What is Native Music?

Native music is derived from the combined sounds and other influences of the land, dreams, spirits and the people. The music serves both purpose and enhancement of existence. From ceremonies, healing, and all aspects of daily life, traditional music is a document of Native history, life and society. Some traditional people say that songs come from dreams, spirits, visions, and the land itself and are often handed down through generations, while other personal songs live and leave with the individual. Geography plays an important role as it provides its own direct influence on the music of the people from each region, which distinguishes Inuit throat singing from Peublo plaza dances, or a Plains grass dance song from an Iroquois smoke dance. Traditional music harmonizes with the rhythms of the universe, placing the people in a unique balance with nature, and as a part of nature, are able continue the lineage of the people who have known this land since time immemorial, while reaffirming the sacred connection to all life. The first cry of the newborn is represented in the opening vocal call of a pow wow singer, while the quiet of the after-life is represented when the drum is silent. Native music is not only a philosophy, or central to a living culture, but a communication with all life beyond human existence, and like the prayers, most traditional music is intended for and derived from all living things. Each nation and region has songs, while there are some communities that do not have any songs at all, their contemporary texts are derived from Catholic and Baptist hymns. Those people who have large repertoires of music, organize them into specific categories for social, ceremony, healing, hunting, family, personal (in most if not all aspects of life). An academic overview of traditional Native music: General Characteristics 1. Oral 2. Ranges from simple repetitive melodies to complex word songs, linear form 3. Mostly monophonic with octave singing by men and women 4. Chordal harmony and fixed counterpoint is rare. 5. Accompaniment is mainly percussive, a wide variety of drums and idophones (usually rattles or shakers) are as distinct in construction and materials as the geography and the people. 6. Percussion rhythm is usually a series of equally spaced beats, while complex patterns are used. 7. Metric values are predominantly in common metre, seldom compound, and rarely irregular, mainly duple metre (2/4, 4/4 etc.). 8. Mainly functional 9. Songs, depending on the function, contain vocables and/or words (lyrics) 10. Voice quality varies with each region and people, although there is a common vocal style characterized by glottal tension, pulsations on longer notes, a harsh tone and high pitch falsettos; melodies start high and descend throughout the song, ending on the lowest pitch. 11. Little if any improvisation 12. Most songs from all regions have a descending contour. Scales are usually tetratonic, pentatonic or hexatonic. The most common intervals are the major 2nd and the minor 3rd. Song Forms There are two basic types of song forms common throughout North America: 1. Strophic: A melody of three to ten short phrases is repeated precisely. The song is usually divided into two large sections related to each other in one of three ways: the second section is either a variation, an elaboration, or an incomplete repetition of the first. The third is most common. 2. Non-strophic: The song has two melodically contrasting sections: the first appears one or more times, the second only once. This irregular alteration continues throughout the song without strophic organization.

Contemporary Music & the Native Presence in Recording

The presence of Native people in the recording field has been prominent since the first cylinder recordings were made. One might point out that, historically speaking, there were more archival/research recordings of Native music have been made, than of any other cultural group in the world. With respect to inclusion in the contemporary or popular music field, many Native singers and have been involved since the beginning. (See the Timeline from the menu).

Before the protest songs of the 1960s and ‘70s where artists such as Buffy-Sainte-Marie, Redbone, XIT, Floyd Westerman and Willie Dunn made their mark, a few groundbreaking artists from the 1930s and ‘40s including vocalist Mildred Bailey, bass player Oscar Pettiford and trombone player “Big Chief” Russell Moore made lasting impressions on jazz music. For generations, Native people have made important contributions to the field of music.