Power and good music: The Indigenous southern plains flute tradition

Abstract

In traditional Indigenous southern plains culture, a young man could not talk to a young woman alone when they were not yet married. Instead, he would play his flute at the edge of the encampment in the evenings, and each young man had his own love song. In southern plains flute origin stories, power is attributed to good music. If a flute song achieves its intended goal of convincing the young woman to marry the flute player, one can assume the song would be considered “good.” But what criteria distinguish good from bad? Which elements typify a “good” flute song? What about the flute itself? Which features epitomize the quintessential flute? Another set of possible criteria in determining that quality is information about the flute player. In her chapter, “Culture and Aesthetics,” ethnomusicologist Marica Herndon (1980) observes the community-centered perspective of Indigenous North America. Our last set of criteria involves an assessment of the moral character of the flute player regarding service to their tribal community. This talk discusses the “good music” of two master Indigenous southern plains flute players—Belo Cozad (1864-1950) (Kiowa) and Doc Tate Nevaquaya (1932-1996) (Comanche).