densmoke] 



TETON SIOUX MUSIC 



47 



It is admitted that they frequently produce vocal sounds which differ 

 one from another by a number of vibrations less than that comprised 

 in a semitone, but the writer finds no evidence, on phonographic 

 records of about a thousand songs, that such sounds are part of a 

 system, consciously used by the Indians. Animals express emotion 

 by means of sounds which gUde from one pitch to another. Such 

 expression is primal, but into song there enters an intellectual element 

 which tends to produce definiteness of tonal intervals. 



Table ISA. — This table shows the largest, smallest, and average 

 interval, expressed in semitones. Figure 12 presents the same data 

 in graphic form, the horizontal lines representing semitones. It should 

 especially be noted that this dia- 



, , . <• 1 • Largest interval a fourteerxth 



gram shows the sizes oi the mter- (23 semitones) 

 vals and does not indicate the 

 number of times they occur. The 

 largest interval in these songs is a 

 fourteenth, comprising 23 semi- 

 tones, and the smallest is a minor 

 third, comprising one semitone. 

 The number of occurrences of 

 these and other intervals is shown 

 in Tables llA and 12A, in con- 

 nection ^\dth which it has already 

 been noted that the larger inter- 

 vals are of less frequent occur- 

 rence than the smaller. In mak- 

 ing the computatic,|tis for Table 

 I3A the nmnber of occurrences 

 of each interval was multiplied 

 by the number of semitones which it contains. Having obtained the 

 total number of intervals and of semitones, the average number of 

 semitones in an interval was secured. Tlie average of the entire 

 series is found to be 3.021 semitones, slightly more than a minor third. 

 Table I4A. — In this table it should be observed that 30 per cent of 

 the songs have as their keynote G, G sharp (or A flat), and A. This 

 is a larger proportion than on any other three consecutive semitones, 

 and suggests the natural range of voice among these Indians. In 

 this connection it should bo stated that the speed of the phonograph 

 is the same when the songs are played for transcription as when they 

 are recorded, and that the pitch of the tones is decided by comparing 

 the tones of the phonograph with those of a piano tuned to standard 

 pitch (a' 435 vd). 



Average interval approxi- 

 mately a minor third (3.021 

 semitones) 



Smallest interval a minor sec- 

 ond (1 semitone) 



riG. 12. Largest, smallest, and average mtervals 

 (horizontal lines represent semitones). 



