Cool Stuff no. Native American Music

     Throughout the week, the Music of Diverse Cultures class has studied various indigenous groups scattered all over North America. These groups of people were settled in the "Americas" long before anyone else "discovered" or colonized the land, approximately 5,000 years ago. These groups of people survived off the land, some farmed, some hunted buffalo, some fished and some were gatherers. It just depended on the environment that each of the tribes was settled. The culture of these groups was also deeply rooted within the environment that they survived off of. The type of music the tribes used for dances, prayers, and other large gatherings was also deeply dependant on the tribe of the culture. Throughout the process of studying these groups and there music, I came upon many questions but I am specifically going to ask and answer three. 

1. Did the Natives name themselves? Or was each tribe renamed when they were forced to move and assimilate by the colonies?

    As we learned about the boarding schools, and how they were essentially assimilation camps this question came to mind. Many of the native children were forced to change their name, their hairstyles, the way that they dressed, and many other features that defined them culturally. I thought that maybe the names that we know the tribes by are names that the colonies allotted them, rather than what they actually called themselves. I also thought that they could've accomplished this by the broken generation of children that they kidnapped and adopted out to white families. It turns out, some of the names of the tribes were given by the white settlers but most were actually the original names that the tribes had given themselves. Sometimes "Nicknames" were given to the tribes by the white settlers, but the tribes never referred to themselves or each other by these. 

2. Most of the music that we listened to in class involved 2 instruments: the drum, and shakers. Did the natives use any other instruments? 

    In class, we listened to three songs, and all of these contained two instruments: The shakers and drums so the question arose if the natives had created any other instruments for their music. They did! They also created clap sticks, flutes, and a few stringed instruments. The material that the instruments were made of really depended on the environment surrounding the tribe, as well as extra material they had. A lot of the time, bones would be used, slabs of wood, and the cord that was used for strung instruments were often made of animal material. With time and skill, these instruments were made and beautiful beats and melodies were created. 

3. Did Native Americans ever sing using their language rather than vocables?

         After much research, I was unable to find a song that was written using their language but I did come upon many songs, in which the vocables almost told a story. For example, this one to me sounds like a journey through the mountains, not only because of the instruments but also the vocables. It really gives me the feeling of a slow journey, and this may not be what the song is intended to be, but it is just what I picked up from listening. Regardless of the fact, most tribes that I was able to listen to, don't use their language in their music, I was still able to feel and hear what they were trying to describe: whether it was a celebratory song, a song of mourning, or a song of prayer. The more I have listened to the tribal music, the more it speaks to me, even without words.