ADMINISTRATIVE BEPOET 19 



of the Salish dialects of the State of Washington. Part of 

 this work was supported by the generosity of Mr. Homer E. 

 Sargent, of Chicago. 



The special researches in Indian music were continued 

 in behalf of the Bureau by Miss Frances Densmore, who 

 has done so much toward preserving the vanishing songs 

 of the Indians. The principal new phase that has arisen 

 in Miss Densmore's work is the importance of the rhythmic 

 unit in Chippewa songs. Her observations indicate that the 

 rhythmic phrase is the essential element of the song; indeed 

 Miss Densmore is inclined to think that the first idea of the 

 song may be a mental rhythm assuming the form of a short 

 unit, and that its expression follows the overtones of a 

 fundamental which exists somewhere in the subconsciousness 

 of the singer. The tabulated analyses show that 99 out 

 of 180 songs to appear in Bulletin 45 (in press) begin on the 

 twelfth or fifth, and 34 begin on the octave — a total of 133 

 out of 180 beginning on the principal overtones. Of 180 

 songs, 120 end on the tonic, and yet the tonic does not usually 

 appear until near the close of the song. 



Melodic phrases are seldom recurrent. In the oldest 

 songs the words are sung between repetitions of the rhythmic 

 unit, and have a slight rhythm and small melody progres- 

 sions. Rhythm varies less often than earlier words or 

 melody in repetition, especially when the rhythm is com- 

 prised in a definite unit. All these facts emphasize the 

 importance of the rhythm, and also have a bearing on the 

 problem of the development of primitive music, which 

 it is designed to treat in a practical rather than in a theoretical 

 way. 



The independence of voice and drum noted by Miss Dens- 

 more in previous studies was further shown by the data col- 

 lected during the year; also the prominence of the descending 

 interval of the minor third, and the marked use of overtones 

 in the choice of melodic material. 



The songs collected comprise a group of 40 secured at 

 Ponima, a remote village on the Red Lake Reservation, 

 Minnesota, and the series of war songs which Miss Densmore 



