176 



BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[DULL. 45 



In all the songs recorded at Red Lake the intonation is most 

 accurate on the octave and fifth (or twelfth) and most noticeably 

 uncertain on the fourth and seventh. Accidentals are usually given 

 with special firmness and accuracy. Secondary accents are seldom 

 found; thus the songs are divided into measures of 2-4 rather than 

 4-4 time. 



The rhythmic peculiarities of certain songs, which resemble the 

 rhythmic peculiarities of negro music, may be traceable to a vestige 

 of negro ancestry among the Chippewa of northern Minnesota. 

 Similarly, the melodic as well as the rhythmic features of certan 

 songs, which suggest what is commonly known as "Scotch music," 

 may be traceable to songs heard years or even generations ago from 

 Scotch traders, many of whom were connected with the Hudson's 

 Bay Company. This is offered as a tentative explanation. If it be 

 true, it is an interesting point that both these elements should have . 

 left a rhythmic stamp on the music of a locality. The melodic 

 resemblance is less important, as the tonality commonly known as the 

 " Scotch scale" is found in the music of many primitive peoples. 



War Songs 



No. 154 



Sung 1)y Gi'wita'bines 



(Catalogue no. 131) 



Recorded without drum 





Analysis. — This song was said to come from Standing Rock, South 

 Dakota, and is one of the Sioux songs adopted by the Chippewa, 

 though always credited to the Sioux. No words were used. The 

 song was sung four times, without the drum. The length of the notes 

 of the first ten measures varied slightly in the renditions, but from the 

 tenth measure to the close the rhythm was regular and the tempo as 

 indicated, J = 80. It is a peculiar rhythm, which makes the exact- 

 ness of its repetition more interesting. In each rendition the differ- 

 ence between the flat and the natural in the fourth measure from the 

 last is worthy of note. 



