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ANTHROPOLOGY: A. C. FLETCHER 
which is translated 'song' does not suggest any use of words. To 
the Indian, the music is of primal importance, words may or may not 
accompany the music. When words are used in a song, they are rarely 
employed as in a narrative, the sentences are not apt to be complete. 
In songs belonging to a religious ceremony the words are few and par- 
take of a mnemonic character. They may refer to some symbol, may 
suggest the conception or the teaching the symbol stands for, rarely more 
than that. Vocables are frequently added to the word or words to eke 
out the musical measure. It sometimes happens that a song has no 
words at all, only vocables are used to float the voice. Whether vocables 
alone are used or used in connection with words, they are never a ran- 
dom collection of syllables. An examination of hundreds of songs 
shows, that the vocables used fall into classes; one class is used for 
songs denoting action, another class for songs of a contemplative char- 
acter, and it is also noted that when once vocables are adapted to a 
song they are never changed but are treated as if they were actual 
words. 
As Indian music is exclusively vocal, its range is confined to the com- 
pass of the human voice, which rarely exceeds three full octaves. This 
limited range, taken with its strictly vocal character, places Indian music 
in a class apart from the 'culture music' of our race. The remarkable 
development of 'culture music' has been due, in a large measure, to the 
invention and use of musical instruments. By means of these instru- 
ments the range of musical sounds has been increased far beyond that 
possible to the human voice and different quahties of tone have been 
secured. As a result, 'culture music' has been able to use diversity in 
musical sounds, to employ various melodic and harmonic forms and to 
acquire an objective and intellectual character quite impossible to the 
simple song from which it sprang. By the study of Indian music it is 
possible to retrace some of the steps that have led from song to 'culture 
music' In pursuing this task, an important and helpful factor is found 
in certain conditions that have here obtained, namely: the natives of 
this continent, previous to the coming of our race, had not been sub- 
jected to inroads from alien peoples who might have disturbed the con- 
tinuity of aboriginal culture; consequently the music and the life of 
the Indians can be observed in a simple, rather than a 'compound' 
environment. 
Indian music presents several aspects to the student, all of which fall 
into two classes; the one technic, the other psychic in nature. The tech- 
nic class has already received considerable attention from scholars, as 
to the tones used, the order in which they occur, the relation of this 
