Native American Music

Before I read our chapter in Worlds of Music, I hadn't thought much about Native American music. However, when I read the book and watched the "Pow Wow" DVD in class today that demonstrated the dances along with the music, I realized how integral it was in their culture. On the DVD, different Native American men discussed their music, its origins, and how powerful and significant it was within their culture. In watching the dancers' movements, facial expressions and intensity, it became clear to me that what I was witnessing was not simply an act to attract tourists or something to occupy time, but truly their "connection to the spiritual world" (as one elder on the DVD put it).

Something that really astonished me was the number of the men that were grouped around the drum. As many as ten men (of varying age) were gathered at the drum, each with their own mallet. Although there was more than one man beating the head of the drum, they all hit it at the same time, blasting one single beat together. In addition to their drumming, they all sang. Their melodies are strangely haunting- the contour is a falling sort of sigh that seems to come in waves. Another thing that I love about the singing is the pulsing sort of sound that they produce on sustained notes... It seems like their concept of the intense vibrato that our Western European culture values so highly. It's definitely something that would be interesting to learn more about- I'd like to know its origins and purpose in Native American music.
I also thought the amount of repetition was amazing- in the Zuni lullaby, the grandmother singing continues the pulsing vibrato-like technique during sustained notes, but only uses two pitches throughout the entire piece. However, the words change slightly from verse to verse, causing the slight variation that is so common among Native American music.