532 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



laboratories of the Bell Telephone Co. Concerning this recording on 

 disks, Dr. Leopold Stokowski stated in 1935 in correspondence, "The 

 quality of the recording was extremely high." 



During the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933 I recorded Indian 

 songs on disks, using a Fairchild apparatus courteously placed at 

 my disposal by Mrs. Laura G. Boulton and Dr. George Herzog. The 

 records were made on aluminum disks. This apparatus uses a micro- 

 phone and makes possible the recording of groups of singers. It 

 was desired to obtain records of typical group singing by Sioux, 

 and five singers — three men and two women — were selected from 

 those taking part in exhibitions at the fair. I also obtained ex- 

 amples of typical singing by women, with their peculiar tone pro- 

 duction. Navaho songs were recorded by two members of that tribe, 

 singing in unison while beating a small drum. 



Many of my cylinder recordings were transferred to aluminum 

 disks in the laboratory of Dr. C. E. Seashore at the University of 

 Iowa. This work was done in 1934 and the original tone was ad- 

 mirably preserved. Dr. Seashore's courteous interest has extended 

 over a period of many years and is acknowledged with deep apprecia- 

 tion. A considerable number of my cylinder recordings have also been 

 transferred to composition disks. 



Mention may here be made of the interest shown by the Indians 

 when they first hear recordings of their voices. One woman said, 

 "How did the phonograph learn that song so quickly? That is a 

 hard song." Another woman said, "The phonograph seems to be 

 blowing feathers," referring to the shavings of the recording. Such 

 primitive Indians are not met so frequently now as in the earlier 

 years of the work. 



WORK IN THE FIELD 



Before describing the recording of Indian music in the field, let 

 me acknowledge with appreciation the courtesy that has been extended 

 to my work by the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, the representa- 

 tives of the Indian Office in the field, and the missionaries of Protes- 

 tant and Roman Catholic churches on the reservations. 



The first endeavor, after presenting my credentials to the super- 

 intendent (formerly called the agent) and arranging for a place 

 to stay, is to find a competent interpreter. It is not advisable to 

 employ the agency interpreter nor one connected with a mission, 

 as they use the current vocabulary of those institutions. Their pur- 

 pose is to convey an idea and, beyond the simplest transactions, my 

 work requires a different type of man or woman. I must have an 

 interpreter who can think in Indian and translate the native idioms 

 into pure, grammatical English. My best interpreters have been 



