Using a two-measure motive, which he announces at the very start, the singer works the material over and over, first in one harmonic mode and then in the other, frequently changing the form of the motive through embellishments or altered metric values, but always leaving an impression which harks back to the original motive.

Arrange the various tones of this melody in any order that we will, we cannot make them conform to any diatonic scale used in modern music.  If, however, we ignore the C-flat, which occurs twice in the song, it gives us an incomplete ascending melodic-minor scale in D-flat.  But the song is not minor in mode.  It is distinctly major in tonality.  It is formed mostly of the four tones D-flat, E-flat, A-flat, and B-flat.  All of these belong to the pentatonic major scale of D-flat.  This gives a very marked pentatonic flavor, yet the song is not in the pentatonic scale, for the singer introduces half steps, and there are no such intervals in the pentatonic scale.

Casting about among the scales used by various peoples, the nearest approach I find to the tonal succession of this song is one of the numerous scales or “tunings” used by the Japanese.  It is that known as the “Hirajoshi.”  To make comparison easy, I have transposed this Japanese koto-tuning into the same key as that of the song.  Along with it I show the tonal material of the Tinguian song arranged in corresponding sequence.

It will be seen that every note in the Japanese scale is found also in the Tinguian, though not always in the same octave.  All of the Tinguian tones are found in the Japanese scale except the C-flat and D-flat.  These exceptions are shown with their stems turned down.  The notes shown in white in the Tinguian scale are not sung at the pitch indicated, but occur in the song as octaves of these tones.  The black notes therefore show the actual tones sung.  It will be noticed that in the arrangement of the notes the opening tone is repeated a few notes later on.  This is because the Japanese usually tune the koto with the first and fifth strings in unison to facilitate the execution of certain passages in their music.

The “Jog,” heard so frequently in the Igorot songs, occurs eight times in this number.  It is not quite so well defined here, however, as in the Dang-dang-ay, being modified in this song either by syncopation, by phrasing, or by lack of accent.  It is interesting to note however, that it is always given on the tonic or the dominant, and also that it is repeated in true Igorot style.

The unconcern and skill with which the performer of this song unravels the mixed up duplet and triplet groups, is evidence of his inherent sense of rhythm, as it pertains to the symetry of note groups and their embodiment as beat-units into larger, varying measure-units; but his indifference, as he juggles his metric values of 2/4, 3/8, and 3/4 time, shows an entire absence of appreciation for form as revealed in even-measured sections, phrases, and periods of modern music.