{"id":46,"date":"2015-02-16T16:52:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T22:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=46"},"modified":"2015-02-24T14:51:23","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T20:51:23","slug":"documenting-native-american-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/02\/16\/documenting-native-american-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Documenting Native American Song"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s no wonder that Americans have a narrow, stereotyped understanding of Native American song. On the one hand, there are mass media representations that run from the antiquated and embarrassing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Etv-TpqLvlc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=121&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; to the downright confusing &#8211; I&#8217;m thinking especially of all the conflations between Indian and\u00a0Ashkenazi Jewish musical culture in the 1920s and 1930s, including <a title=\"Fanny Brice, &quot;I'm an Indian&quot;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/jukebox.8288\" target=\"_blank\">this one<\/a>, and <a title=\"Tom and Jerry, &quot;Redskin Blues&quot;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I5WzgRVuwc0#t=221\" target=\"_blank\">this one<\/a>\u00a0(at the very end). In fact, mass media&#8217;s propensity to get Indian song\u00a0wrong is so clich\u00e9 that the stereotyping itself has been parodied, most famously in\u00a0the irreverent Fox cartoon<em>\u00a0<\/em><em>Family Guy<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UG5oViuaGv0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not so hard to see where these misunderstandings come from. From the colonial era to the present day, the majority of Americans have never encountered Native American song themselves; they have mainly read accounts of it written by others. For example,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newberry.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago&#8217;s Newberry Library<\/a> preserves an 1835 account by John T. Irving, Jr. (accessible via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanwest.amdigital.co.uk.ezproxy.stolaf.edu\/Home\/index\" target=\"_blank\">Adam Matthew database, specifically its &#8220;American West&#8221; collection<\/a>) that describes an expedition to the Pawnee Tribes. We &#8220;hear&#8221; music through Irving&#8217;s ears, for example in this description of a group\u00a0of Indians assembling before a journey:<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 40%;padding: 0 10pt 0 0;float: left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.11.12-PM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-53 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.11.12-PM1.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-02-16 at 5.11.12 PM\" width=\"334\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.11.12-PM1.png 334w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.11.12-PM1-91x150.png 91w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.11.12-PM1-181x300.png 181w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 334px) 100vw, 334px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 40%;padding: 0px 10pt 0px 0px;float: left;text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.12.56-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-52\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.12.56-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-02-16 at 5.12.56 PM\" width=\"373\" height=\"614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.12.56-PM.png 373w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.12.56-PM-91x150.png 91w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-5.12.56-PM-182x300.png 182w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Likening the Indians&#8217; song to a &#8220;low, and not inharmonious cry,&#8221; a &#8220;wailing moan,&#8221; and a &#8220;mournful chant,&#8221; Irving doesn&#8217;t really tell us what the &#8220;dirge&#8221; or &#8220;death song&#8221;\u00a0sounds like. Rather, he sets the sounds he heard apart from what his readers might know; he renders the Native American song utterly Other.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unfortunate that accounts like Irving&#8217;s have been more influential than systematic, respectful attempts to document Native American song, like that of Frances Densmore. A native of Minnesota, Densmore undertook an enormous study of Native American culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries under the aegis of the Bureau of American Ethnology, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution.\u00a0Densmore&#8217;s prescience about the misrepresentations referenced above borders on the prophetic. In 1927 she wrote,\u00a0\u201cThere is danger that the future will form its opinions of Indians from the sentimental movies and the theater music when the Indian is seen through the bushes. Neither the \u201clove lyric\u201d nor theater tom-tom music are genuinely Indian, in the best sense\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/siarchives.si.edu\/research\/sciservwomendensmore.html\" target=\"_blank\">Qtd. in this Smithsonian Institute online archive<\/a>; see footnote 5 for archival citation).<\/p>\n<p>Building on the pioneering work of Alice Fletcher, another ethnologist and collector of Indian Song, Densmore published dozens of book-length accounts of music making by individual tribes, including a volume on Pawnee music.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_3792\" width=\"3264\" height=\"2448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792.jpg 3264w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3792-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Her description of Pawnee music is nothing like Irving&#8217;s. Here&#8217;s an excerpt: &#8220;An important point, made evident in this comparative analysis, is the individuality of Pawnee music.\u00a0It is distinct, in its entirety, from the songs of other tribes, though bearing a resemblance to one tribe or another in separate characteristics. The study of Indian music by an established system of analysis shows there are characteristics that are common to Indian songs of various tribes and different from the music of the white race, and also characteristics which distinguish the songs of one tribe from those of another. Among the former is the change of measure-lengths found in many Indian songs and the downward trend of the melody&#8230;&#8221; (Frances Densmore,\u00a0<em>Pawnee Music\u00a0<\/em>[New York: Da Capo Press, 1972, reprint of 1929 ed. issued as Bulletin 93 of Smithsonian Institution]). Below is another excerpt from the book, this one including a piece she transcribed\u00a0from a recording made by one of her research associates.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3791-e1424136452418.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-55\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3791-e1424136452418.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_3791\" width=\"2448\" height=\"3264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3791-e1424136452418.jpg 2448w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3791-e1424136452418-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3791-e1424136452418-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2015\/02\/IMG_3791-e1424136452418-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2448px) 100vw, 2448px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Densmore took Indian music as seriously as it deserved to be taken, and as a result,\u00a0created an incredibly rich resource for anyone who&#8217;d like to know what music Native Americans actually made.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Other Resources<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stolaf.mnpals.net\/vufind\/Search\/Results?lookfor=frances+densmore&amp;type=AllFields&amp;filter%5B%5D=authorStr%3A%22Densmore%2C+Frances%2C+1867-1957%22&amp;view=list\" target=\"_blank\">Books by Densmore at the Carleton and St. Olaf Libraries<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.minnesota.publicradio.org\/features\/199702\/01_smiths_densmore\/docs\/index.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota Public Radio profile of Densmore<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/libguides.mnhs.org\/densmore\/ov\" target=\"_blank\">Libguide on Densmore created by the Minnesota History Center<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/ammem\/award98\/ienhtml\/curthome.html\" target=\"_blank\">Edward Curtis&#8217;s Photographic Ethnography of American Indians, hosted by the Library of Congress&#8217;s American Memory Project<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s no wonder that Americans have a narrow, stereotyped understanding of Native American song. On the one hand, there are mass media representations that run from the antiquated and embarrassing&#8230; &#8230; to the downright confusing &#8211; I&#8217;m thinking especially of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/02\/16\/documenting-native-american-song\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,9,6,7,12,10,8],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adam-matthew","tag-frances-densmore","tag-indian-music","tag-media","tag-newberry-library","tag-pawnee","tag-representation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-K","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}