Monthly Archives: September 2024

Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, Three Instruments of a Cultural Genocide

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The 1915 “Tentative Course of Study for United States Indian Schools” opens with the line “Indian schools must train the Indian youth of both sexes to take upon themselves the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.” (1915, BIA) This benign sentence tells us little of the real rationale for indian schools and how they were ran across the country.

Kill the Indian, Save the Man

Richard Henry Pratt
Captain Richard Henry Pratt

In 1892 at the National Conference of Charities and Correction in Denver, Colorado, Richard Pratt gave a speech titled “The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Whites.” This massively influential speech lays out his idea for native assimilation. Pratt is vehemently against the reservation system and the forcing of native people out of their land. Unfortunately, this is not out of respect for their right to self determination but instead the forceful assimilation of native people into white, capitalist culture.

“A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one… In a sense. I agree with the sentiment ,but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”1

But Beethoven, Really?

Yes, Really. Western musical education was a critical strategy in the cultural genocide that was the goal of these schools. The course of study states that the goal of music education is to “preserve the child voice” and to “cultivate enjoyment and appreciation of good music.2” These are the words used to launder the dirty reality of these schools. Children were abducted from their homes and put in these schools to learn solfege and listen to Beethoven. If Pratt had his way they would never learn the music of their cultural heritage, let alone be allowed to perform it.

There were sixteen American Indian boarding schools in Minnesota alone. The first of which opened in 1871 and many were ran through the 1970s. That is nearly a century of similar music education being taught in these boarding schools and in the classes of Saint Olaf College. That education which so many of us have a love/hate relationship with was used to tear down native culture across the country and close to home.

Further Reading on Boarding Schools in Minnesota

https://www.mnopedia.org/native-american-boarding-schools

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/what-happened-at-minnesotas-21-native-american-boarding-schools-unpacking-a-complex-history

  1. (Pratt, 1892) ↩︎
  2. (Sells, 1915) ↩︎

(“The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Rights”: R. H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center).

Sells, Cato. Tentative Course of Study for United States Indian Schools. Prepared under the Direction of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 1915. Government Printing Office, https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/tentative-course-of-study-for-united-states-indian-schools.-prepared-under-the-direction-of-commissioner-of-indian-affairs./7023327?item=7023390. Indigenous Histories and Cultures.

Rattling America – Indigenous Peoples’ Instruments of Connection

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Music is something that connects humanity. Across the entire world, people sing and dance together. In American history, the first people to make music across their homelands were here hundreds of years ago, and their story and history has been erased by colinization and greed of U.S. expansion. The indigenous tribes that occupied (and still occupy to some degree) these lands that we call America danced and celebrated in song and dance for thousands of years before a genocide caused their traditions to be forcibly lost and forgotten. Of the records that remain of the indigenous peoples’ music we see similarities across a large range of people who had separate communities in isolation from one another, and yet related in many aspects. The one aspect that I want to focus on is an instrument that has history in all corners of the North American Continent–the rattle.

Staff, S. F. A. (2015, November 9). Gourd Rattle, Connector of Native American Tradition. Borderlore. https://borderlore.org/gourd-rattle-connector-of-native-american-tradition/

This instrument is percussive in nature, used to accompany singing and dancing. Rattles are made out of a variety of materials. The materials used should include animal, plant and mineral components to be symbolic of the three kingdoms.1 The top of rattle, or container, can be made from a variety of natural materials, including: gourds, calabashes, turtle shells, cocoons, wood, bark, sections of animal horn, hide pouches, coconut shells, and woven fibres. 2 The handle compoentent is often made of wood, bone, or stone. The pieces inside may be seeds, clay pieces, small pebbles, or animal bones/teeth.

In part with these symbolic components used to create each instrument, the overall meaning behind the rattle as an instrument varies. Some tribes from the Eastern Woodlands region believe that rattles make the sound of creation, while some tribes from the tropical south believe they are for communication between living and spirit beings.2 For the Northwestern region, people believe that rattles represent voices from the spirit world.2 While the history and meaning behind rattles can vary from tribe to tribe, they are consistently used in ceremonies and rituals to bring peace, harmony, and healing.3

Image taken by Jaclyn Duellman on Sept. 21st, 2024

This image is of a rattle I saw at the Mahkato Wacipi. I asked the man who was playing this rattle for the moccasin game if I could take this picture. I also asked him what his rattle was made of and he told me, “I don’t know, I got it so long ago.” When I asked him to take a picture he handed me the rattle, after I took the picture and handed him his instrument back he firmly told me to shake the rattle. I shook it, and smiled at the man. He accepted my thanks for letting me see his instrument, and went back to the game. Upon further research into the history of Gourd Rattles, it is considered rude to not play a rattle, and communicates that the rattle is not nice enough or worthy of being played.4 In comparison with the rattle I was able to photograph, below is a sketch from 1851 of an American Indian man holding a gourd rattle.

[Sketchbook by F. B. Mayer, 5 of 6] – Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America. (2024). Amdigital.co.uk. https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/sketchbook-by-f.-b.-mayer-5-of-6/7029037?item=7029060

Protest music in the Native American Civil Rights Movement

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Singing is a common cornerstone of nonviolent protest. I’m sure most of us can think of songs with messages of social change and justice. However, the idea of protest music takes on a whole new meaning when the simply act of making music is rebellion, regardless of content. For many Native Americans, this aspect of culture has been banned, punished, and forcibly erased throughout America’s history of colonization. In exploring articles from the journal “Akwesasne Notes,” I have found a few examples of protest music in the context of the Native American civil rights movement as nonviolent resistance, an expression of identity, and a method to raise awareness.

The first newspaper article, written by Linda Champagne of the New York City Martin Luther King Jr. Institute of Nonviolence in June of 1990, details a days-long attack on a barricade that was put up around Akwesasne, the Mohawk nation, during sovereignty disputes between factions and involving the government. It was striking to me that even in the face of bombs and gunfire, survivors of this attack turned to music as nonviolent resistance. The author writes,

“The automatic weapon fire began to increase sometime before midnight. The women who were leaders in nonviolence were trying to decide what action they might take that would be helpful. The firing was too close to risk any show of bodies as a statement of nonviolent interaction in recent weeks, starting singing a song (…) ‘We are gentle angry people and we are singing for our lives.'”

The context of this situation is complex — anti-gambling groups and the Warriors society were at odds and the police got involved with an occupation of sorts– but the role of music as nonviolent protest is apparent.

The second article I found covered a protest at Mt. Rushmore National Park in August of 1970 against the government’s ongoing treaty violations with the Sioux people, including failure to pay for land acquisition and the creation of the Mt. Rushmore sculpture on a sacred site. Of the role of singing and dancing, the article reads,

“In addition to the occupancy, the singing and dancing protest program was continued in the area of the upper parking lot Sunday, with tourists being handed statements of it’s purpose and also being invited to join in the dancing or to support the movement through donations.”

This example reveals how singing and dancing can be a way to build bridges and invite people to experience Indigenous culture. In this scenario, tourists could be drawn in by the art and may be more likely to learn about and support the movement. Song and dance are peaceful, yet this expression of identity and resistance despite profound injustice is powerful, especially considering the painful erasure and disrespect that is symbolized in the Mt. Rushmore monument: the faces of four white men carved into a scared site on stolen land, hailed as a shrine to democracy.

Champagne, Linda. “Under Fire at Akwesasne.” Akwesasne Notes 22, no. 2 (June 1990). https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/akwesasne-notes-vol.-22-no.-2/7027307?item=7027309.
“Indians Continue Protest at Mountain.” Akwesasne Notes 2, no. 6 (August 31, 1970). https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/akwesasne-notes-vol.-2-no.-6/7025433?item=7025457.
Lieberman, Paul. “‘Great Law of Peace’ Lost in Indian Gambling Feud.” Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1990. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-27-mn-517-story.html.

Cultural Exploitation in Pine Ridge

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Engaging in another person’s culture can be a touchy subject – learning about other cultures is valuable and even fun! In some cases, however, it’s clear that some people overstep in their engagement of a culture that they’re not originally a part of. Such is the case of “non-Indians” mentioned in “The Oglala War Cry”, a newspaper published in the 1970s written by and for residents of the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation. This newspaper centered events or happenings relevant to the Pine Ridge residents, which may have included job postings, advertisements, or achievements of students in the local school. The newspaper also included many warnings and informative articles to residents questioning practices and problematic behavior within the community, as well as articles targeting the exploitation of land and culture that took place in Pine Ridge.


In a newspaper article addressed to the Editor of The Oglala War Cry, Debbie Rook writes a letter questioning the actions allowing Casey Tibbs, a cowboy and actor at the time, to record and possibly use film of a sacred dance, the Sun Dance, in a film he was producing, “The Wild Breed.” Rook points out that the community “lose[s] money each year on the Sundance,” pointing out that this would’ve been an opportunity for the community to be compensated. Rook parallels this exploitation with the sale of the Manhattan Island, which was sold from the Algonquin Indians to Peter Minuit for what today would be $24 in 1626. By comparing these events, Rook emphasizes the importance of the Sun Dance and the history that the community has between non-Indigenous people (and in this case, white people) and their culture. This brings to question – how should you collaborate and approach the culture of a people who have historically been exploited, deceived, or oppressed?

SongCatcher: Reckoning and (possibly) Reconciling with Frances Densmore.

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Written in 1998 by Native American playwright Marcie Rendon, SongCatcher follows two young Native American protagonists who are visited by the spirits of their ancestors, as well as that of Frances Densmore, infamous in the field musicology for her recordings of Native American songs, including those of the Ojibwe and Sioux, among others.

The protagonists of the play, Jack and Chris are foils. Jack tries to get back in touch with tradition through reading Densmore’s work and playing her transcriptions on a keyboard. Chris, on the other hand, participates in more traditional ways of gaining knowledge. She learns from elders.

The pair are visited by spirits in their dreams. The spirit of Frances Densmore initially visits Chris. The audience might see similarities between the two; both young women who are sure of themselves. In the initial dream, Rendon even imagines them smoking together (31). Their exchange, though, quickly turns a bit hostile:

FRANCES DENSMORE
This is the one habit I’ve acquired while in the company of your people. I find it most relaxing. I might even venture to say that tobacco might be Native people’s greatest contribution to modern civilization.
CHRIS
Well that contribution you’re sitting there smoking was given to us by the Creator to pray with.
FRANCES DENSMORE
I’m well aware of the spiritual significance your people place on this plant. If I daresay, given the extent of my research, there are a few things I could possibly even teach you.
CHRIS
Oh, really? (31-2)


Densmore is a kind of Faustian anti-villain in the piece. The scenes we do see her in show her dubious ethics, but many of the dream scenes center on her personal life, her relationship with her best friend and her sister. Her obsession with her work consumes her over the course of the play, culminating in the final scene where she burns her personal papers:

FRANCES DENSMORE
… I don’t want people rifling through the attachments of my heart once I am gone.
OLD MAN SPIRIT
I cry for your spirit. The songs you recorded were always The People’s. The work you clung to was never yours. Once you’ve burned the stirrings of your heart, you will be no more. (80)


Densmore, by erasing her letters, is erasing herself. She hopes to be remembered through her work. In a similar way, she erased the people who gave her the songs in trying to preserve them. They are missing the living knowledge essential to them.


This highlights an essential difference in Densmore’s view of knowledge, and an Indigenous view represented by Chris and the spirits of this play: To Densmore, knowledge is information. It is the notes of the page, the words in the songs, etc. To Chris, knowledge is a gift from previous generations to the next, and most importantly, it is lived (“being Indian is something you live. It’s inside you. You can’t learn it from a tape.” (12) )


In her Author’s note, Rendon says that the conversation around Densmore does us a disservice by implying that “the real songs are locked up in Washington, D˙C˙, instead of in the hearts and spirits of Native people themselves. It is a systematic erosion of a people’s belief in themselves, their own history, and their very existence as a living, breathing, modern people.” (4-5)


The play handles the life of Frances Densmore with a focus on her heart and spirit, extending to her what she did not extend to her subjects.

Rendon, Marcie. SongCatcher. 1998.

Who defines America’s Musical Identity?

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“Can any composer ever purge himself entirely of foreign influences?” is the question that David Ewen presents while discussing the birth of the “first coherent musical expression to be produced in America” in a 1933 issue of The Musical Times. It is important to keep in mind that Ewen is exclusively referring to European influences amongst the compositions of young white male composers that make up the New School of American Music, and is implying that American music must be purged of its diverse influences to be considered legitimately American. This question seeks to justify the dismissal of black American jazz contributions while claiming originality, but still reflects the ongoing question: what is American music?  Ideals such as autonomy, originality, white purism and “self sufficiency [to] preclude the exotic” are all discussed by Ewen and the new school of composers in New York. One of the founders of this new school, Aaron Copland, claimed early in his career that “jazz-idiom was the native musical tongue of his country,” but later digressed and recognized that “it is certainly not an interpretation of all America.” There is some truth in this statement, but in the search for what constitutes “indigenous” (word choice by Ewen) American music, neither Ewen nor Copland in 1933 propose the envelopment of Native American or Latin American influences in the search to define a holistic American musical identity, perpetuating the ethnocentric discussion of who is encompassed in American music. 

Attached below is Louis Gruenberg’s, “The Daniel Jazz” which Ewen describes as being successful in producing “an original musical tongue such as we have not heard in the music of any other composer.” Ewen also describes moments [in the composition] of the volcanic and savage passion so characteristic of the negro,” which I find to be so interestingly juxtaposed with claims of originality from a white male composer. This piece reflects the pertinence of black american jazz influence that white composers took on as “originality” throughout the 20th century. 

(Throughout this post I tried to prioritize quoting the language that was used throughout Ewen’s feature, because I think it contributes to the sense of white purism that is infused in his discussion of what he claims to be musical innovation.) 

David Ewen. “The New School of American Music.” The Musical Times 74, no. 1088 (1933): 881–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/918504.

Thomas McKenney: Another Complicated Character.

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The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a law passed by President Andrew Jackson in order to, as the name of the law suggests, remove Native Americans from the areas east of the Mississippi River, and relocate them elsewhere. Notable images this invokes include the Trail of Tears and the Pottawatomie Trail of Death.

Thomas McKenney was the Superintendent of Indian Affairs at the time, helped to draft the Indian Removal Act, and a believer in the Native American “Civilization” program. He ran an experiment, hosting two young Native American men and allowing them to attend a white school. He reflected on his efforts in an 1872 publication of his book “History of the Indian Tribes of North America: With Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs”: “[…] in the attempt to civilise the Indian, a little learning is a dangerous thing, and that a half-educated savage seldom becomes an useful man. […] Unless he has the strength of mind to attach himself decidedly to one side or the other, he is apt to vacillate between employments of the white man and the Indian, inferior to both, and respected by neither.” (McKenney, 302). For this experiment, and general lack of harmony on the issue of Native American intelligence, he was dismissed by the Jackson Administration later that year.

He was a profound believer in the “Myth of the Disappearing Indian”, the myth that Native Americans are mysteriously disappearing, so he collaborated with writer James Hall and painter Charles Bird King to create a collection of biographies, stories, and portraits from Native Americans. The myth resulted in many white Americans with some degree of power and no ethnological experience rushing out to record any amount of native culture they stumble upon. This sounds like a well-meaning effort, but neither one of the three were ethnographers, thus much of the text, especially involving the music and art that the Native Americans would create is not quite neutral.

“The music”, they write, “is a monotonous beating upon a rude drum, without melody or tune; the movements exhibit neither grace nor agility, and the dancers pass around a circle with their bodies uncouthly bent forward, as they appear in the print, uttering low, dismal, syllabic sounds, which they repeat with but little perceptible variation throughout the exhibition.” (Mckenney 4). This hearkens back about three hundred years to when Sir Francis Drake described, upon meeting some of the first indigenous Americans, their music as “miserable” and “shreeking”, (Tick 6).

It’s possible that they created this collection not for the sake of preserving Native American culture, but rather to preserve their own senses of morality. While McKenney did preserve some stories and portraits of people at the time, he still perpetuated the idea that white people have to save this “endangered species”, while not condemning his own actions while in office or the actions of the government.

McKenney, Thomas, et al. History of the Indian Tribes of North America with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs. 1830. vol. 1, Philadelphia, PA, E.C. Biddle, 1838. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

‌Music in the USA : A Documentary Companion, edited by Judith Tick, and Paul Beaudoin, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stolaf-ebooks/detail.action?docID=415567.

Native American celebration

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Music and dance are two things that have gone hand in hand since early times.  We all have had our experience of dancing. Whether it is a high school dance, prom, party’s, or other similar events. Where the unique aspect of dance begins is when it is attached to more than just music. For the Native Americans dance and movement went hand and hand with beliefs. It was used for religious events, spirituals, and celebrations that tied heavily into the culture. We know this by accounts from those who witnessed and the ones who kept traditions alive through the generations. The descendents of those Natives later would tell their stories and ways to outside individuals to keep them alive and remembered but this is where we get to the part that stuck out to me. This part of their culture is so unique and interesting because it is so different from other forms of movement that we see predominantly. Ballet, point, and the other modern forms are very elegant and people associate them with elegance. The dances and ceremonies of the natives struck people as odd and barberic. When they were just as beautiful and important. They were important to the Native Americans and they should not be viewed as barbaric or odd. Unique is a better way of viewing them. They still must be respected because they are fellow human beings.  So were the people that were taking in this knowledge also thinking this way. Did The ones who were drawing the pictures or making the accounts actually want to honor this from the natives view and do what the natives said to fully honor and respect their culture?  Or are they just doing it their way and framing it in the way that they are doing it the right way when they actually are not fully or not entirely at all respecting the weight behind the culture. The image that I found on the Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America archive is that of Native Americans dancing. The document which the image was found was in Ely Samuel Parker’s Scrapbook Volume 5. Ely Samuel Parker who was a United States Army officer and Commissioner of Indian affairs. However the image was drawn by William Allen Rogers who was a white American who drew political cartoons and was most known for that. That brings to light the question of did WIlliam Allen Rogers capture the true image that took place that day. Did he capture the image that he saw that day or did he try to capture what the Native Americans saw. Can he truly be a reliable primary source when he later went on to illustrate propaganda that is known to blow things out of proportion or bend that truth. This is the question that must be asked and will lead to making sure that primary sources are reliable or that more than one perspective is drawn.

 





Parker , Ely  Samuel. “Ely Samuel Parker Scrapbooks: Vol 5.” Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America . Accessed September 19, 2024. https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/indian-dance-standing-rock-agency/7035911?item=7035972&sessionId=&sessionENC=HUjPtMLH8w2WSLX%2beOQlZ9ZgEJDdB4yGOriihUGNuSnJhMsmHo5hfBRmLsTGhBiPMkLLwnzhKJlCNX1NH5JNeLi8uA2IJBZ3uXCk9k0nSo8%3d&returnURL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk%2fDocuments%2fDetail%2findian-dance-standing-rock-agency%2f7035911%3fitem%3d7035972&JWTtoken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ0eXAiOiJFeHQiLCJkYXRhIjp7IldlYnNpdGVLZXkiOiJ1YXRhaWhjIiwiT3JnYW5pc2F0aW9uSWQiOiIyNTIxIiwiT3JnYW5pc2F0aW9uTmFtZSI6IlN0IE9sYWYgQ29sbGVnZSIsIkFjY2Vzc1R5cGUiOiJGdWxsIiwiV2Vic2l0ZUlkIjoiNTcifSwiZXhwIjoxNzI2ODU3NDk5LCJvaWQiOjI1MjF9.0Sz01yfewqP2ryYurBZKPZqWG8uSs079Y3u6P8WjeWY

The Gathering of Nations: North America’s Biggest Powwow

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The Gathering of Nations is North America’s biggest powwow in history. They have been celebrating their history and culture all as one for the past 41 years (1). Along with the Powwow, this now three-day celebration also includes events like Miss Indian World, a Horse Parade, and the Indian Trading Market. 

One of the first logos for The Gathering of Nations (Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 21, No. 6, Dec. 1989.) (5)

The Gathering of Nations was started back in 1983 by a man named Derek Mathews, who still manages the event today along with his wife and daughter. After hosting for so long, and at the level this event rose in popularity, many Native Americans were curious and outraged why Derek, an African American, was managing such a big cultural event. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he states that “They [Lakota holy men he met with in South Dakota] said I was the one to carry it forward. It needed to be somebody outside of the tribal boundaries,” he recalled. “That way it could be entrusted to someone who would carry it for all tribes” (2). In this article, he later states that he did indeed have Native ancestors, relatives of the Cherokee Nation, that he did not know about until he went searching. 

Written in the Akwesasne Notes Vol. 17, No. 6 in 1985, attendance after the first two years of hosting was over 1,000 dancers from more than 200 Native American Reservations and Reserves (3). Derek states in an interview with the Gathering of Nations Powwow team, the following year from the Akwesasne Notes article in 1985 was the year they needed to move to a new venue since their current place was too small (4, 1:09). Still taking place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Gathering of Nations is the largest Powwow in North America today with over 70,000 attendees from over 565 tribes.

An advertisement, and change of dates and venue, for the 1986 Gathering of Nations. (Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 17, No. 6, Dec. 1985.)

Sources:

  1. “Gon History.” Gathering of Nations, 9 Sept. 2023, www.gatheringofnations.com/history/#:~:text=The%20Gathering%20of%20Nations%20is%20produced%20and%20managed%20by%20Derek,%26%20Melonie%20Mathews.
  2. “Impresario Creates Controversy with Powwow Success.” Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2021, www.chicagotribune.com/2003/06/25/impresario-creates-controversy-with-powwow-success/.
  3. The Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 17, No. 6, Page 15. Published December, 1985. The Newberry Library, Rooseveltown, NY. https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/akwesasne-notes-vol.-17-no.-6/7027181?item=7027189
  4. “Inside GON with Derek Mathews.” Youtube, Gathering of Nations Powwow, 5 Nov. 2012, youtu.be/XDT45cjhZxQ?si=cICvAqLpyI4O0GKc.
  5. The Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 21, No. 6. Published December, 1989. The Newberry Library, Rooseveltown, NY. https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/akwesasne-notes-vol.-21-no.-6/7027271?item=7027287

 

Emile Petitot and his accounts of Native music

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During his decades of missionary work in the Northwest Territories of Canada, Father Emile Petitot wrote much on his experiences with the native peoples. One document, published seven years following his forced return to France as a result of poor health and occasional bouts of insanity, was a collection of songs Petitot had heard the natives singing for various dances, games, and war ceremonies. With transcribed melodies and his best attempts of words, Petitot recorded 46 different songs that are now permanently a part of history.

As pictured above, the manuscript shows a rough approximation of what Petitot heard. While we now understand that the concepts of 12 tone temperament and a standard key signature are really only well suited for traditionally “western” music styles, Petitot’s transcription still gets enough information about the music itself to get the ideas across. Notably, much of the context behind the history and purpose of the songs is lacking, but the European attitude towards the Native Americans at the time as people who had fallen from God’s grace and needed saving likely influenced him to simply ignore the context and keep trying to convert all that he could.

While his most notable accomplishments were not music related, being a missionary and cartographer before a musicologist, his recording and publication of Native music to a European audience was another important step in the understanding of Native culture, albiet from a controversial source. From temporary excommunication, getting forcibly admitted to an asylum, attempted murder of a colleague, and his general lack of respect toward the Dele and Inuit peoples, Petitot is the farthest one could be from a model musicologist. However, his work continued to set the stage for future ethnologists and musicologists to research the music of Native Americans, giving greater context to the work of Frances Densmore and others in the 20th century.

Works Cited

Moir, John S. “Petitot, Émile (Émile-Fortuné) (Émile-Fortuné-Stanislas-Joseph).” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1998, www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?BioId=41771. 

Petitot, Emile. Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest [manuscript] : recueillis, classés et notés par Emile Petitot, prêtre missionnaire au Mackenzie, de 1862-1882, 1889. 1862-1882], 1862.

American Artists and Iroquois Peoples

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The credibility and ethics of historical ethnographic work, especially in regards to the Indigenous communities of North America have been questioned next to modern standards. One of the more obvious examples of this is early ethnographers putting Native American songs to Western(Eurocentric) Notation. However, it wasn’t just ethnographers who studied Native American culture. The source below comes from the notes of an artist named Rufus Grider, who was not likely studying these people for ethnographic purposes or with ethnographic standards in mind(for better or worse). The notes study the Iroquois peoples who lived(and live now) mainly in the Northeastern region of the United States. Before looking at the music, Grider’s categorizes this song with “Iroquois” which earlier he includes the five tribes that are included under that label which include: The Mohawks(Grider clarifies that their official and proper name is “Caniegas”), Onidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and The Senecas. He also describes and lists the dances he saw as well as his guesses on celebrations they were attached too, but here he titles it simply “Dance Song” 1. In connection to the music, one of the more curiously inaccurate aspects of this work is that it has a key signature(in what looks to be c minor) as the Indigenous peoples likely did not sing in accordance with western scales and keys. 

It is also possible that Rufus Grider was not the one who created this piece of sheet music as he attributes the work to an “H.M. Converse, a white woman, an adopted Indian” at the bottom of the piece. With further research it is found that this woman’s name is Harriet Maxwell Converse and the name she was given by the Seneca People(who adopted her) meant “Bearer of the Law” because she supported the Iroquois Convention 2

The purpose of Graider’s notes was likely for artistic interests or motivations but despite its clear inaccuracies, it is a good tool for people who are more familiar with western notation and who have not experienced the music or culture3(in addition to the fact that recording devices were not widely used in the late 1800’s when this source was written). If Converse had an intended audience, it would likely have been for audiences like these.

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Music and Assimilation in a 19th-Century Indian Boarding School

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In the late 19th century, the U.S. government established Native American Boarding Schools, also known as Indian Boarding Schools, as a means of assimilating Indigenous youth into American culture.1

This extract is titled In a Government Indian School, written by Bertha S. Wilkins and published in 1897. The article describes Wilkins’s experiences as a teacher at a Government boarding school on the Pima Indian Reservation in Arizona. Wilkins begins by categorizing various “types” of students, stating, “Better conditions for studying the Indian child can hardly be imagined”.2 As a government employee and teacher, her role in the boarding school allowed her the freedom to write openly in this manner. She touches on topics ranging from social standing to academics, often with vivid descriptions, particularly regarding music. The tone suggests the article was written for those interested in the boarding school and in understanding what the students from the reservations were like as they went through the process of assimilation. For example, she writes, “Little Alice, under exactly the same conditions, has little power of concentration, but sings so sweetly and enjoys life so much that one is tempted to let her go her own smiling little way.”3 This shows a lack of objectivity in her observations, as there is no detailed analysis of the singing beyond the word “sweetly,” which reduces the individuality of the girl described. Browner highlights the importance of recognizing regional differences in singing styles, something Wilkins overlooks here.4

Wilkins describes this particular tribe of students as being highly musical but writes, “Their voices do not have the silvery quality of the white child’s voice, nor the rich resonance of the young Negro’s; yet under training they develop a quality of tone which is distinctive and charming.”5 This echoes similar descriptions found in Tick’s (2008) documentary collections, where Native voices were often characterized as “miserable” or “shrieking,” even when not referring specifically to singing.6
Wilkins’s portrayal carries a tone of undervaluing Native American voices, through comparison and by suggesting they require training, at least in singing.

This text reflects the cultural attitudes of the late 19th century when boarding schools were established on reservations for the purpose of assimilation and the study of Native cultures, seen at the time as “sub-cultures.” The narrative reinforces the idea of Native Americans being in the early stages of cultural evolution, with the classroom serving as a kind of laboratory where children were observed while being taught Western ways of life, including the refinement of their singing voices to produce a more desirable tone. Wilkins’s account fails to mention important aspects such as classroom management, discipline, or the children’s personal experiences, and it does not address how this education impacted their family dynamics. Instead, her tone remains light, offering little insight into the children’s emotional or psychological experiences within this system.

1 Mejia, Melissa. “The U.S. History of Native American Boarding Schools.” The Indigenous Foundation, July 26, 2022. https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/us-residential-schools.

2 Bertha Wilkins, “In a Government Indian School,” Land of Sunshine, June-November 1897, 242-247, Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America.

3  Wilkins, “In a Government Indian School,” 243.

5 Wilkins, “In a Government Indian School,” 245.

6 Tick, Judith, and Beaudoin, Paul, eds. Music in the USA : A Documentary Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2008. Accessed September 20, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School & Music – Sadie Metoxen

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Sadie Metoxen, Oneida, 1918.

Growing up, I remember very little about the education I received regarding Indigenous peoples of the United States. I may have completed a project on an Indigenous tribe or been lectured about tribal territories, but I don’t recall ever studying specific Indigenous figures outside of war. This raises a critical question about the modern American education system: how are Indigenous children and cultures presented? Many students struggle to name significant aspects of Indigenous culture outside of narratives centered around bloodshed and conflict, reflecting a troubling trend of erasure and whitewashing of Indigenous history and culture in American schools. 

One stark example of this erasure is the boarding school system, which operated under the motto “Kill the Indian, save the man.”  Established in the mid-1800s, these institutions aimed to strip away Indigenous identities and impose Western-Christian values on native youth. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania operated from 1879-1918, which served as a model for several non-reservation boarding schools throughout the United States. But what do we know about its students? 

In 1912, Sadie Christine Metoxen, a member of the Oneida Nation, entered the Carlisle Indian School at 17 years old. She spent 5 years at Carlisle, becoming a member of the senior class of 1918 – the last graduating class to go through Carlisle. During her senior year, Metoxen contributed heavily to the 1918 Carlisle Indian Industrial School yearbook, including an opening letter and diary entries that depicted life at Carlisle. Throughout the diary entries, Metoxen mentions the term “music” in several contexts, on nearly every page. Entries include: “(9)8. First period in music. Seniors in a singing mood, especially “Gertie”, “(9)12. First class song handed in; composer, Abbie Somers”,  “(11)7. Chapel: good singing”, and “(12)10. “Music, music everywhere”, Miss Dunnagan declared”. Metoxen captures not just the mechanics of music education, but also the emotional landscapes of her peers. Her mention of a “singing mood” reflects a collective spirit, hinting at the camaraderie that developed among students as they navigated the complexities of their circumstances. Through her reflections, Metoxen illustrated the resilience of Indigenous culture amidst the challenge of assimilation. 

Cover of Carlisle Indian Industrial School yearbook, 1918.

In reading Metoxen’s accounts, I noted similarities to Tick’s Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion due to its primary source accounts of interactions between white European settlers and Indigenous peoples.  However, Tick’s sources often feel disingenuous, misrepresenting Indigenous peoples through an inferior lens. While both resources provide insights into the past, they highlight a significant divide in how Indigenous experiences are portrayed. While Metoxen’s writings offer a personal and authentic glimpse into the lives of Indigenous students, Tick’s sources fail to capture the richness and complexity of Indigenous cultures, reducing them to stereotypes. This contrast underscores the urgent need for a more nuanced and accurate representation of Indigenous histories in education, one that honors their voices and experiences rather than marginalizing them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carlisle Indian School. Carlisle (1918). Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1918. Print, Archives, The Newberry Library.

Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion, edited by Judith Tick, and Paul Beaudoin, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stolaf-ebooks/detail.action?docID=415567.

In A League of His Own: Bill Miller

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New Age Native American music emerged in the late 20th century as a fusion of traditional indigenous sounds and contemporary influences. Artists like Bill Miller and R. Carlos Nakai are notable figures in the emergence of this genre, which celebrates Native American culture while reaching broader audiences. In this post I will be focusing on Miller’s contribution to the New Age Native American scene.

Miller’s 1992 Hit “Tumbleweeds”

The work that Bill Miller has done has been of paramount importance. From his symphonic work to folk albums, he’s done it all. On his success in the media, it was said in the January-March 1996 edition of Akwesasne Notes “I believe his label has pushed the “Indian” side of Bill’s music, but Bill delivers it well, he could be played on any number of mainstream music formats.”And that he was. Miller’s music has been included on projects such as the Grammy winning song Colors of the Wind  from Disney’s Pocahontas, and has done collaborations with many other artists including Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, and Arlo Guthrie. In the year 2000, he brought home five Nammys from the Native American Music Awards.

Miller has been able to very successfully weave together these many traditions with his Native American identity, and it has been a true testament to the importance of music in everything. For example, his symphonic world titled The Last Stand about the Battle of Little Bighorn was a huge deal when it premiered in 2008. The performance was sold out and there were many pictures taken that are now a part of the Smithonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Music has the power to impact so much, and Bill Miller’s music has and continues to do so.

Works Referenced:

“Akwesasne Notes Vol. 2 No. 1.” American Indian Digital History Project. Accessed September 19, 2024. https://www.aidhp.com/items/show/3. 

Key, Tyler, Ken Lingad, and Bill Miller. “Main Home.” Official Bill Miller Website, December 9, 2022. https://billmiller.co/pages/about/. 

Émile Pentitot’s Athabaskan Dictation

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Father Émile Pentitot was a French missionary who spent years of the late 19th century in the Canadian Northwest with the goal of spreading religion, collecting data on native tribes, and mapping and recording ethnic and geographic data.1 Petitot published many of his findings, with his most famous being the “Dictionnaire de la langue dènè-dindjié,” which was a book of definitions and translations of the major Athabaskan languages.1 His research shown below is a collection of Native American music, titled “Chants indiens du Canada Nord-Ouest,” collected between the years 1862-1882.

This source is quite unique to Petitot’s works, seeing as he is primarily a geographer and linguist, which raises the question: why did he collect this source? He had no motivation from the government as Francis Densmore would almost 10 years later and he wasn’t a musicologist. While Petitot was primarily a missionary, he also had a personal mission of collecting as many geographical and ethnographic observations about the region as possible.3 This includes music, especially that of community gatherings. Petitot also saw language as the key to religious conversion,3 which also applies to music. Petitot could have seen music as another opportunity to relate the music of the church to tribal song, and create a sense of familiarity between them. Lastly, Petitot was himself an appreciator of the arts,1 and could be intrigued by collecting the music that he observed alongside his drawings of Athabaskan settlements and clothing.

Is this source an representation of the Athabaskan cultures? It is unlikely. As observed with Densmore and other white researchers aiming to document Native American music, this music is not meant to be written in Western notation, or the notation that is often seen throughout America and Europe today. There is a loss of nuance in rhythm, pitch, vocal tone, and energy. For example, in the source above, Petitot uses a standard five line staff and treble clef to notate these songs. He uses meters such as 3/4 and 6/8 and musical terms such as “da càpo” and “risoluto” to describe the music.4 None of these terms are ones which the Athabaskan tribes would understand or used to describe their music themselves. Further, the music was most likely not consensually taken from the culture which it originated. This is further evident by the fact that Petitot was a missionary,1 whose whole job is to convert others to their religion. He also made many incorrect assumptions about the tribes that he visited due to long-standing mental confusion, including a belief that there was a world-wide conspiracy to murder him in order to prevent continued research.3 He was also not a good person in general, being excommunicated from his mission group in 1866 due to a sexual relationship with a boy servant.2

Overall, while this source is an intriguing look into historical research and collection of Athabaskan culture, it is most likely not the most accurate representation of their culture, and is most likely intrusive and assumptive of their practices.

1 Savoie, Donat. 1982. EMILE PETITOT (1838-1916). Arctic, vol. 35, no. 3,, pp. 446–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40509367. (Accessed 19 Sept. 2024).

2 John S. Moir. “PETITOT, ÉMILE (Émile-Fortuné) (Émile-Fortuné-Stanislas-Joseph),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/petitot_emile_14E.html. (Accessed September 19, 2024).

3 Honigmann, John J. “EMILE FORTUNÉ STANISLAS JOSEPH PETITOT ENCYCLOPEDIA ARCTICA 15: BIOGRAPHIES.” Dartmouth College Library, collections.dartmouth.edu/arctica-beta/html/EA15-56.html. (Accessed 19 Sept. 2024).

4 Petitot, Father, Emile. “CHANTS INDIENS DU CANADA NORD-OUEST [MANUSCRIPT]: RECUEILLIS, CLASSÉS ET NOTÉS PAR EMILE PETITOT, PRÊTRE MISSIONNAIRE AU MACKENZIE, DE 1862-1882, 1889.” Mareuil-lès-Meaux (Seine-et-Marne), France. (Accessed 19 Sept. 2024).

Is it American Sound or Stealing Ideas?

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Many American composers wished to create a distinctive American sound in their writing, one that would be different and distinct from European classical music. However, sometimes the way they went about finding this was not respectful or fair. American composers such as Dvorzak wanted to create something new and different than what Americans had heard before, however the way he went about doing this creates questions of the line that needs to be drawn between taking inspiration and stealing ideas. Many Native Americans had very beautiful music. However, many settlers came over and decided to steal the melodies of Native American folk tunes to commercialize them.

Dvorzak had a residency in the United States. Within this residency, “He believed the future of American music must be founded on the resources of the Native American, African American, and Creole American melodies and rhythms.” (1). Some may argue that this is a form of borrowing and appreciation of Native American music. Many pop artists today do collaborations with other artists, and receive help from many composers and producers to create their albums. However, the difference between those pop artists today and American composers in the past was that the collaborators on pop albums receive credit as well as a portion of the royalties from the music. On the other hand, the American composers in the past were stealing ideas from the Native American as well as African American population and not giving any sort of royalties or credit back to them. This is therefore instead of collaboration stealing ideas because the creation of this new music is rooted in colonization as well as exploitation of resources.

Many people were inspired by Dvorzak’s ideas and there was a movement created around this time called the “Indianist” movement, which involved stealing folk tunes from Native Americans and commercializing it to receive profit.

Amy Beach was another composer who was inspired by Dvorzak’s ideas and used Native American melodies and folk tunes for many of her compositions. However, after several compositions she realized that it would work better to use music that she was used to and grew up with instead of ideas from a culture she didn’t know. This is an interesting conclusion that she came to because it goes to show the lack of understanding Americans have towards Native American culture. Even when stealing ideas for the music, there is no way that others will be able to fully replicate the intricate details of the music, because it comes from the Native American culture. The only way to fully replicate these ideas would be to grow up as a Native American experiencing it. Therefore, despite the stealing and exploitation of ideas, no one will be able to take away the Native American culture and music away from them.

The issue of stealing ideas and exploitation of artists is still present today, as well as the lasting effects of colonization on marginalized groups. However, hopefully as a society we can move forward and create a better future for artists and marginalized groups to be able to live their life without being exploited or used.

Mercer, Stephanie. “An American Sound: Celebrating Native American Music through the ‘Indianist’ Movement and the American Piano Composer.” The American Music Teacher, vol. 71, no. 2, 2021, pp. 16-.