KuRATH] IROQUOIS MUSIC AND DANCE 37 



accented. A rapid tremolo accompanies all chants and commonly 

 announces the coming song. False Faces and women dancers are 

 introduced by the regular beats. A common device is alternate 

 tremolo and beat in an A A B A B pattern with tremolo on A. This 

 has been described for yeidos, Eagle, Fish type, and others. Fish type 

 usually substitutes a syncopated half beat for the tremolo in the drum, 

 against a background of rattle vibration. In women's shuffle dances, 

 heels steadily bump out the duple beat, whatever the instrumental 

 variation. Very few cycles use complex rhythms. Feather Dance 

 alone has a background of rapid dotted notes — an iambic beat. Eagle 

 Dance, part B, varies in a combination of slow and fast beats. Husk 

 Face rattles syncopate. Instead of attracting attention, the instru- 

 ments pulsate a steady background to the melodic figurations. 



Melodies: 



(a) Even, placid rhythms — combinations of quarter and eighth 

 notes. Drum Dance, ado'we', animal rites, women's rites, social bird 

 dances. Hand-in -hand. 



(6) Uneven, dotted quarter with eighth or dotted eighth with 

 sixteenth. Some Feather, Drum, False Face, eskanye, Corn, bird 

 rites and dances. Fish type. Fishing, show songs. 



(c) Syncopation^ — slow — Feather, Changing-a-rib, ohgiwe. Hand- 

 in-hand. Fast — Men's ado'we' and medicine rites, women's medicine 

 rites, and eskanye. Trotting and Garters, Grinding-an-arrow, Knee- 

 rattle, Devil Dance, Moccasin game. 



(d) Triplets^ — Ashes Stirring, False Face 1 and 9, yeidos, Bear 2, 

 Changing-a-rib 3 (Tonawanda). 



(e) Quick, crisp three-note rhythms — eighth and two sixteenths or 

 vice versa. War type, especially Sun Rite, Bear 5, Carry-out-the- 

 kettle, Shaking-a-bush, Chicken, Moccasin game. 



The tempo greatly affects the nature of these units. For instance, 

 dotted quarter and eighth is a rest and an upbeat, whereas dotted 

 eighth with sixteenth intensifies the movement impulse by its pattern 

 of prolonged and short beats. This, we may note, is the rhythm of the 

 Feather Dance rattle. The slow form of syncopation of eighth and 

 quarter notes in ohgiwe and Hand-in-hand, the faster types in Feather 

 Dance, and Sun Rite vary in their effect from a gentle lift to incisive 

 impact. 



This fast form of syncopation and categories {d and e) represents 

 as many arrangements of three notes within a duple count, and as 

 variable effects, from the flowing triplet to the impatient PJT i . 

 Similarly, the triplet form of the iambic rhythm f p flows more 

 smoothly than the dotted form C^. Combination of triple and duple 



