Abstract
Origin of the Pentatonic Scale THE late survival of a manner of life belonging to the Early Iron Age in the Hebrides has suggested to E. Cecil Curwen a study of the origin of and distribution of the pentatonic scale (Antiquity, December 1940) which occurs there in folk song as, it was supposed, a unique instance in Europe. An examination of various collections of folk-songs showed that the scale of five notes occurred as a tradition strong in Scotland, fairly strong in Ireland, but weak in Wales and England.
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Research Items. Nature 147, 90–91 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147090a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147090a0