62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 187 



A new style enters with agricultural forms, though they adhere to 

 tertial and to stomp type. Antiphony and modulation enrich the 

 melodies. These and the previous dances we venture to equate with 

 the prehistoric era, dating to the acceptance of agriculture, and thus 

 long before the formation of the League. This type has Southeastern 

 affinities (Kurath, 1961). 



The War Dance cycle, which introduces new elements, preeminently 

 in choreography, can, in part at least and perhaps in full, be relegated 

 to the period of expansion and conquest following the formation of 

 the League. These forms would reach over into historical times, as 

 instances of Great Plains influence. 



Individual, new, and Scalp Dance songs belong to a very recent 

 era, some of them short lived, others lasting for decades and spreading 

 to other longhouses. 



THE RELATION OF MUSICAL PATTERNS TO PRESENT RITUAL FUNCTIONS 



The musical analysis has emphasized a varied distribution of formal 

 elements through the ritual categories of the modern longhouse. 

 Previous to this report, connections between the forms and functions 

 consequently appeared obscure. However, at the present moment a 

 hypothesis can be ventured, on the basis of several approaches, notably 

 on the basis of repeated association or contrasts of certain cycles in 

 pattern tabulations. 



Feather Dance and False Face have shown affinities in many 

 respects — tonality, tempo, rhythmic, metric, and structural irregu- 

 larity. Add to this the common use of the turtle-shell rattle, though 

 with a different beat, and the common choreographic feature of in- 

 dividualistic male gyration and gesticulation, though with a different 

 step. (Women are unimportant in Feather Dance.) On the other 

 hand. Feather and Drum Dance contrast in every musical aspect, 

 including the instrument. To confuse the issue, the dance steps are 

 similar. 



Drum Dance shows musical relationship with the two women's 

 rites, Quavering and Changing-a-rib, especially in the large range 

 songs mth descending sequence. Structural and tonal relationship 

 with the War Dance type is evident, though the latter uses a faster 

 tempo and crisper rhythms. Functionally distant War Dance and 

 Old eskanye, somewhat less women's Dark Dance, agree in all respects 

 except the bolder intervals of War Dance and the faster tempo of 

 eskanye. The same instruments and the same women's step recur in 

 all cycles mentioned in this paragraph. Again, to confuse the issue, 

 the male War Dance step and female Dark Dance step are different; 

 also, the Drum Dance step types constitute the choreography of the 

 False Face Round. 



