North American Indian Music in Transition.

A Study of Songs with English Words as an

Index of Acculturation
Author(s): Willard Rhodes
Source: Journal of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 15 (1963), pp. 9-14
Published by: International Council for Traditional Music
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 THE FORMATION OF FOLK MODAL SYSTEMS 9
Whereas the interval structure of the seventeen-note scale of the classical Arabic lute
is characterized by consistency in the distribution of the commas within the major
tones, this is not observed on the Azerbaijan tar, also with a scale of seventeen notes.
Commas are found in the upper part of major tones between the first and third, and
fifth and sixth, degrees of the diatonic skeleton of this scale. Between the fourth and
fifth degrees, however, the comma is in the middle, marking the difference between
f#' and g?'. There is no comma, moreover, between the seventh and eighth degrees;
the interval here belongs not to the seventeen-note system but to the twelve-note
chromatic system. As to the intervals between the second and third degrees, there
are four instead of three: besides the comma in the upper part of the major tone there
is another comma in its lower minor semitone: 66 + 24 + 90 + 24 = 204. One
cannot fail to see in this distribution of commas the beginning of a transition from a
seventeen-note scale to a twenty-nine-note scale, the end term of this process being
the introduction of a comma into every minor semitone of the seventeen-note scale.
In connection with the above, it may be noted that the twenty-four-note scale (of
modern Turkish theorists) cannot be regarded as a distinct historical stage in this
development within the Pythagorean system. Be that as it may, the departures
from the note-series of the classical Arabic lute encountered in Azerbaijan led to a
further development of the diatonic foundation. This was not a 'theroretical'
speculative development, but creative practice; and this is the way in which modal
systems have at all times developed.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC IN TRANSITION

A Study of Songs with English Words as an Index of Acculturation
WILLARD RHODES (ColumbiaUniversity, New York City)

AMONG the vast and varied song repertories of North American Indians, there is a
category of songs that has received little attention from ethnomusicologists and
anthropologists: the native melodies with English words. A number of these songs
have been heard with amusement by workers in the field, and a few have been
recorded, but to my knowledge no one has attempted to study the significance of this
material and its relation to the societies that have produced it. Despite the paucity
of recordingsand information that precludes a comprehensive study of these interest-
ing songs, this paper is offered as an initial and tentative effort to give form and
interpretation to this material, with the hope that others may be stimulated to
carry out further investigations and research.
The slight value placed on many of these songs by the Indians themselves has
undoubtedly influenced some collectors to treat them casually. Though the Indian's
evaluation of, and attitude toward, this music is of prime importance to the investi-
gator, he dare not allow his approach to be influenced by that of the informant.
Too often the trained field worker in his single-minded pursuit of a problem, be it
social organization, religion, technology, or music, by-passes a wealth of significant
data because it is not directly related to his subject. Highly acculturated Indians
and even some scientists have revealed their feelings about these songs by referring
to them as "junk." And the amateur collector, whose work oftimes may be a
valuable source of material to the ethnomusicologist and anthropologist, in his
romantic search for the pure, unadulterated culture, is loath to record these modern

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IO INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC JOURNAL

songs of doubtful authenticity. In my attempts to give definition to the discipline

of ethnomusicology, I have repeatedly emphasized the importance and significance of
popular music in all cultures (Rhodes, 1956). As a mentifact-to use the term intro-
duced by the authors of Societies Around the World (Sanders, Schwendeman, Wood-
bury, Becker, 1956) to designate those culture phenomena which "relate chiefly to
the mental life of the people"-these non-traditional songs may not only serve as an
index to the degree and kind of acculturation of a society, but may also offer new
insights into the value-system and thinking of a people.
The origin and history of this song type is not known, and considerable investiga-
tion will be necessary before it can be established. Early collectors and students of
Indian music (Fewkes, Fletcher, Natalie Curtis and Densmore) make no reference to
this "hybrid" music. Their primary concern was the salvaging of the traditional
music of cultures already in a state of disintegration, and the relating of this to the
concept of an idealized, functioning culture, as it existed before contact with the
white man. (Densmore, however, early in her field work, recognized cultural change
and its effect on the style of Indian music. In her monograph, Teton Sioux Music,
she made a comparison between the old and comparatively modern Sioux songs, and
statistically tabulated the stylistic differences.) Some of the oldest songs in this
category are associated with Indian theatrical shows and suggest that they may
have been made for the benefit of the white man. Whether they were improvised at
the prompting of a white impressario or were the spontaneous invention of some
imaginative native singer is a question that must remain unanswered at present.
A systematic survey of the archives (such as I have not been able to make) might
contribute information relative to the origin and dating of this modern genre.
Approximate dates may be assigned to some of the songs on the evidence of the texts.
Names and phrases such as "Barney Google," "Model T," "Yes sir, she's my baby,"
are reminiscent of the 1920s, and "Law and Order" has been borrowed from the
Indian Re-organization Act of 1935.
The invasion of English words into Indian songs has been confined for the most
part to secular social songs (Rhodes, 1952). The traditional ceremonial songs (with
one exception reported here) have not been affected by the modern trend. Even
the hymnody of the Indian Christian missions has remained immune to the influence
of English (Higginson, 1954; Rhodes, 1960). The prevailing practice is that o
singing white hymns with translations or adaptations of the original English text
into the native language. In some tribes this hymnody is supplemented by original
native hymns by local composers. The melodies of these hymns are genuinely Indian
and within the framework of the tribal or areal musical style. Though the texts of
the Indian hymns express Christian sentiments, patterned after those found in
the English hymns, they are invariably stated in the native language. Syncretic,
nativistic religions, such as the Peyote cult and the Indian Shaker Church of the
Northwest coast, have been less resistant to the introduction of English words in
their music. At Pine Ridge, South Dakota, I recorded a peyote song in which the
phrase, "Jesus Only," is spelled out in English letters, and at Neeah Bay, Washington,
a Shaker Church song which, after being sung in the native language, is repeated in
English (example I).
The texts of the social songs are obvious imitations of the popular songs and
ballads that originate in Broadway's Tin Pan Alley and find their way across the
country through the media of phonographrecords, radio and, more recently, television.
Love, licit and illicit, is their dominant theme. The following examples (2 and 3)
speak for themselves.

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Example I INDIAN SHAKER CHURCH SONG

In a free flexible tempo. (Library of Congress: AAFS L34 Bz)

Sung a fourth lower.

-=82

t l - -
w ,
--l Je - Sus /I
So - viour, dau - kwa- I
chi, Je - sus ! So - viour, --1.
dau-kwa-chi,

Je - sus Sa-viour, dau-kwa-chi; hai i hai - i hai ya

W
- -
W., "
Je sus So - viour, help Je sus So
-
,, me, ,
,-_1W - - viour, help me,
,
1. Variant

Je - sus So -viour, help me, hai - i hai- i hai ya hai i hai i haiyo

Example 2 NAVAHO SOCIALDANCE SONG

(Library of Congress: AAFS L41 B4)
J=138
A *------ '~

he ya yo o weyo o weyo o weyo he ya

Drum oj Joet-c.

I care if you're married sixteen times, I will get you just the same,
don't,

yo ho weyo he yo yo o weyo o weyo o weyo he ya

You might know, you might know how I love you, yo o weyo he ya he ya

Example MODERN LOVE SONG

(Library of Congress: AAFS L36 Bz)
Sung a fifth lower
= 76

Vwlll watch the twilight sna - dows, From the cease- less march of the

S U
" ,
-, he yo hai yo, Now that -_
have come to your
moon, ya .'
we my

Well
e I'll
lodge - low the setting sun, e-a ha e-o ha e yo
foa

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12 INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC JOURNAL

I shall not fall prey to the temptation of attempting psychiatric interpretation

of these texts. But to students who may work on this material with psychiatric
techniques, I would advise the utmost caution. These songs, most of which are
cast in the pattern of the currently popular social dances--the forty-nine, the rabbit
dance, and other related round dances, are the modern form of the old love song, the
courting song. As the love song has merged with the social dance song it has lost
much of its primary function as a courting song and today exists as accompaniment
to the dance or as music for entertainment and for the pleasure of singing. These
songs might even be considered as humorous or joking songs, for it is evident that the
Indians, singers and listeners alike, do not take them seriously. They are agreeably
amused by the text content as much as by the novelty of hearing an Indian melody
with English words. There is also the possibility that the Indians are not only
copying but caricaturing the popular songs of the white man.
The number of songs with English words is too small to permit a description of
the song type. Furthermore, it appears that these songs may not conform to a
single musical style but to several styles. However, there emerge several features
which seem to give a unity to this music. The songs are predominantly monophonic.
Despite the fact that this modern music is generally made by the more acculturated
members of a society, men and women, boys and girls who are familiar with homo-
phonic music and who, in some instances, have had experience in part-singing,
attempts to harmonize these melodies are extremely rare. The songs seldom extend
beyond the range of an octave. In melodic contour they tend to follow a pendular
movement with a heavy weighting of the tonal centre, in the introduction and coda,
effected by a repetition of the gound tone or its octave. The opening interval, an
upward leap of an octave from the ground tone (found in the Dakota Rabbit Dance
songs) is a distinguishing stylistic feature of many of these songs.
The songs have a wide circulation among the tribes in Oklahoma and the Northern
plains, the Pueblos of New Mexico, and the Navaho. Eastward they have been
carried to the Menominee, the Winnebago, and the Seneca of New York State.
With the limited information available, it is not possible to pinpoint the centre of
origin of these songs, but one suspects that Oklahoma may be the ancestral home of
this relatively new type. There is strong evidence that Taos, the northernmost of
the pueblos, which has long been a gateway between the Southwest and the Plains,
has been an active centre of diffusion of the new music to the southern and western
pueblos and even to the tribes of the Northern plains. The close association and
exchange between Taos and some of the Oklahoma tribes, particularly the Kiowa, is
one of long standing. Diffusion of these songs is further aided by the role that Taos
plays as an important centre of the peyote cult. Visiting peyotists have been happy
to carry home to their tribesmen the new and novel songs they learned in Taos.
As ethnomusicologists we are not only interested in the musical aspects of this
material, but in what it may disclose of the culture of which it is an integral part, and
of the society that produced it. Becker (Sanders, Schwendeman, Woodbury,
Becker, 1956, pp. 378-98) has established a graduated value-system ranging from the
extreme "sacred" to the extreme "secular." He defines a sacred society as "one that
engenders in its members, by means of social control in the broadest sense, a maximum
resistance to change." Conversely, he describes a secular society as "one in which
resistance to change is at a minimum, or to say the very least, where change in many
aspects of life is quite welcome." Since Indian songs with English words are a
departure from traditional patterns, it may be worthwhile to examine them as an
index of the degree and kind of acculturation which they represent.

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 NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC IN TRANSITION 13

The following questions may bring pertinent answers: (I) Is the song a ceremonial
song or a social song? (2) If it is a social song, is it related to any ceremony as the
social or entertainment part of the ceremony? A society that limits the use of
English words to social songs would be classified as more sacred than one that admits
them to ceremonial songs. A society that allows the use of English words in secular
songs closely associated and identified with ceremonies or rituals would be classified
as less sacred and more acculturated. An example of this type is the Iroquois, where
new e:skii:nye? songs, sometimes called "Women's Dance" or "Women's Shuffle
Dance" songs, are sung for dancing during the major calendrical longhouse cere-
monies (Kurath, 1957). A further degree of acculturation and trend toward secu-
larization is to be noted in San Juan Pueblo, where English words have been intro-
duced into songs of the Turtle Dance, an annual ceremony celebrated on December
26th. Antonio Garcia (1957) of San Juan has furnished me with the following text:
We come west of Colorado ... (Keresan words or fill-in syllables).
Beautiful clouds over me ... (Keresan words or fill-in syllables).
By his miracle power ... (fill-in syllables).
My father compels them to make rain ... (Keresan or fill-in syllables).
(After many verses in Indian the English text continues.)
Yes, yes, ... (Keresan and fill-in syllables).
You shall be happy ... (in Tewa-The Oxuwa (Raingods) are coming).
Coming with their power to make rain, here they come.
Garciawrites of the Turtle Dance, "It is also called Nu-Fah, which literally translated
means Ash-Fire. No one seems to know the exact function of the dance, but I
think it must be a winter solstice ceremony, perhaps for ushering in the winter
solstice. It is not the prerogative nor the property of any particular clan, society or
moiety, and every able-bodied male in the pueblo is expected to participate. This
was particularly true before we started becoming acculturated. Today, only the
'obedient' males take part. The dance is performed outside, in the plazas, and then
like other important ceremonies, there is a very short performanceof the same in the
Kiva, before and after the outside performance. You might call this a prelude and
postlude." Of special interest is Garcia's report of the response of the native to this
innovation. He continues, "When the composer came out with the English text for
this song, I think that most of the Pueblo members were pleased and delighted and
although I was horrifiedat first, I now feel that the words fit into the music very well
and that they serve the purpose well. I am sure that this has been the first time
that English words have been used in a religious song in San Juan and perhaps the
main reason was because most Pueblo members now speak and understand English
and some of us can express ourselves better in English." (3) What proportion of
the words are in English? Here one must distinguish between the songs that are in
the native language except for an occasional English word, and those in which the
meaningful text is expressed in good syntactical English with the ends of phrases
filled out with Indian syllables. (4) Are the words and the thoughts they express
borrowed from white songs? The texts of most of the social dance songs are heavy
with borrowings from the popular song repertoire of the white man, whereas the text
of the San Juan Turtle Dance is more or less a literal translation of a native text and
thoroughly indigenous in its thought and feeling. (5) Are the meaningless syllables
traditional Indian ones, or have they been borrowed from the white music? David
McAllester(1957) has recordeda new song in the Navaho language in which the cowboy
syllables, yippie ya displace the traditional Navaho syllables. (6) Does the style

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14 INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC JOURNAL

and form of the melody conform to the musical style of the native music? (7) If it
departs from the tribal or culture-areal style, in what way and to what extent? There
are a number of songs that are outright Indian versions of white songs in which the
original tunes are closely followed. I have recorded a Hopi version of "Dixie" sung
by Edmund Nequatewa, long associated with the Museum of Northern Arizona at
Flagstaff. William Sturtevant reports Iroquois songs to the tunes of "Hot Time in
the Old Town Tonight" and "Redwing," both without meaningful words. Sturtevant
notes "These with borrowed tunes have introductions and closes in straight Iroquois
style-the foreign tune (and harmony, if any) is embedded as the central part of an
otherwise ordinary Iroquois tune-and this is part of what makes them sound funny,
to me and I think to the singers." (8) Is the song sung monophonically or is it
harmonized? (9) If it is harmonized how many parts are there? Though the
majority of these songs are sung monophonically there are rare instances of experi-
ments in harmony, as noted by Sturtevant. (Io) Was the song made by a member
of the tribe in which it is sung or was it borrowed from another tribe? A society
that produces its own music in the modern style would be considered more secular
than one that borrows its new music from neighbouring societies. (II) What are
the ages of the singers of the new songs? If the songs are sung by persons past middle
age, as well as by the young, one would conclude that acculturation had progressed
to a point beyond that in societies where these songs are sung only by the younger
generation. (12) Is the singing style and technique native, or is it that of the white
man? A singing style influenced by that of the white man and with relatively clear
pronunciation of English words would represent a higher degree of acculturation
than one in which the native techniques are employed with distorted pronunciation
of the English. (13) What proportion of the songs in the various categories employ
English words? The relatively small number of songs with English words leads one
to believe that this class of song, despite its age of several decades is still accepted as
a novelty, and that it occupies an ancillary position in the total repertoire.
The new music, carefully studied, can serve (I believe) as an index of the accul-
turation of a society. I have no neat mathematical formula or equation to propose,
and I would resist an attempt to give statistical evaluation to anything so variable
and intangible as the data these questions might provide. Though the material
presented here is insufficient in quantity to justify any definite conclusions, it is
hoped that the methodological approach may prove suggestive and stimulating to
students of folk music.
REFERENCES
Garcia, Antonio (1957). Personal communication.
Higginson, J. Vincent (I954). "Hymnody in the American Indian Missions."
Kurath, Gertrude (I957). Personal communication.
McAllester, David (1957). Personal communication.
Sanders, Schwendeman, Woodbury, Becker (1956). Societies Around the World, edited in one
volume by Howard Hecker, New York.
Sturtevant, William C. (I957). Personal communication.
Rhodes, Willard (1952). "Acculturation in North American Indian Music," Acculturation in the
Americas (Proceedings and Selected Papers of the XXIXth International Congress of Ameri-
canists), Chicago, pp. 127-132.
(196o). "The Christian Hymnology of the North American Indians," Selected Papers of
the Fifth Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Philadelphia, pp. 324-331.
(1956). "On the Subject of Ethnomusicology," Ethnomusicology Newsletter, No. 7, pp. I-9.

To LAJTHA'Ssuggestion that sociology was irrelevant to the scientific study of folk

music, RHODES replied that whatever man did was of interest and worthy of study, and
that quite apartfromtheir scientificinterestthese neglectedsongswerenot withoutbeauty.

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