i.K.N.sAiuKKj - CHIPPEWA MUSIC II 13 



however, the two expressions seem to be entirely distinct. Even 

 when voice and drum have to the ear the same metric unit, the 

 drum shghtly precedes, or in some instances follows, the voice. 

 Bulletin 45 (p. 6) contains a description of a phonograph record 

 in which the metric units of voice and drum are so nearly alike that 

 the same metronome indication was used for each. At the beginning 

 of the record the drumbeat was slightly behind the voice, but it 

 gained gradually until for one or two measures drum and voice 

 were together; the drum continued to gain until at the close of the 

 record it was slightly in advance of the voice. An independence of 

 rhythm of voice and drum was noted by Doctor von Hornbostel,^ 

 and also by Doctor Myers.- 



Further consideration is given the rhythm of Chippewa songs in 

 Bulletin 45 (p. 18). 



How DO THE Chippewa Sing? 



The manner of Chippewa singing varies with the nature of the song 

 and the skill of the singer. A nasal drawling is always used in the 

 love songs, but in no other songs. This is not a loud tone, and it 

 remotely suggests the call of an animal. The songs of the Mide'wJfwIn 

 (Grand Medicme) contain meaningless syllables, w^hich are distinctly 

 pronounced and in most instances are given similarly in the various 

 renditions of a song. These syllables are frequently interpolated 

 between parts of a word and sometimes bear resemblance to syllables 

 of the words. In these songs the words are mispronounced more 

 often than in others, being changed to fit the music, which is the 

 essential element of the song (see Bulletin 45, p. 14). In other classes 

 of songs the vocables are throaty sounds, which differentiate the tones 

 but can not be expressed in letters. It is said that ''one must have 

 an Indian throat to sing the songs properly." A Chippewa does 

 not move the lips in giving these vocables, but seems to produce 

 them by a contraction of the glottis; the tone lengths are, however, 

 entirely distinct and rarely vary in the repetitions of the song. 

 In addition to these styles of singing, which are universal, there is a 

 vibrato, or wavering tone, which is cultivated among the younger 

 singers and is considered an evidence of musical skill (see Bulletin 

 45, p. 4). A similar phase of musical culture was noted by the writer 

 among the Sioux of North Dakota. 



1 Erich M. von Hombostel, tJber die Musik der Kubu (aus dem Phonogramm-archiv des psychologischen 

 Instituts der Universitat Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, 1908, phonogramme 15a). 



2 Charles S. Myers, M. A., M. D., The Ethnological Study of Music (in Anthropological Essays Presented 

 to Edward Burnett Tylor, etc.), P- 237: " Not infrequentlj- the accents or measures in the melody are opposed 

 to those in the accompaniment.'' P. 238; [In polyphonic music of primitive peoples] " different simul- 

 taneous rhythms are allowed full scope for independent development. . . . Such 'heterophonic' music 

 surely demands of the native audience the .same oscillations of attention as occur in US when we listen 

 to two persons talking simultaneously." 



