Pitch Aspects (including pentatonic scale and hocket)

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• The entire melody is based on five-note (pentatonic) scales resulting in a rather wide melodic range. The five-note scale of C#, E, F#, G#, and B predominates in this k'antu. (If you play only the black keys on any keyboard instrument you will create a pentatonic scale.)
• The same melody played simultaneously at different pitch levels (homophonic texture) gives a distinctive ("hollow") sound to the music. (See also accompanying transcription of the different parts in Tr. 9:2, Worlds of Music, p. 454.)
• The South-Andean practice of hocketing distributes parts of a melody to two different groups of players. The performance of the melody is arranged so that the different groups each perform only distinct pitches of the melody. For example, if a melody consists of tone A followed by tones B and C, one of the groups plays tone A and then rests; while this groups rests the other group then plays tones B and C where they occur in the melody. As one group sounds, the other is silent. This creates a "hiccup" effect which is probably why hoquetus, the Latin term for "hiccup," was first used in Western music to describe this technique.