Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-14

tones accounts for this phenomenon. and If
can easily be conceived how the tremendous
volume of tone produced in the manner in
uocated from the great chorus of Indian
throats would actually produce the inter-
mediate harmonies not intended to be sung
In all of these ceremonies there is a choir
GOOD Indian singers make their living
through being members of it, and are
chosen by the tribes for this purpose These
are the leaders of the choral singing. and
they cling as closely to the pitch of their
songs as we do. Indians not belonging to-
the choir do not sing true always Miss
fletcher observed, but their variance from
the correct tone is no greater than that of
the unframed white man.
After making their first collection of In
dian folk songs, Miss Fletcher and Prof
Fillmore took them out to the reservations
where they We're tested on the Indians
The melodies were first played upon the
piano and the reed organ without an ac-
compartment exactly as they were sun
posed to be sung, but the Indians declared
that something was wrong with them. They
dld not sound right. The experiment was
then tried of playing the melodies with a
simple chord foundation such as the nat
ural overtones produced by the octave sing
ing would enunciate. This ARRANGEMENT
met with the appreciation of the singers
who declared them to be correct in this
form.
Each one of the melodies and their har-
monies used in the original monograph were
tested again and again in this manner be-
fore being printed. Yet all the care DID
not prevent an avalanche of criticism and
censure from descending upon the authors
Those who had not talked with Miss
Fletcher often fell into the natural error of
insisting that no harmony should have been
written to the Indian songs. Only the notes
which the singers used should be written
down, they thought. The explanation of
the overtones. already given, confutes all
such arguments, for Miss Fletcher has done
better than her critics have asked. Tie Up
per notes of the musical examples in her
book do represent the actual notes sung by
the indian, and these may easily be played
apart from the harmony underneath. BY
playing the melodies together with the har-
mony one may hear the music not as it is
sung, but as 1t actually sounds 10 the Is
tener, and Miss Fletcher is as confident to-
day as she was fourteen years ago that her
annotations of Indian music are correct.
Much has been written of the structure OF
these songs. The Indian invokes his gods
with music. 1t is the medium through
which he voices his greatest and most SOL
emn emotions, wherefore it is only natural
that in certain aspects, such as rhythmic
variety, his music should be more highly de-
yeloped than Caucasian melody. The Indian
is boRnd down to no hard and fast rules Of
key and measure or phrase. Often he be-
gins song in one key and finishes it in
another. Measures two beats long often
alternate with three-beat measures, and
phrases long as the mood of his song
or the ceremony require them to be.
1t is these characteristics which go TO
make up the attractiveness of the red
mans song. Where the corners of Caucas-
ian music are rounded off and polished
smoothly those of Indian tradition jut
rudely outward with an apology for their
roughness. Such men as Harvey Wor-
Ellington, Loomis and Arthur FarHell have
preserved these racial characteristics in
their lyrical settings. showing us the abb
original man as he really is and not as
some composer thinks he ought to be.
Z Conceive him singing the ghost dance, in
which he falls into a trance and believes
he the Great Spirit and the hunting
grounds. What significance the music of
this dance must have for him. and how he
must consecrate himself to the divine pow
ers when he listens TO its strains 1t is
doubtful If any of the white mans music
means SO much
BERENICE THOMPSON,