INDIAN MUSIC — DENSMORE 545 



corded certain songs in 1912, and in 1916 recorded the same songs 

 again, the pitch and tempo being the same. Other instances of exact 

 duplication have been noted in other tribes, and series of songs recorded 

 by one singer are generally identical in tempo and pitch. 



INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 



Instrumental music is used only as an accompaniment to singing 

 among the Indians, except that the young men sometimes play a flute 

 in the evenings and a whistle may be blown in ceremonies or in the 

 treatment of the sick. The musical instruments are of four classes, 

 consisting of drums (or similar percussion instruments) , rattles, flutes, 

 and whistles. There are many forms within each class, and the in- 

 struments are generally made of materials available in the region 

 where the Indians live. An exception is the gourd rattle, which is 

 widely distributed. Specimens of the musical instruments in the 

 several regions have been collected and placed in the United States 

 National Museum. 



Drums of the familiar type are made by tribes that hunt the deer 

 or can obtain deerhide from their neighbors. Tlie Papago, who are 

 not hunters, use a bowl-shaped basket similar to the family bread 

 basket, inverting it on the ground and striking it with the palm of 

 the hand. The Makah, near Cape Flattery in "Washington, formerly 

 used a long box for a drum, several men sitting on it and kicking it 

 with their heels or pounding it with their fists in time with the sing- 

 ing. This could be heard in the long wooden houses where their 

 gatherings were held in winter. The same tribe pounded on a plank, 

 w^hen a gathering was held on the shore during the summer. The 

 Indians of British Columbia beat on a plank as an accompaniment to 

 the songs of the Slahal game, the plank being raised a few inches above 

 the ground to produce resonance. The clapping of hands or stamping 

 of feet sometimes accompanied Indian singing, showing the use of the 

 human body in place of an instrument. 



Rattles are a form of percussion instrmnent and may consist of 

 receptacles containing small stones or clay pellets that make a noise 

 when shaken together, or they may consist of objects suspended so 

 that they clash against one another when the rattle is shaken by the 

 hand. Such rattles made of turtle shells or cocoons are sometimes 

 attached to the knee of a dancer and the sound is produced by the mo- 

 tion of his dancing. The gourd rattle is a familiar example of the 

 first type of rattle and an interesting example of the second is a 

 rattle obtained from a Makah medicine man which consists of pecten 

 shells suspended from a hoop of whalebone. The rattle is often con- 

 nected with magic, and the form of a man's rattle may be in accord- 

 ance with instructions received in the dream by which he obtained 

 his power. 



