KuRATH] IROQUOIS MUSIC AND DANCE 71 



dependent on the creatures, they have adjusted to functional changes 

 with increasing codification. In fact, they are capable of expressing 

 homage in the spirit of Quaker Christianity, without visualization, in 

 the words of the Drum Dance prayers. Here they give thanks to all 

 creatures, culminating in thanks to the Creator (Fenton, 1948, Rec, 

 pp. 7-10; Chafe, 1961). Thus they are fitting into the modern world 

 and yet are remembering the bygone days of life in the forest. 



ARTISTRY 



Out of the bewildering variety of artistic forms, particularly of 

 musical forms, a homogeneous character emerges. The very variety, 

 while often perplexing, symbolizes a stylistic trait. Every gener- 

 alization is confronted by an exception in the following summary. 



FOCUS 



Iroquois song and dance are preeminently focal. Most of the scales 

 center on a focal note and its subsidiary helper, close at hand; the 

 melodies waver up and down around the focal note, usually end on it 

 and develop out of this center. This nuclear tendency extends to 

 the thematic devices which produce expansion and rhythmic inter- 

 action. The average tempo proceeds at a comfortable gait. The 

 rhythms are most commonly simple, calm, and symmetrical. There 

 is certainly significance in the exceptional cases of diffuse, sequential, 

 and erratic forms. 



Similarly, the dances circulate steadily around a focal point, the 

 body centers above the focal knees and pulsates on a fluctuating level, 

 parallel to the ground, feet close together, heels pounding the founda- 

 tion. A few typical steps thread through the moderate choreographic 

 variations. As for the music, there are special reasons for uncentered, 

 individualistic, and vertical dance forms, namely, exotic origins. 



INTERACTION 



Closely allied with this nuclear quality is the constant interaction 

 between performers, between moieties, between officials, between 

 opposite sexes; the collaboration between singing teams and dance 

 partners, between dancers, conductors, and spectators, in antiphony 

 or synchronization. The interaction grows out of segregation. At 

 the beginning of each festival the men and women gather at their 

 respective ends of the longhouse, and the moieties divide at right 

 angles to the sexes. The singers and dancers pair up and intermingle 

 according to specific precepts. 



STRUCTURALISM 



Likewise in conformity with tradition, each ceremony and each 

 dance cycle has a clear structure and builds to a climax. Each song 



