The Study of Indian Music

Abstract

Indian song, in my observation, is far from being a spontaneous outburst of melody. On the contrary there is around it the dignity and control which pervade the whole life of the race. Many years ago I knew a Chippewa guide in the forests that lie to the north of Lake Superior. Indian music was somewhat new to me at the time and I said "What songs do you sing when you hunt?" A quizzical look was in his eyes as he waited a moment and then replied "When we hunt we don't sing, we keep very still and watch, then we shoot." Among the Chippewa, Sioux and northern Utes there still are Indians who say that they "receive songs in dreams." Probably this custom obtains in tribes of which I have not a personal knowledge, but I have phonographically recorded "dream songs" among these peoples. The song is considered a gift from the bird or animal which appears to the dreamer and which is thereafter considered his supernatural aid. Thus a certain Sioux dreamed of the thunderbirds who assumed human form, talked with him, assured him that they would always answer his summons, and also taught him a song. Another Sioux dreamed of a lodge filled with elk who were singing. He learned their song, and sang it when he wished to secure their supernatural aid. Among the Chippewa it was the custom for medicine men to build "nests" in the trees, where they waited, fasting, until they secured a dream and its song. A man was very proud of a song received in this manner. The words were often in a "sacred language," which consisted of common words used with an occult significance. A medicine man always sang his principal dream song and related the dream before he began to treat a sick person, these being in the nature of credentials. A successful medicine man had