PENSMORK] CHIPPEWA MUSIC — 1^ 37 



DREAM SONGS (iNA'bUNDJIGAN' Na'gUMOWi'nUN)^ 



This group comprises Nos. 108-121 of Bulletin 45 and Nos. 94-104 

 and 128-153 of the present work. The songs in this group are not 

 composed (in the usual sense of the term) but are said to have ''come 

 to the mind of the Indian when he was in a dream." We can not 

 fully understand this dream or trance of the Indian; we can only 

 accept his statement that by isolation and fasting he was able to 

 induce a certain condition in which he "saw a vision" and "composed 

 a song." In the belief of the Indian fasting is a condition essential to 

 certain classes of musical composition. It is a well-known fact that 

 in a condition of inanition the brain enters on a phase of abnormal 

 activity akin to that produced by narcotic stimulants. The com- 

 position of songs during or immediately following an abnormal 

 mental state has been noted among other Indian tribes. Thus, for 

 instance, Mr. James Mooney states that "persons taking part in the 

 ghost dance voluntarily sought the trance condition, and on emerging 

 from that condition frequently embodied the story of their vision in 

 a song." 



In some instances the Chippewa stated that they sang songs 

 heard in their dreams; thus in the description of No. 1 12, Bulletin 45, 

 the man said that he "sang a song which he heard the trees singing," 

 and in No. 119, in the same bulletin, he "repeated the song which 

 the crows sang." Nos. 94-99 of the present work are supposed to be 

 the "songs" of the thunderbird, the deer, and the buffalo, which the 

 man saw in his dream. Nos. 1, 102, 103, and 104 of the present 

 work are said to have been learned from manido', which appeared in 

 human form to the dreamer. Llention of the manifestations of 

 nature occur in many dream songs; these are considered on page 16. 



It is noted that 16 per cent of the dream songs relate to flight 

 through the air. The sensation of aviation in dreams, due to some 

 disturbance of the nervous equilibrium, is not an uncommon phe- 

 nomenon. 



In the circumstances attending both the composition and the 

 use of the dream songs the underlying idea was that of expectancy 

 and acquirement. To the Indian a "vision" was more to be desired 

 than any material thing. Through the vision he was assured of 

 supernatural aid which would enable him to succeed in life, and the 

 song was one of the means by which he summoned that aid in his 

 hour of need. Considering this idea of acquirement, so closely 

 associated with the dream songs, it is not surprising to find them, 

 in analysis, allied to the woman's dance songs and the songs con- 



' The writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Dr. AIe§ Hrdlidka, curator of physical anthro- 

 pology, United States National Museum, and of Mr. James Mooney of the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology, in studying the relation between physiological conditions aud musical expression. 



