ANALYSIS OF SIOUX AND CHIPPEWA SONGS 



The purpose of this chapter is to present in descriptive and diagram- 

 matic form * the more important data contained in the tabulated 

 analyses immediately preceding. 



Table lA. — In this table the songs are grouped according to tonality, 

 which is defined as ''the quality or peculiarity of a tonal system." 

 (See p. 12, footnote.) The fu-st step in analyzing a song is the deter- 

 mination of the keynote or tonic by observing the tones which occur 

 in the song and their general progressions. The next step in the 

 analysis is the determination of the tonality. In ascertaining this, if 

 the song contains several tones, we observe especially the pitch of the 

 third and sixth above the keynote, as these tones are a semitone lower 

 in minor than in major tonality. The sixth is absent from 138 of the 

 songs under analysis, while the third is absent from only 17 songs; the 

 third is therefore the principal factor in judging the tonality of a 



10 



20 



Percentages 

 40 50 60 



70 



80 



90 



. Irregular 



Major 



Minor 



Fig. ]. Tonality. 



song. If the third is four semitones (a major third) above the key- 

 note, the song is said to be major in tonality, and if three semitones 

 (a minor third) above the keynote, minor in tonality. Classifying 

 the songs according to this basis, we find 50 per cent major in tonality 

 and 49 per cent minor, 1 per cent being irregular in form. (Fig. 1 .) 



We usually associate a minor key with the idea of sadness, but this 

 association of ideas does not appear to be present to the same degree 

 in the mind of the Indians. It seems more probable that a preference 

 for the major tonality shown in many groups of songs may be due to 

 the fact that the major third is one of the more prominent overtones 

 of a fundamental tone (see p. 41). Helmholtz states that the "minor 

 triad is very decidedly less harmonious than the major triad, in con- 

 sequence of the combinational tones, which must consequently be . . 

 taken into consideration" ; ^ also that "minor chords do not represent 



' The writer gratefully acknowledges her indebtedness to Dr. Ales IlrdliCka, curator of physical anthro- 

 pology, United States National Museum, far suggestions concerning the graphic methods used in the 

 accompanying diagrams. 



2 Helmholtz, The Sensations of Tone (translated by A. J. Ellis), pt. 2, p. 214, London, 1885. 



40 



