Native American Music

they did not lie that longhouse was long

Native Canadian groups

Also known as First Nations

Plains

Great Plains

Eastern United States

Eastern Seaboard

Yuman

Southwestern United States and Southern California

Athabascan (Navajo/Apache)

Southwestern United States

Pueblo (Papago)

Southwestern United States

Great Basin

Nevada/Utah

Northwestern Coast

Oregon, Washington, parts of Alaska

Alice Cunningham Fletcher

A Study of Omaha Indian Music, 1893

Frances Densmore

Another notable American ethnomusicologist who preserved Native American vocal performances

Native American music

Active part of many cultures that connects singers to their past and natural world; often comes with physical and spiritual significance

Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Group of six allied Eastern Woodlands nations

Haudenosaunee group

Iroquois League/Iroquois Confederacy/League of Six Nations

Members of the Haudenosaunee

Ohgwehonwe, meaning real people

Seneca and Mohawk

Protected west and east

Onondaga

Kept the unity

Members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Seneca, Mohawk, onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Tascarora

Great Law of Peace

Wampum belt

Beaded belt holding a record of the confederacy's beliefs and decisions, made of white and purple clam and whelk shells

Handsome Lake

Seneca prophet who introduced a code to combat colonist disease and alcoholism

The Code of Handsome Lake

AKA Longhouse Religion, emphasized self sufficiency, sobriety, and traditional life styles

Canassatego

Iroquois speaker whose famous speech was printed by Benjamin Franklin

Plan of Union

Benjamin Franklin's plan for solving Native American and colonist issues

Eastern Woodland music features

Relaxed open throat voices in medium and high ranges, vocal shaking/pulsing at the end of phrases, call and response, agricultural themes, song cycles, syncopated rhythmic accompaniment on drums, hand drums and rattles made of turtle shells and cowhorn

Water drums

Small, one handed percussive instruments made from a short piece of wood with a cavity that holds water with a piece of leather stretched over the open top; struck with a wooden beater

Large water drums

Used exclusively for the Feasts for the Dead

Modern water drums

Made of PVC pipe sections

Drumhead skin meaning

Respect for animals

Wooden base meaning

Respect for plants and trees

Water meaning

Water's importance for life

Round shape meaning

Circle of life

Drum beat meaning

Heartbeat; cherish the gift of life

Longhouses

Rectangular community centers and shared residents; historically held fifty to sixty people; contained one fireplace or stove and benches

Singing Societies

Groups of singers from the community sang to raise funds for charitable causes

Types of longhouse songs

Social dance, ceremonial, healing

Social dances

The only song that non-natives are allowed to participate in; reflected the worldview of the Iroquois people; represented renewing cycles

Eskanye

Women's shuffle dance

Cow-horn rattles

Short pieces of cow horn filled with small hard objects; historically used wood bison horns