RECORDING INDIAN MUSIC 



By FRANCES DENSMORE 



Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology 



Continuing her study of Indian music for the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology, the writer made four field trips during 193 1, two to 

 the Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin and two to the Seminole of 

 southern Florida. 



Winnebago songs were recorded near Wisconsin Dells and at a 

 basket-maker's camp near Holmen, Wis. The principal subject under 

 consideration was the peyote cult, though additional information was 

 obtained on material previously collected and interesting specimens 

 were secured. The organization which has been created around the 

 use of peyote was studied chiefly as a religious expression of Indians 

 in a transitional state of culture. It includes many native customs, 

 together with the simpler teachings of Protestantism. There are two 

 branches of this organization, one following John Rave, who used 

 the rite of baptism and the Lord's Prayer, and the other branch fol- 

 lowing his associate, Jesse Clay, whose teachings show a reversion to 

 native customs, such as the use of certain songs for each of the four 

 periods of the night. The ceremonial songs of both branches were 

 recorded by men who have taken leading parts in the ceremony. Wil- 

 liam Thunder recorded the songs of the John Rave branch, and James 

 Yellowbank (fig. 174) recorded the songs of the Jesse Clay branch, 

 described the ceremony in detail, and drew a diagram of the cere- 

 monial lodge. A young man recorded a song he received in a vision 

 induced by peyote, and described the vision. Numerous general songs 

 of the cult which had been learned by the Winnebago from other 

 tribes were also recorded. 



Pueblo Indians from Acoma and Cochiti took part in certain pag- 

 eants given at Wisconsin Dells and by listening to their singing in the 

 pageants it was possible to corroborate a previous observation that 

 Pueblo Indians unconsciously raise the pitch of a song during its 

 performance. James Paytiamo, an Acoma, added to material pre- 

 viously obtained on the songs and customs of this tribe, and Ever- 

 green Tree, a Cochiti, recorded additional songs of the buffalo dance, 

 enacted two Cochiti dances, and amplified the translations of songs 

 recorded by him in 1930. 



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