{"id":3792,"date":"2019-09-17T01:11:43","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T06:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3792"},"modified":"2019-09-17T01:11:43","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T06:11:43","slug":"noise-more-or-less-white-ethnologists-and-their-role-in-the-vanishing-indian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2019\/09\/17\/noise-more-or-less-white-ethnologists-and-their-role-in-the-vanishing-indian\/","title":{"rendered":"Noise, More or Less: White Ethnologists and Their Role in the “Vanishing Indian”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upon decades and even centuries of reflection, scholars can debate the true motivations and implications of the cultural observation and study of Native Americans. At best, the efforts of ethnologists like Frances Densmore and James Owen Dorsey can be hailed as necessary archival work that preserved cultures on the verge of extinction from a colonialist nation. At worst, their work can be essentialized as the groundwork necessary to provide a basis for the \u201cVanishing Indian\u201d discussed at length by scholar Daniel Blim and our class.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The latter is my understanding of the work of Rev. Myron Eells. In his article \u201c<\/span>Indian Music<\/span><\/a>\u201d published in an 1879 volume of <\/span>The American Antiquarian: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to Early American History, Ethnology and Archaeology<\/span><\/i>, the anthropologist and missionary studied many indigenous groups of the American Northwest.1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In his article, his first topic sentence immediately eases the fear of any upstanding, white American enjoying some ethnology from the safety and comfort of their log cabin: Eells assures readers the music of the American Indian is nothing complicated or culturally relevant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMusic\u2026 consists more of a noise, as a general thing, than of melody and chords\u201d –\u00a0<\/strong>Rev. Myron Eells describing the music of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest<\/p>\n

Eells compares the musicality of the Clallam and Twana people of the Pacific Northwest. Despite detailed accounts of the percussive instruments created and the diverse use of song in the daily lives of these peoples, Eells summarizes the music as plain and dull, with little variety save for loud or soft moments. The reverend does notate the various melodies described in his prose, but his level of analysis and specificity is but a shadow of the work of Frances Densmore- a scholar discussed at length in class who will release volumes of her own works just a few decades later. Eells\u2019 work is important in providing a sort of early \u201cpart one\u201d to the \u201cVanishing Indian\u201d condition, assuring white audiences that the music of the Native American groups he\u2019s studied the sophistication to deserve attention beyond defining their music as simply cacophony.<\/span><\/p>\n

To further contextualize the \u201cVanishing Indian\u201d, we look to an article published <\/span>The Atlanta Constitution <\/span><\/i>in 1906. <\/span>In this article<\/span><\/a>, we are informed that an ancient relic has been preserved that upends decades of historical understanding of Native American music. The article claims a portion of the \u201cfirst, genuine Indian melody\u201d has been found.<\/span> Overlooking the concerning lack of scholarly oversight in this sweeping statement, the article focuses instead on composer Abe Holzmann\u2019s2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> arrangement of this melody while in-process. After further digging, I was able to procure both a recording of a military band arrangement and a score of a piano rag arrangement of the piece.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scan of Holzmann’s “Flying Arrow” Rag for Piano<\/a><\/p>\n

This sheet music was found in a rag piano collection at the music library of St. Olaf College<\/strong><\/p>\n