Evening star., 1909-05-05
MARKET STANDS

shorthand picture record for the songs,
and she has a number of sheets of BIRCH
bark with little pencil sketches, none oil
them more than two inches square, each
of which represents story that is the
basis for some particular song. One, for
instance, is a conventionaliZed teDee. out
Of it are coming two figures. an old med,-
cine man and young man. The young
man asks the old man if he has taught
him all the music that he knows For
answer the old man leads him to the edge
of a cliff and tells him to jump off. The
young man jumps and a dotted line shows
where he falls down senseless at the bot
tom of the cliff. Here thre is circle
with four dots around it. This represents
four bears who walk around the young
man and sing him a wonderful magic
song. He Immediately comes back to life.
dead, walks back uo the cliff and is
greeted by the old man, who tells him
that now he knows this song nothing
can harm him.
This is the story Of the song. The song
itself is an entirely different matter, but
the few scratches on the birchbark repre-
sent this long story and the story fixes
the song in the mind of the singer.
Many Repetitions.
In the same way many of the songs tell
a long story to the Indians, though they
may actually contain only two or three
words. Most of the airs are short. run
ming only two or three or at most five
bars. This is heightened by innumerable
repetitions and the story OF the song
lis presented to the minds of the hearers
though only a few words are actually
sung. This sort of shorthand music Is
rather confusing to the novice. but it is
standard currency with its native audi
tors
There is one song, for instance. that
sounds monotonous enough, for all the
words are Somebody is wrapping up
my godson." Yet this is the story of a
great juggler who was tied up by evil
his bonds by the aid of the especial spirit
that watched over him.
There is another song. very beautiful
little air too, the words of which are. u
love him in spite of his being SO unkind
to me- Yet this song has whole love
story behind it, and the air and these
few words suffice to call up the story to
the audience.
There are scores and scores Of other
songs, each distinct in words and music,
took as many as nine interpreters to salts
factorily straighten out. There are har-
vest songs, hunting songs, love songs and
songs of war and songs for the cure OF
the sick. The Indians use many herb
remedies, some of which may have some
medicinal effect and many OF which are
probably inert. but the accompanying
songs always have to go with them and
Miss Densmore says she is inclined to
think that the rhythm Of the song oft
repeated may have something to do with
the cure, when there is one, through the
medium of mental suggestion.
She says that she approached the study
of Chippewa music with no particular
theory to prove and has been willing to
take it as she found 1t, but the matter of
rhythm has forced itself on her atten-
tion SO that she is making 1t more and
more of study. She says that she does
not like to use the term hypnotism, but
there is something in the rhythm of spe-
cial songs that appears to lend itself
strongly to mental suggestion, and mental
suggestion certainly plays a large part
in their medicine, their magic and their
working up Of quiet Indians into war
parties. She says she hopes ultimately
there will be a sort Of psychologist labora-
tory to take up the study Of the mental
effect of rhythm, but at present she is
simply busy collecting the material before
it dies out. and is willing to leave the
psychology Of the matter to other stu
dents.