Four-cell Entities

Comparison
     of Polly Put The Kettle On, Mary Had A Little Lamb, and London Bridge Is Falling Down -
These three songs all have the same first cell ( / '), the same as in Aura Lee,
     but the ensuing results are quite different.
(a) The three songs will have four cells (contrary to the two cells of Aura Lee)
     on account of the F= on the Beat of the second cell, the Langer Hinge.
(b) This feminine rhyme at the second cell will impose identical first and third cells in the three songs
      (cell-symmetry).
(c) The differences between the three songs occur in the Off-beat of the second and fourth cells,
     and, to a lesser extent, in the Beat of the fourth cell.
(d) Polly Put The Kettle On is the only song to repeat the K2 in the Off-beat of the second cell
     creating the triple ObOb-symmetry of the first, second, and third cells and
     imposing the change (in this case K1) in the Off-beat of the fourth cell.
(e) Both Mary Had A Little Lamb and London Bridge have F= in the Off-beat of the second cell
     (a ObB-symmetrical F=F= cell), but the similarity ends there.
(f) Mary Had A Little Lamb has K2 in the Off-beat of the fourth cell,
     creating a triple ObOb-symmetry in the Off-beats of the first, third, and fourth cells,
     conveniently avoiding excessive repetition by the presence of a different Off-beat (F=) in the second cell.
(g) London Bridge has the K1 (of Polly Put The Kettle On) in the Off-beat of the fourth cell
     and the F= (of Mary Had A Little Lamb) in the Off-beat of the second cell,
          but it is not obliged to have both (one is enough to avoid excessive symmetry).
     There is therefore less symmetry and repetition in it than in the other two,
          possibly on account of its F- ending which leaves it "unfinished"
               and thus a little less tightly structured.

Split Cells

Once we established the concept of Split Cells
          (probably after examining and analysing Oh, When The Saints),
     we were surprised to see how popular they were and in how many songs they appeared -
          from only once (in various places of the melody),
          to constantly (every single cell being split).
     We will present them in groups, according to their frequency of appearance.

One Split Cell

When a split cell only appears once in a complete pattern,
          it will not always be at the same place -
     we will start with the cases where it is closest to the beginning of the melody.
We place Jingle Bells first because -
          its split cell, at the beginning, has no pick-ups FF KM KF pKM.
     It's 4-cell pattern is divided into 2 Melo-rhythmic Entities, with a Feminine Rhyme in the center of each -
          FF KM in the first entity and KF pKM in the second.
On the other hand, Oh, When The Saints
          has an pick-up everywhere pMpM pKM pKF- pKM.
     It's 4-cell pattern is composed of 4 Melo-rhythmic Entities, a 2-layer MI-MI-MA, with
          two Entities pMpM in the first (split) cell,
          one Entity pKM in the second.cell, and
          one Entity pKF pKM in the third and fourth cells, with a Feminine Rhyme in the middle.
Now, in both Mary Had A Little Lamb and London Bridge Is Falling Down, the second cell is split -
          KF FF KF pKM in Mary Had A Little Lamb and
          KF FF KF K1F- in London Bridge Is Falling Down.
     In each case, the 4-cell pattern is composed of one single Melo-rhythmic Entity, with
          the Feminine Rhyme of its split cell FF placed in the center of the melody.
In She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain the third cell is split -
          pKM pKM pF+pF+ pKM with "double rebounds" in the pF+pF+.
     It's 4-cell pattern is composed of three Melo-rhythmic Entities, a 1-layer MI-MI-MA, with
          one Entity pKM in the first cell,
          one Entity pKM in the second.cell, and
          one Entity pF+pF+ pKM in the third and fourth cells,
               with the Feminine Rhyme of the split cell in the middle.
In Aura Lee, the fifth cell is split -
          the FF in KF KM KF KM FF KM KF KM.
     The 8-cell pattern of the song is composed of four Melo-rhythmic Entities, each a member of an AABA,
          with the split cell at the beginning of the Bridge (B) FF KM
               quite similar to the beginning of Jingle Bells.
          This split cell creates the required Melo-rhythmic diversity between the four Entities.
It is interesting to note the variety of positions possible for one, isolated split cell in a melody.

Two Split Cells

When split cells appear twice in a complete pattern,
          it might be under quite different circumstances,
     from part of the time (here 2 out of 6 times) to all of the time.
In Der Tannenbaum, the first and fifth cells are split -
          the pFpF in pFpF pKF pKF pKF pFpF pKF.
     The 6-cell pattern of the song is composed of three (weak) Melo-rhythmic Entities,
               each a member of an ABA,
          with the split cell at the beginning of each A pFpF pKF
               contrary to Aura Lee which has its split cell in the Bridge (B).
In Down In The Valley, both cells are split -
          in pFpM pFpM.
     The 2-cell pattern of the song is composed uniquely of fused split cells pFpM
          which places the song, to a certain extent, in the following category.

Four Split Cells

When all the cells of a pattern are split,
          here again, there will be a considerable variety of possibilities.
In the chorus of Never On Sunday, there is no fusion whatever,
     either within or between the cells
          with exactly the same (unfused) cell everywhere 4x (pMpM).
     The only variation is in the pick-up which we will see in the next Commentary.
In the chorus of Autumn Leaves, there is fusion between cells -
     between the first and the second and between the third and the fourth,
          producing two 2-cell Entities 2x (pMpF- pMpM).
     Here, the pick-ups are constant, all .
Quando, Quando is very similar to Autumn Leaves,
     with cells fused two by two pMpF- pMpM, this time an A in a large AABA
          consisting of 2x (pMpF- pMpM) pMpM pMpM pMpF pMpM
     The Bridge (B) has no fusion 2x (pMpM)
          very much like the chorus of Never On Sunday.

Sub-division of p3

We thought it might be interesting to observe various manifestations of a very popular pick-up
          composed of the last three eighth-notes before the first bar-line, p3, .
     These manifestations consist of various degrees of subdivision of the eigth-notes into sixteenth-notes.
          Some songs are consistent once the choice is made, others are not.

The Basic

The first three songs maintain the basic pick-up throughout -
          Oh, When The Saints with p3Mp3M p3KM p3KF- p3KM,
          Tarara-Boom-Diay with p3F-p3F- p3F-p3F- p3F-p3F- p3F-p3M, and
          Autumn Leaves with 2x (p3Mp3F- p3Mp3M).
     However, the surrounding Melo-rhythmical surroundings are completely different -
          In Oh, When The Saints we have a 2-layered MI-MI-MA
               in which the p3, appears twice in the first cell, only once in the other three cells.
          In Tarara-Boom-Diay we have one 4-cell entity
               with F- Feminine Rhymes everywhere, twice per cell, except for the very end.
          In Autumn Leaves we have two 2-cell Entities
               with M Masculine Rhymes everywhere, except on the Beat of the first and third cells.

So far we have found only one song which uses combined with ,
          none which use exclusively.
     The chorus of Never On Sunday with 4x (p3Mp3M)
          starts with once, followed by three times,
               forming an Entity of two split cells, half of the 4-cell, 2-entity Melody.

Here is a song which combines with -
     In Tres Palabras (Without You) with p3Mp3F- p3Mp3F- p3KF- p3M3pF-,
          we have an AABA within the Melo-harmony of the complete circle, a most unusual choice,
               with each A composed of p3Mp3F-, an antecedent split cell as in Autumn Leaves,
               and the Bridge (B) composed of p3KF-, a normal antecedent cell.
          Each A cell has -
               a pick-up before the Masculine Off-beat, \ _ ', and
               a pick-up before the Feminine Beat, \ _ '.
          The B cell has a pick-up before the kinetic Off-beat.
     In the chorus of Never On Sunday -
          the undivided pick-up came first, the divided followed,
          but here, the divided pick-up comes first, with the undivided following.
     Is this caused by the particular choice of antecedent split cells?
          We may some day find out.

Finally, a song which combines with -
     In Quando, Quando with 2x (p3Mp3F- p3M3pM) p3M3pM p3M3pM p3M3pF- p3M3pM,
               we have a normal AABA with the same Melo-harmony for each A,
          each A having four times in its two split cells,
                \ _ ' / _ ' \ _ ' / _ ', and
          the Bridge (B) having three times and the fourth time, in its two split cells.
                \ _ ' / _ ' \ _ ' / _ '
          In the Bridge, the less divided pick-up comes first and the more divided comes later.

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