Kdrath] IROQUOIS MUSIC AND DANCE 29 



acteristic terminal beats accompany the last notes of a number 

 of songs. 



Structural labels (A, B, a, b, etc.) identify typical songs, but not 

 every single one. The number of repetitions is mentioned only in 

 unusual cases. The tempo heads each series with a new tjrpe of tim- 

 ing. Unless otherwise indicated, it stands for both voice and instru- 

 ment. Separate tempi are rare — False Face round, Feather Dance 

 introduction. Metronome readings of tremolos have seemed unnec- 

 essary, for the instrumental vibration is free and independent of the 

 equally free vocal rendering of chants. 



In order to preserve the outlines, two peculiarities are reproduced 

 in simplification. In the first place, the voice lags behind the instru- 

 ment in stomp-type dances. Each component has a regular beat, but 



the two are in syncopation, thus mt gt ■ ^^ ^-he second place, the 



rebounds of the kernels in any form of rattle create a faint subsidiary 

 sound J3 J3 == J3- Nonetheless, the main beat is in eighth notes and 

 is written as such. 



Comparative Procedure: 



Musical quality stems from a great number of properties, some of 

 them completely elusive, others more palpable. The most concrete 

 properties are tonality, that is, scale type and range, rhythmic units, 

 and phrases, form or structure, and melodic contour. These have 

 been carefully studied in the individual cycles, most precisely in Eagle 

 Dance. ^^ Owing to the scope of the materials, typical examples must 

 here suffice for comparisons and tabulations. It must be understood 

 that these paradigms represent the majority of, say, Feather Dance 

 or Changing-a-rib, but that they can be contradicted by numerous 

 exceptions even within their own series. 



NUCLEUS AND DEVELOPMENT 

 TONALITY 



Weighted scales (see figs. 1-3, p. 79-81): 



Weighted scales reveal the tonal skeleton. Each note is checked 

 for its frequency and prominence. The most functional note is labeled 

 as a whole note, the next in importance as a half note and so on to 

 the completely incidental notes marked as sixteenth notes. This has 

 no connection with their rhythmic value but merely serves as a graphic 

 means of discovering the tonal nucleus. The bTeginning note is marked 

 vi; and the final note ^. A semicadence is marked 3. 



The comparative tabulations show a tremendous variety, from a 

 single note in Husk Face, two notes in several songs of Changing-a-rib 



1* See the comparative study of four versions in Fenton and Kurath, 1953, pp. 250-263. 



