Native American Music

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Native American Music

• The first music of America

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About Native American Music

• Origins of Native American Music is traced to the
  time of creation
• Given by the Creator and spiritual beings
• Most music is vocal
• No harmony
• Irregular rhythm
• No concept of pitch or intonation
• Accompanied at least by drums

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• Songs belong to the community
• Cannot be performed by outsiders without
  permission
• It is taught orally to preserve songs from one
  generation to the next
• Music has intrinsic value
• Performances are evaluated by feelings of
  connectedness

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What the Music is About

• Communicate with supernatural powers
• Recount history
• Singing for definite results

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Types of Music

• Sacred Narratives
• Describe the origins of musical instruments,
  songs, dances and ceremonies
• Lullabies
• Traditional Songs
• Handed down from generation to generation
• Medicine Songs
• Received in a dream
• Modern Songs
• Influence of European culture
• Hero Songs
• Often old
• Love Songs
• Influenced by the music of whites and considered
  as corrupt

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Instruments
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Drums

• Simple Skin Drum
• One tanned skin tied to four stakes that are
  planted in the ground
• Frame Drum
• Tightly stretched hide on a frame that is sewn
  together with a carrying handle
• Water Drum
• Kettle that is partially filled with water with
  hide stretched over it
• Square Drum
• Made from a wooden box

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Rattles

• Container Rattles
• Made of gourd, turtle shell, rawhide and horn
  filled with seeds or pebbles.
• Deer Hoof Rattles
• Deer hooves attached to a stick

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Other Instruments

• Flutes
• Look similar to a recorder
• Whistle
• Rasp
• A notched stick that is scraped by another stick
• Fiddle
• Based on the violins carried by European settlers
• Clapper
• A stick that is partially split in half on one
  end and struck against another object.

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Pennsylvanian Tribes

• Erie
• Iroquois
• Shawnee
• Munsee
• Lenape
• Susquehannock