The Use of Music in the Treatment of the 

 Sick by American Indians 1 



By Frances Densmore 



Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology 



[With 4 plates] 



Two methods of treating the sick were used by the American In- 

 dians in early days and are continued to some extent at the present 

 time. One method involves the private ministrations of a doctor or 

 medicine man and the other a public ceremony, conducted by a num- 

 ber of doctors, attended by many people, and often continued for 

 several days. Music is an important phase of each method and con- 

 sists of singing by the doctor or his assitants and the shaking of a 

 rattle or beating of a drum. The songs used in these treatments are 

 said to come from supernatural sources in "dreams" or visions, and 

 with them come directions for procedure and a knowledge of the 

 herbs to be used. 



Both methods were seen and described by the White men who first 

 went among the Indians, but a study of the songs was made possible 

 only by the recording phonograph, which came into use about 1890. 

 The study of recordings of Indian songs may be compared to the work 

 of a chemist in his laboratory. By this means the structure of the 

 melody can be determined and the song transcribed as nearly as pos- 

 sible in musical notation. 



Another factor contributing to our understanding of Indian medi- 

 cal practice is the development of educated interpreters with a knowl- 

 edge of both English and Indian idioms. The missionaries were the 

 first teachers of the Indians, and among the first English words 

 learned by Indians were those connected with the religious teaching 

 of the period. Such words were applied to many Indian customs that 

 the White men did not understand, and the terms "superstition" 

 and "witchcraft," as well as words of highest spiritual import, were 

 attached to Indian customs. These terms became permanent and, to a 



1 Reprinted by permission from "Music and Medicine," Henry Schuman, New York. 

 236639—53 29 439 



