INDIAN MUSIC — DENSMORE 541 



The most familiar songs connected with the food supply are the 

 Pueblo songs to bring rain. The Chippewa sang to obtain an abund- 

 ance of maple sugar, and the Plains tribes sang for success in the 

 buffalo hunt. All tribes had songs for success in war, often con- 

 nected with the use of "charms." 



The songs collected in a tribe are a cross section of its culture. 

 Thus the proportion of ceremonial songs recorded is largest in a 

 highly ceremonial tribe, the proportion of healing songs is largest 

 in tribes with rich vegetation and many medicinal herbs, and the 

 proportion of hunting songs is largest in regions where game is 

 abundant. Indian songs are of little value unless correlated with 

 the life of the people. Indian music should be recognized as an impor- 

 tant branch of ethnology. 



It would be futile to stress quantity in collecting Indian songs, as 

 every good Indian singer knows several hundred songs. Among the 

 Seminole of Florida I recorded more than 200 songs from one singer, 

 without a duplication. This man was Billie Stewart (pi. 4, fig. 1), 

 leader of the Corn Dance in the Cow Creek group. His home (pi. 4, 

 fig. 2) was in the cabbage palm region near Brighton, and his record- 

 ing was done in two successive seasons — 1932 and 1933. Toward the 

 end of the second season he hummed a song of the Quail Dance and 

 said, "I sang that for you last year, so I won't record it again." His 

 wife was a medicine woman known by her maiden name of Susie 

 Tiger, and she recorded several songs that she sang when treating the 

 sick. A marvelous native poetry was contained in the words of these 

 songs. 



Other Seminole singers were Charlie Billie (pi. 5, fig. 2), leader of 

 the Corn Dance in the Big Cypress group who recorded the cere- 

 monial songs of that dance, and Josie Billie (pi. 6, fig. 1), who 

 asked that his material be recorded with his Seminole name, meaning 

 Panther. He recorded songs of the Hunting Dance and other valu- 

 able old songs. An interesting informant on Seminole customs was 

 Mrs. John Tiger (pi. 5, fig. 1). Several villages in the Everglades 

 were visited and photographed, including a camp known as Old Camp 

 Florida. 



TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDS 



The transcribing of records is seldom done in the field, as time is 

 so valuable and facilities are limited. The speed screw of the phono- 

 graph is removed when the instrument is shipped, and it is neces- 

 sary to adjust the speed of the instrument when the songs are tran- 

 scribed. Without this adjustment the pitch would not be the same 

 in recording and transcribing, and the two performances would not 

 be uniform. The desired speed is 160 revolutions per minute and 

 this could be attained by counting the revolutions of the mandrel, 



