32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 187 



The clusters are not always in consecutive blocks but may overlap. 

 Changing-a-rib 3 overlaps groups of fourths and thirds, 5 overlaps 

 groups of fourths. Corn Dance shifts tonality in song 5, as indicated 

 by the labels. The same phenomena of tonal shifts can be observed 

 in the weighted scales of Hand-in-hand, Shaking-a-bush, and other 

 social dances, notably Hand-in-hand 4 and Knee-rattle 3. A semi- 

 close on Vn gives an effect of tonal shift in Eagle 5 and 9, Carry-out- 

 the-kettle 4, and Old eskanye 10. This device is rare. A semiclose 

 on the fifth of the scale retains the basic tonality in all Buffalo songs, 

 in Bear 1,4, and 5, in a number of Drum, Eagle, War, Pigeon, and 

 Shaking-a-bush. This common device does not imply a composite 

 tonal structure but results from melodic sequence, to be discussed 

 below. 



Modulation is generally not typical of Iroquois songs, but it forms 

 the basis of the ternary (A B A) structure of the antiphonal Trotting 

 and Garters Dances. These sections are labeled in the weighted 

 scales, along with their semiclose. In every instance Part B rises, 

 with a semiclose on the second or third of the scale. 



Focus: 



Many songs focus intensely on the ground tone, by reiteration and 

 by consistent return to this center from upper and lower notes. 

 Some songs, furthermore, begin and end on the same note. Feather 

 Dance makes much of its main tone, but it consistently begins on the 

 fifth and rarely dips below (in Coldspring 26, 29, 34). Eagle, Robin, 

 Duck, and Chicken Dance songs behave similarly, but with more com- 

 mon dips below the main tone. Yeidos Round Dance songs habitually 

 begin and end on the same note, which also lies in the melodic center. 

 Other cycles show fragmentary examples — False Face 9, Buffalo 

 Dance 3, eskanyegowa archaic song 18, a few Eagle and Chicken songs, 

 and other scattered instances. The prevalent type is the Feather 

 Dance method of starting on the fifth and oscillating within this note 

 and its tonic, keeping other notes outside this range completely 

 incidental. Virtually all secundal and tertial melodies but very few 

 quartal songs, as Buffalo and Bear, are focused. 



A few tertial songs and the run of quartal tunes are more diffuse. 

 Nuclear notes receive less insistent attention; subsidiary notes have 

 definite melodic value, thus in Drum Dance and Shaking-a-bush. 

 The main tone lies at the bottom of a complete octave or more, for 

 instance in Pigeon songs. Occasionally, a very low note dives below 

 this octave, as in Yeidos individual song 7 and in some of Cornplanter's 

 Hand-in-hand songs. Some adventurous compositions shift focus. 

 As shown by a label on the scale-tabulation, Hand-in-hand and 

 Shaking-a-bush invariably conclude the first section a fifth above the 



