There isn’t an abundance of research on the history of Native American music, however a lot of the information that can be found on their traditions claims that the Natives mostly used music as a tool to practice sacred rituals for the divine. In a book titled, The Healing Forces of Muisc: History, Theory and Practice, Randal Mcclellan says “. . . yet every culture developed some form of musical tradition, and many of them possessed legends that pertain to the origin of music. Almost all of these legends attribute a divine origin to music” (1). Some of the instruments that were used to create this music include the Indians’ vocals of course (since the musical culture of historic Native American tribes was primarily passed on through oral traditions), whatever could be used for drums or percussion, and the flute. The flute, however, is by far one of the more interesting and unique of the instruments. Aside from the sound and type of music, the Native Americans had some legends associated with the flute. There is a story out of our class-book American Indian Myths and Legends titled “The Legend of the flute,” and this tale symbolizes a common way in which the flute acted as a courting instrument for males and females. According to the little bit of background that the author, Henry Crow Dog gives before telling his story, Native Americans were not really into “PDA;” the character in “The legend of the Flute” claims Indians did not even hold hands with one another (275). Legend has it that one of the ways men and women got together was through the flute; the men, who were not usually in an intimate sense, would use the flute as a signal to their “winchinchala- or the girl he was in love with,” and the couple was thought to have met up secretly in secluded spots on rivers or brooks (275). The site of Cedar Mesa Music makes a good point by saying the tunes of Native Americans were simple, recognizable melodies, because apparently tribes would use the flute to send sound patterns (or melodies) to other members of their tribe. Native Americans may not have much written and recorded literate and oral history, but the little background that can be found on their culture indicates a widespread belief in some supernatural being. Their music often expressed spiritual enactments, and the flute, specifically, accentuated the sensuality of music by creating intimacy and romance between males and females for probably one of the first few times in history.
Cites:
http://cedarmesa.com/flutehistory.html
http://www.indians.org/articles/native-american-music.html
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=iO4IGtBHEQIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=native+american+music+history&ots=pwdlDcwHbG&sig=xu9YrRrCeEM0a0ocNKnDP9zCyM4#v=onepage&q=native%20american%20music%20history&f=false
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