Native American Music
Kwakiutl man in traditional dress, holding a ceremonial staff and a shaman's rattle; photograph by Edward S. Curtis, c. 1914.
Edward S. Curtis Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-52212)
Traditional music plays an important role in perpetuating Native American languages, some of which are no longer spoken in daily life. American Indian song texts constitute a genre of poetry in terms of structure, style, and expression. Native Americans often perform songs as part of traditional storytelling; these songs may illuminate a character’s thoughts and feelings. Song texts may employ the traditional language, although words are modified by adding or eliding syllables to accommodate the music. Song texts usually refer to local flora and fauna, specific features of the landscape, natural resources such as water, or aspects of the community. Sometimes archaic words appear in ceremonial songs, and many communities use words or phrases from foreign languages; these practices tend to obscure the meaning of the text, distinguishing it from everyday language. In certain regions, Native Americans developed lingua francas in order to facilitate trade and social interaction; in these areas, song texts may feature words from a lingua franca. Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text. Vocables are a fixed part of a song and help define patterns of repetition and variation in the music; when used in collective dance songs, they create a sense of spirituality and social cohesion.
Musical instruments in the Americas
Musical instruments are important throughout the Americas. A few indigenous instruments can be made in an hour or two by virtually anyone in the community from materials readily available in the natural environment. Other instruments require weeks or even months to make by a specially trained craftsman using materials prepared by different individuals. Many musical instruments carry symbolic significance, which appears in the ways instruments are used, decorated, named, or handled before and after use. The names of instruments may reflect ideas about social relationships; for example, Anishnabe water drums come in two sizes, called “grandfather” and “little boy.” Decorations often have spiritual significance or refer to sacred narratives. Some instruments are thought to be sentient and require respectful treatment. Each tribe has its own approach to instrument classification based on traditional ways of organizing knowledge. To compare musical instruments across cultures, scholars have developed a system of classifying them into four categories: idiophones, membranophones, aerophones, and chordophones. (A fifth category, electrophones, is often added to characterize electric and electronic instruments.) These designations derive from the method through which each instrument produces sound and are based upon physical descriptions.