INDIAN MUSIC — DENSMORE 549 



Bull. 45, 1910) . The melodic analyses comprised such bases as tonality, 

 first progression (upward and downward), and tone material, while 

 the rhythmic analyses noted the beginning on the accented or unac- 

 cented portion of the measure and a comparison of the metric unit 

 of voice and drum. The familiar major and minor pentatonic scales 

 were designated as the fourth and second five-toned scales according 

 to the classification by Helmholtz. The various classes of songs were 

 grouped together, making it possible to compare the structure of war, 

 game, and other songs. To Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, curator of physical 

 anthropology. United States National Museum, I owe the suggestion 

 that the results be expressed in percentages, a custom begun in 1913 

 and followed in subsequent work. 



The number of tables of analysis was increased to 22 in my second 

 book, "Chippewa Music II" (Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. 53, 1913), and 

 this number was gradually reduced until only 14 were used in "Nootka 

 and Quileute Music" (Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. 124, 1939). When 

 the results of an analysis were practically uniform in the tribes under 

 consideration the basis was discontinued, and certain other tables did 

 not seem of sufficient importance to be continued. Among those used 

 for only a few hundred songs were tables showing the metronome time 

 of the voice and drum, and the keynote of the song. These analyses 

 were regarded as tests, and no claim was made that they were scien- 

 tific ; neither was any claim made that the results would apply to all 

 songs of all Indian tribes. They were concrete observations on the 

 material under consideration, which represented as nearly as possible 

 the music of certain tribes of Indians. 



As a preliminary to the tabular analyses, each song was analyzed, 

 using forms devised and printed for that purpose. In recent years 

 I have continued the individual analyses and combined the results 

 in descriptive groups or tribal analyses. A comparison of the songs 

 under consideration with songs previously analyzed was used for the 

 last time in "Nootka and Quileute Music," in which 210 songs of that 

 group were compared with 1,343 songs of other tribes. The dis- 

 crepancy between the tribal group and the total number of songs had 

 become so great that a comparison was scarcely justified. 



Mention may here be made of a group of songs designated in the 

 analyses as irregular in tonality and comprising songs without an 

 apparent keynote. This designation was adopted at the suggestion 

 of Charles K. Wead, who suggested that the material could thus be 

 reserved for future consideration. The designation was used first in 

 "Teton Sioux Music" (Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. 61, 1918) and has been 

 continued in later work. The table concerning the tone material of 

 the songs contains a group designated as "other combinations of tones." 



