Learning Objectives
- Examine the two most widespread musical genres of Native North America: traditional music associated with specific tribes, and intertribal music, which can be performed by Native people regardless of their tribal affiliation.
- Analyze how the creation and performance of music and dance has played an essential part in the lives of North America's indigenous peoples since their beginnings on the continent. examine the instruments used in Native North American music, such as drums, rattles, and flutes.
- Extrapolate how Native peoples in the Americas continued to perpetuate their music and dance traditions through old ceremonies and new songs, despite the devastating impact of European settlement.
- Examine the role of contemporary Native Americans in participating in age-old religious rituals, dancing in intertribal celebrations, singing native-language hymns in church, and listening to the latest in Indian country, rock, and hip-hop music.
- Identify Native American music broadly, including "classical" music by Native composers (such as symphonies and ballets), Christian hymns, and popular music.
- Examine intertribal music (sometimes known as "Pan-Indian" music), such as pow-wow and flute music styles, that came from the sharing of tribal-specific traditions with others.
Listening Guides
We feature two Listening Guides on this page. The music for the first guide is a Kiowa War Dance song in the "Southern" style of an old Heluska Song, while the second is a Blackfoot song in the "Northern" style.
Note: Google Chrome users: Click the Play button when the audio box opens.
This Kiowa "War Dance" song, typical of the style, features men singing and drumming, and features a strong women's part as well. After Kenneth Anquoe, the head singer, opens with the theme, the rest of the male singers follow, and soon the women join them, singing in a higher range. Listen for the three "hard beats" separating the B and C sections of the song, and the increase in tempo toward the end of the first round.
Composer: 0
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"Kiowa War Dance"
00:10-00:17
Head singer sings opening theme in vocables
00:18-00:22
Group sings opening theme in vocables
00:23-00:30
Group sings theme in vocables
00:31-00:36
Cadence pattern then "hard beats" and Eagle Bone Whistle
00:37-00:42
Group sings theme in vocables
00:43-00:44
Tempo increases; Drum accents
00:45-00:48
Cadence pattern
Circular pattern: return to A
Note: Google Chrome users: Click the Play button when the audio box opens.
This example of a Blackfoot "Prairie Chicken" dance is what is known as a "special" dance, and is not part of competition. In it, Blackfoot men (and other men from Northern Tribes) dance in honor of the Prairie Chicken of the Great Plains, a bird that does an intensely active courtship dance for both breeding rights and territory during the spring. The dancers imitate the movements of the Prairie Chickens, especially the prancing of their feet.
This dance begins with a freeform non-metered drum and vocal introduction, during which time the dancer is able to "scratch" his feet in a movement similar to that of the bird. After the introduction, the dance goes into a Northern song phrase form with regular beat patterns, repeats of the opening free form section, and then a second section in regular beat patterns with a short "Tail" or coda to finish it up.
Composer: 0
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"Prairie Chicken Dance"
00:00-00:05
Head singer sings opening theme in vocables
00:06-00:20
Group sings opening theme in vocables
00:21-00:23
Cadence pattern
00:24-00:31
Group sings theme in vocables
00:32-00:34
Head singer sings theme in vocables; Accented drum beat
00:35-00:52
Group sings theme in vocables; More drum accents
00:53-01:02
Cadence pattern
01:02-01:05
Head singer sings opening theme in vocables
01:06-01:18
Group sings opening theme in vocables
01:19-01:22
Cadence pattern
01:23-01:30
Group sings theme in vocables
01:31-01:33
Head singer sings theme in vocables; Accented drum beat
01:34-01:44
Group sings theme in vocables; More drum accents
01:45-01:47
Cadence pattern
01:48-01:55
Group sings theme in vocables in a "Tail"
Competition singing, known as Inuit throat singing, was done by both men and women in the Northwest Coast and among Inuit and other Arctic peoples.
