The Music of Hindostan c9.s2.35

c9.s2.35

We turn now to the other class of scale, the transilient, which proceeds by ‘leap’ to the Fourth, with a bridge note. It might seem at first glance as if these were not very different from the chromatic scales, since in both there is as a rule a leap of a minor Third. But there is a great difference in the melodies which embody them. A ‘chromatic’ melody tends to centre in the cluster of semitones, and to treat the leap as an occasional excursion. A ‘transilient’ melody moves more freely, and the leap is the most important material of the song.