If music came first (as many say) - then music is not what we think.
Not melody, nor harmony - certainly not rhythm.
But tones - or even just one tone.
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If the psalms of the King James Bible are song - yet are not metrical, nor do they rhyme - nor are they alliterative.
Then song is a mode of vocal production - in tones rather than speech.
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If poetry was originally a mode of performance, a presentation - yet it was not specific words (was memorized, was a paraphrase); then - minimally - it was words vocally produced in tones.
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What is characteristic of these forms is that the unit is the breath length.
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What is a tone? Hard to define, easy to detect.
At our railway station (which is a national hub) - around a decade ago and for several months, maybe a year or two - there used to be a female announcer that provided information on the public address system.
And she sang everything: that is to say she spoke everything in tones - not with a tune of any specific kind, but vocally produced on a note, various notes.
This is, indeed, the easiest, most natural method of vocal projection - as a way of making yourself heard over distance.
(A mother calling her son's name for him to return home - she sings it on two descending notes roughly a minor third apart Jon - ny... Jon - ny... )
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Therefore chant - that is to say (merely) speaking words using tones (and absent any specifiedsequence of tones) - is perhaps the spontaneous way of addressing a group; and of addressing divinity; and therefore (perhaps) chant is behind music, song, and poetry.
Chant-based music, song and poetry would necessarily be characterized by breath-length units - some words would be given extra individual importance or stress, and the specific identity of these stressed words would then be important (and un-paraphrase-able) as part of their meaning - and we have arrived at poetry.
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Strange that the primary form of public vocal production should nowadays be known only in its elaborated and professionalized versions of composed songs - except for the glimpse provided that female station announcer on the public address system, who spontaneously used tones as the natural and appropriate method of addressing the public.
"What is music, what is song, what is poetry? Tones"
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