The Washington herald., 1913-06-29
by WILLIAM l.. aLrDoRFER.

BY WILLIAM l.. ALTDORFER.
For many Yeas the American public
has stood for moonshine Indian music
TOO long hath my people been deceived, .
saith Uncle Sam, and 1t all happened
thus When the poor. tired citizen. bored
to the point ( extinction. hied himself
to some amusement place, from which
place of vantage he hoped to absorb
some of the joys Of life-said joys made
up Of one part dancing, two parts sing
ing. one part wit. and the rest girl. but,
barring the girl. the songs seemed to be
ne .ry to the full enjoyment of said
tired citizen. So necessary, in fact, that
writers of popular music had almost be-
come bald-headed trying TO invent some
thing new. 1t was in the effort to find
something new that they happened upon
the tom-tom Accompaniment to which
was set words relating 10 heroic deeds
of our North American Indians So far.
so good. But the trouble came when they
started to ring in little of that Street
Of Cairo rhythm, and found that the
sa. accompaniment effect answered the
same purpose. In this way the afore-
mentioned tired citizen In his search for
amusement, was getting the streets of
Cairo and hoochie-koochie stuff when he
thought he was being treated to real In
dian music.
Real Music to He Given.
But no more will this happen. Uncle
Sam mas taken hand in the game, and
from now on will give TO his people the
real Indian music as it is sung on the
plains. The real music may not be ap-
preciated at first. but, like all other good
things. everybody will have to be edu-
Gated to the real thing, and taste will
come in time. Godfrey .O'Hara, a we'll
known musician of New York, has beer
appointed by the government to under
take the collection of real Indian music
among the Indian tribes of America. The
plan is twofold. Not only will the true
music OF the North American Indians be
preserved, but it will also be possible to
have II appear in printed form the same
as other music. 1t is also planned to
teach the Indian children the music of
their ancestors the same as they have
been taught their legends.
All of the love songs and other songs
of merit of the Indians will be canned"
by means of the photograph and placed
in the government archives. The work
has already been started. 1t was a diff
cult task when the first Indians were ap-
preached and told to sing into the horn
of the machine. They could not believe
II possible that their voices could be re-
corded for all time in this manner. They
could not understand, at first, how they
could sing into a little box. and few
minutes later hear their own voices COM
ing out of the horn.
Frank H Abbott, the acting Commits
sioner Of the Indian Office, is enthu-
siastic about the new work. In speaking
Of the plan he said: THE preservation
and development of Indian music has
never been studied to any great extent
in the United States. Famous musicians
in various parts of the world have eX-
pressed establishment that the people OF
America should have left this wonderful
field almost UNEMPLOYED, especially In
view of the many beautiful native songs
now rapidly passing into oblivion through
the death of the older members OF the
tribes
Permanent Records Secured.
The North American Indian has
dwindled to such a small number" con-
tinued he, that if their songs are not
quickly recorded one of the most fertile
and interesting fields of music in the
greatest advantage of the new plan Is
the securing - permanent records, which
future generations may of the Indian
learn and take pride in the songs of
their people. The last thing that should
be done with the young people of any
race is to teach them to be ashamed
of their ancestry. while We, as members
of the white race. take great pride IN
reviving the musical forms in which our
forefathers clothed their strong emo
tions-religious, war. love. and conVivi-
ality. Indian children should be in
structed in the music of their own race,
side by side with the music of ours In
trying to show them the way TO become
true American citizens, we should not
rob them of the individuality Of their
own race"
The plan is really not new. Former
Commissioner Leupp started the work
several years ago, and a man was Sc
lected 10 make a beginning. A few ma
tive songs were published. and IT wasl
fully demonstrated that with person
properly qualified to arrange native In
dian music a success could be made in
handling the music of all the tribes. But
for some reason the work was not pushed
at that time and it languished. Now
Geoffrey OHara is in New Mexico work.
ing among the Navajos, and while the
actual field work has been going on for
only a short while, the results are suffi-
Gent TO show that the finished work
will be of great value, not only to fu-
ture generations Of Indians, but to all
lovers of the beautiful, the unusual, and
weird in music. Mr.. O'Hara is securing
his records by means of the photograph, |