Office ®f Indian Affairs, 
 Bulletin 19* (1923). 
 
 INDIAN MUSIC, 
 **** 
 
 (Excerpt fr©m Handbe®k ®f American Indians, 
 Bulletin 30, Bureau of Ethnology.) 
 
 **** 
 
 Indian music is coextensive with tribal life, for every public 
 ceremony, as well as each important act in the career of an individual, 
 has its accompaniment of song,. The music of each ceremony has its peculiar 
 rhythm, si also have the classes ©f songs which pertain, to Individual acts; 
 fasting and prayer, setting of traps, hunting, courtship, playing of games, 
 facing and defying death. An Indian can determine at once the class of a 
 strange song by the rhythm of the musio, but not by that of the drumbeat, 
 for the latter is net infrequently played in time differing from that of 
 the song. In structure the Indian song follows the outline of the form 
 which obtains in our own music--<a short, melodic phrase built on related 
 tones which we denominate chord lines, repeated with more or less varia¬ 
 tion, grouped into clauses, and correlated into periods. The compass cf 
 songs varies from one to three octaves. 
 
 Some ®6ngs have no words, but the absence of the latter dees n« 
 
 impair the definite meaning; vocables are used, and when once set to a me 9 y 
 
 they arc never changed. Occasionally both words and vocables are emp °y c 
 in the same song. Plural singing is generally in unison on the plains -n 
 elsewhere, the women using a high, reedy, falsetto tone an octave above ° •' 
 
 male singers. Amo ng the Cherokee and other southern tribes, however, roun 
 singing was common. Men and women having clear resonant voices and^go© 
 musical intonation compose the choirs which lead the singing in ccrcmon cs, 
 and arc paid for their services. Frequently two or three hundred p^rsono 
 
 join in a choral, and the carrying of the melody in octaves by seprano, cnor_, 
 
 and bass voices, produces harmonic effects. 
 
 Songs arc the property of Giants, societies, and individuals. . 
 
 Clans and societies have special officers to insure the exact transmiSoion 
 and rendition of their songs, which members alone have the right to sing, 
 and a penalty is exacted from the member who makes a mistake in singing. 
 
 The privilege to sing individual songs must sometimes be puic aoc r0 “ 
 
 the owner, Tmnen composed and sang the lullaby and the spinning an t> 
 
 songs* Among the pueblos men joined in singing the lat cr an ea 
 
 the floor as the women worked at the metates. son S s 
 
 women were those songs to encourage the warrior' as he wen or 
 
 camp, and those sung to send to him, by the will of the singers, strength 
 
 and power to endure the hardships of the battle. 
 
 On the northern Pacific coast, and among other tribes as wcil 
 musical contests were held, when singers from one tntre or band weuld co nd 
 with those from another tribe or band as to which could remember the greatest 
 number or accurately repeat a new song after hearing it given for th ir*t 
 
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time, Ajnong all the tribes accurate singing was considered a desirable 
 ac csmplishmcnt, 
 
 Among the Baffinland Eskimo grudges are settled by the opponents 
 n&octijig by appointment and singing sarcastic songs at each other. The one 
 vho creates the most laughter is regarded as the victor. The Danish writers 
 call these controversial songs "nith songs." 
 
 In ceremonial songs, which are formal appeals to the supernatural , 
 accuracy in rendering is essential, as otherwise "the path would not bo 
 straight ; the appeals could not reach their proper destination and evil 
 conferences nould follow. Consequently, when an error in singing occurs, 
 e lingers $top at once, and either the song or the wholieceremony is 
 
 !f ainJ ° T> aS in somG tribes > a rite of contrition is performed, afttr 
 ic, ne ceremony may proceed. Official prompters keep strict watch during 
 a ceremony m order to forestall such accidents. 
 
 which fr eq uent5 C dif?fr S °Xr^ * oll<w the of the drum, 
 
 in 2/4 time an/the song be in s/i'S? 1 °f the h^f dl "T b ° b0aten 
 
 a melody in 3/4 or thorn! Z ' the b ° at be ln 5 / 8 tim0 against 
 drum. The beat^e-ov^rn +’ ///-> e 5un S t-o a rapid tremolo beating of the 
 
 the ; P peal. b te S S bSlio? ^ thC S ° ng ™ icOS tbc bf 
 
 ia in part exto^^ tl song the invi-ifle ^ ^ 33 ™ bo1 ° f lifs 
 
 reach the invisible power tLl LIZ t J O1C0 13 su PP OSGd to bc able to 
 The Indian -incs vri + h n v,"® o P raeat0E nature and animates all natural forms, 
 of his emotion and h ? " f ° r °°' boin 6 intont on expressing the fervor 
 
 The Ttr^ToTt^ IT n ° cono °P tion a n objectivepresentation of music. 
 
 sontS fattens U and f* 8 tone **ality, strass Parpens a note, 
 
 molodv Ihf' and contxnued portomento blurs the outline of the 
 
 within'a rh^° ™tL furtbc ^. c0 5 uscd b ^ voice pulsations, making a rhythm 
 a measure dfcent ^ + 0 ° m P llGa tion being added when the drum is hoatoi to 
 
 two of them contosting^sMaettocs^itrsTOo 550 t^ ° n ° + 11137 h ° ar thre0 rh yt hms . 
 built whole T+ v, f i sometimes with syncopation, yot resulting in a well- 
 
 catch an Jnki sW TZ ^ difficult for a listener of another race to 
 
 then howeve" thi- e diff I + me i° dy 13 ° ft0n " hiddcn b7 overpowering noise." 
 
 t-5S sss 
 
 Europe. * ° 
 
 Drums vary in size and structure, and certain ceremonies have their 
 peculiar type. On the northwest coast a plank or box serves as a drum 
 Thistles of bone, wood, or pottery, some producing two or more tone- 'are 
 employed m some ceremonies; they symbolize the cry of birds or animals ! 
 the voices of spirits, Pandean pipes, which occur in South America were 
 unknown in the northern continent until recent times. In the Southwest 
 notched sticks are rasped together or on gourds, bones, or basket- to A 
 centuate rhythm. The flageolet is widely distributed and is plavld bv 
 young men during courtship; it also accompanies the songs of certain Pueblo 
 ceremonies. Rattle*? ewe re universal. Tne intoning of ritucl- 
 and speeches can hardly be regarded ac of musical character/* Tne mu-ic'-l^ 
 
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t>®Tr is used by the Maidu Indians $f California and by the Tepehuane, Ctra, 
 and Huichol tribes of the Piman stock in Mexico, AMong the Maidu this 
 plays an important part in religion and much sorcery is connected with it, 
 
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Bpasj Franz : 
 
 The Central Eskimo, pp, 648-658,111*; contained in 6th Annual Report, 
 Bureau of Ethnology, 1884-. , 85. Cut of print. 
 
 The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiut1 Indians; 
 contained in Annual Report, National Museum,1895; for sale by Super¬ 
 intendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, ITashington, D*C* 
 (cloth) $1*40. 
 
 Cr&nyn, George, XU : 
 
 The Path<:c% the Rainbow, An Anthology of Songs and Chants from the Indian 
 dians of North America, edited, by George Tv*. Cronyn; New York; Boni & 
 Ldveright, 1918, 
 
 Cu rtis, Natalie : 
 
 The Indian’s Book. New York: Harper & Bros. 1907, $7.50, 
 
 oongs of Ancient America; three Pueblo Indian corn-grinding songs from 
 Laguna, New Mexico, recorded, with pianoforte accompaniment and an 
 explanatory introduction. New York: G. Schirmer* vi. 12 pp, 
 
 Dcnsmore, Frances : 
 
 Chippewa Music, Pt.l; published as Bulletin 45, Bureau of Ethnology, 
 
 1910, 216 pp t ,12 plates. For sale by Supt, of Documents (cloth) 45/, 
 
 Chippewa Music, Pt, 2; published as Bulletin 53,Bureau of Ethnology,1913. 
 341 pp,,45 plates. For sale by Supt, of Documents (cloth) 60/. 
 
 •Teton Sioux Music; published as Bulletin 61, Bureau of Ethnology,1918. 
 
 561 pp*,82 plates. For sale by Supt. of Documents (cloth) $1.10. 
 
 Northern Ute Music; published as Bulletin 75, Bureau of Ethnology, also 
 as H, Doc* 99, 67th Cong,,1st Soss. 1922* 213 pp, for sale by Supt, 
 of Documents (cloth) 65/, 
 
 Fletcher, Alice C .; 
 
 Indian Games and Dances, with Native Songs. Boston: C. C. Birchard Co. 
 
 139 pp,, ill. $1.75, 
 
 Indian Story and Song, Boston: Small,Maynard & Co., 126 pp. $1.50. 
 
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Gillian, S. I . : 
 
 
 Hopi Songs, Boston: Boughton-Hifflin Co, 1908, 
 
 Zuni Melodics; Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition; con¬ 
 tained in a Journal of American Ethnology and Archaeology, Vol, 1. 
 Boston: Houghton-MiflTin Co* 1391. 
 
 Hoffman, 17. J.: 
 
 The Hide 1 mwin or "GrandMedicine Society" of the Ojibway; contained in 
 7th Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 143-300, FiSs: sale by 
 Supt, of Documents (cloth) $1*30, 
 
 Matthews, Washington : 
 
 Navajo myths, prayers and songs, with texts and translations. Berkeley, 
 California: University of California Publications, September, 1907, 
 pp. 22-63. 
 
 Night Chant; Memoirs American Museum of Natural History, Ant hr op, Scr», 
 v, 1902. 
 
 The Mountain Chant; A Navajo Ceremony; contained in 5th Annual Report, 
 Bureau of Ethnology, pp, 379-467,ill. 1887. For sale by Supt, of 
 Documents (clouh) $1,30. 
 
 Mooney, James : 
 
 The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890; contained in 
 14th Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, 1892-’93, Cut of print. 
 
 Stevenson, Matilda Coxe : 
 
 The Sia; contained in 11th Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, pp* 3-157, 
 Cut of print. 
 
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