Der Soziologe Gregory Bateson besuchte die Iatmul in den frühen 1930er Jahren. Er studierte die Gesellschaftsstrukturen und machte dabei eine für unsere Fragestellung interessante Beobachtung. Vervollständigen Sie seinen Text.

«Two men play together and their flutes are tuned by trimming the length so that flute A is exactly (*1) higher in pitch than flute B. Then the harmonics of A will (*2) in B’s scale, an arrangement which would seem to be a characteristic product of Iatmul thought. In their social system this pattern is repeated in the Age Grades which are arranged in an (*3) series, staggered like the spokes of a wheel; and again in a line series of brothers there is a similar staggering and it is expected that the first, third and fifth brothers will form an alliance in quarrels against the (*4) and (*5). Whether the process of thought patterned by such a system have influenced the planning of the flute duet it is impossible to say for certain, but this sort of staggering is not common as a feature of social organisation and I do not know of any similar phenomenon in music.»

(BATESON, Gregory (1936): «Music in New Guinea», in: The Eagle, St. John’s College Magazine, vol. 48, Cambridge: St. John’s College, 1936, p. 158-170.)