58 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 61 



mately one-eleventh of a tone, and the interval of 3 vibrations is 

 approximately one-eighteenth of a tone. 



The following tables give the record of the tests made on 10 persons 

 in each tribe: 



CHIPPEWA 



SIOUX 



Jto4... 

 5 to 10.. 

 11 to 30. 



Total. 



It may be seen that there is no significant difference in the average 

 ability of these two groups as shown in the small number of records 

 here given. After comparing these records with those of American 

 whites under various conditions, Professor Seashore is of the opinion 

 that the abilities here shown are about as good as one would find 

 among the average American whites under similar circumstances. 



Music as a Cultivated Art Among Chippewa and Sioux ^ 



From the structural data given in the foregoing tables and from 

 the descriptions of the singers and their manner of singing contained 

 in the following pages, it seems permissible to make some observa- 

 tions concerning music as a cultivated art among the Chippewa and 

 the Sioux. In tliis, as in the melodic and rhythmic analyses, we may 

 bear in mind certain fundamental principles of music as an art among 

 white races. The musical standards of civihzed peoples have been 

 gradually developed and are concerned with composition and manner 

 of rendition. The music of Chippewa and Sioux will be considered 

 with reference to both these standards. 



In the phonographic recording of about 1,000 Indi;Mi songs and in 

 contact with a large number of Indian singers the writer has found 



1 This chapter was read by a delegation of Sioux who were in Washington on tribal business. The dele- 

 gation was composed of five men, one each from tlie Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Crow Creek, 

 and Lower Brule Agencies. They pronounced the standards of Indian musical criticism to be correctly 

 set forth, adding only that in order to be a good musician among the Indians a man must be able to learn 

 a melody quiclsly, and that a good musician, could sing a melody correctly after lieartng it two or three tunes 



