of kergütämine was not to restrain the rise but to promote it, giving the choir “space” for more rapid ascent.