Native American Rap and Reggae Summary

Neal Ullestad discusses Native American musicians roles in forming new, contemporary music that falls under the rap and reggae genres.  In both Native American rap and reggae, three themes become apparent in their music.  One common theme is the the conquest and mistreatment of Native Americans by the Europeans, as well as the subsequent abuse that their relatives faced throughout American history.  Harjo sings about the conquest and genocide of her people on her compact disc "Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century," yet she also celebrates her people's survival and will despite all of the hardships they have faced.  Some artists, such as John Trudell address gender conflict issues that modern society has thrust upon Native American women.  

Native American rap had been transformed by WithOut Reservation (also referred to as W.O.R.) who's songs central themes focus on "social structures that, among other things, leave many Native Americans filled with self-hate and alcohol."  W.O.R., like contemporary artists such as Harjo and Trudell, also discuss injustice and stereotypes in their music.  These themes set Native American rap, reggae and pop apart from mainstream pop, as they are very political and social, serving as advocates for Native American people.  To further distinguish Native American rap, reggae and rock, one must take into consideration the hybrid features of the music, in particular the manner in which the artists blend traditional Native American music with contemporary music in order to reach a wider audience and spread the messages.  

Perea Chapter 5: Native American Jazz

One of the overreaching themes in this chapter is the idea of the "unexpected."  Perea discusses in great detail the primitive stereotype that Native Americans are labeled with and and analyzed how it appears in a jazz or big band swing style musical number in the Betty Boop cartoon.  In the cartoon, the primitive stereotype is apparent after the Native Americans are shown misusing western instruments.  This cartoon, along with many others, laid the foundation for the common belief that Native Americans could not participate in Western music and that they were, and always would be, primitive.  Therefore, when Native American jazz artists began producing music, it was "unexpected"because Americans only associated Native Americans with typical sounding Native American music and instruments, as shown through the Betty Boop cartoon.  The manner in which Native Americans were introduced to jazz is intriguing, because it can be viewed as forced assimilation.  Native Americans were introduced to western music in boarding schools, where they were basically forced to learn how to play western musical instruments so that they could engage in western music.  Many famous Native American jazz artist, such as Russell "Big Chief" Moore, learned how to play western instruments while away at boarding school.  My question is how do Native American jazz musicians blend traditional American jazz styles with traditional Native American styles, if at all?  Is traditional Native American music completely lost, or is it blended in hybrid form?

Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations Women Summary

In "Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations Women," the authors discuss the musical roles that women have in specific areas of Native American society, and the level of importance of their roles.  One common theme that should be noted is that the role and importance of women in specific parts of culture such as ceremonies, social dance and play, and participating in the drum, varies from tribe to tribe.  While one tribe may allow women to play a more prominent role in a ceremony, another tribe may not allow women to be prominently involved in ceremonies.  In the pow-wow drum, for example, women from both the Northern Plains and Southern Plains, women take on a vocal role, singing behind the drum as accompaniment to the drum leader.  However, overtime, there has been a growing number of mixed-gender drum groups, yet there are still no women's drum groups.  Women did have an important musical role in social dance and play as most of the social song and dances were sung by women singers.  Women also have an increasingly important role in song making, an action that had been predominantly male.  In contemporary Native American  music, Native American women are able create lyrics, and and composing music for traditional songs, as well as new songs, which is both preserving and revitalizing Native American music.

Diamond Chapter 5 and Browner Chapter 8 Summaries

I could not find Browner Chapter 8 on moodle.

Chapter five of Diamond extensively discusses pow-wow and the role that they have in the inter-tribal community, as well as how pow-wows jump started contemporary Native American Music.  It also talks about the issues with identity that contemporary Native American musicians have when producing music.  The purpose of pow-wows in the intertribal community is to bring different tribes together for special gatherings to honor individuals or groups, or to mark relationships, or to bring the community together to help someone in need.  They also serve the purpose of honoring "traditional values, as well as kinship and intercommunity ties."  She continues to explain the fundamentals of the Pow-wow, however it is important to note that she gives the explanation from an outsider perspective.  Native American music began the transition to contemporary through early recordings of songs performed during pow-wows.  Eventually Native American artists began to produce Native American music that could reach audiences that consisted of both Indians and non-Indians.  Diamond points out that the main issue with Native American contemporary music is that it is not easily identifiable and categorized into genres because the native american music is being swept up by mainstream music. Also artists face an identity issue when composing and performing their music.  Diamond brings to light several questions that artists must ask themselves.  Many of these questions are personal questions that the artist must resolve in order to reach other non-indian listeners or listeners from other tribes.  A common issue that arises is what language to sing in; does the artist perform in his or her native tongue, or should the artist perform in english or voables so that other non-indians and Indians from other tribes can enjoy the song. Throughout this reading, I was reminding myself that this was written from an outsider perspective, therefore some pieces of information are lost because she does not have total knowledge of the subject matter.

Browner Excerpts and Perea: Pow-Wows

In the first Browner excerpt, the insider v. outsider theme is discussed in detail.  In the early twentieth century, Indians were forced onto reservations and the American government sought to regulate Indian culture.  The government tried to limit Indian dancing in particular, however, the government deemed dancing, which was associated with pow-wows, to be acceptable if performed in order to entertain or to gain American acceptance.  Although Commissioner Burke was attempting to restrain Indian culture, as an outsider he was blinded by the entertaining aspects of Indian dancing, yet he failed to see that Indian dancing cannot just be separated from the spiritual and social meanings for the Indians.  Dancing was then legalized with the help of Collier who was fascinated by Dancing. The excerpt goes into further detail about the Lakota tribe and their underground pow-wows.  After the Great Sioux Reservation was established, the government began regulating the culture of the The Lakota people by outlawing specific dances such as the Sun Dance. In order to preserve their culture they took their pow-wows underground. The Anishnaabe people were able to preserve their culture by exploiting the insider v. outsider theme.  To the outsider, pow-wows seem like a "carnival or sporting event" however for an insider, tradition music and dance "even when performed at large competitive pow-wows and for non indian audience, can still exist within the realm of spiritual and sacred."  Outsiders continue to try to control Indian practices, however, outsiders will never be able to comprehend the importance and meaning of the traditional ceremonies that are conducted at pow-wows.

In the second Browner excerpt,  Browner goes into great detail describing what occurs during a pow-wow through careful, explicit observations.  Browner describes the order of events of the Pow-wow, the set-up, the participants and the songs and dances that occur.  However it is obvious that Browner is an outsider looking in on pow-wow.  Even though the observations are so detailed, Browner fails to capture the spiritual and emotional significance of the traditions.  The dances that elicit specific emotions for the Indians are really just entertaining for Browner and the other outsiders. It is apparent that non-Indians will not be able to comprehend the magnitude of certain traditions as much as they try, because they do not have the insider perspective.

Perea on the other hand, is an insider describing the events and traditions of a pow-wow to an outsider reader.  Perea goes into detail about the importance of origin stories;  he says, "My sense of pow-wow origin story is shaped through my participation in the event as a singer and spectator, as well as by readings on pow-wows drawn from ethnomusicology and Native American studies."  Perea's extensive knowledge about the pow-wow is enhanced by the fact that he is an insider, a participant in the traditional pow-wows.  He also discusses how space and music together are important in creating a sense of community, thus the arrangement of the Pow-wow is important.  The arrangement is circular, which is representative of the belief that everything is connected.  At the center is the pow-wow drum because it "gathers singers, dancers and other community members to participate in the pow-wow."  The female singers surround the male singers and the dancers and community members surround the female singers.  Perea extensively discusses the role of the singer, and he is able to utilize his insider experience to describe the importance of the singer.  He also discusses the role of the dancers, from the perspective of a singer. Singers are supposed to "inspire dancers to dance their best all day by selecting good songs and performing them at the right temp and pitch."  His insider point of view was very intriguing and eye opening because it offers a deeper perspective on the traditions of pow-wows.

Native American Myth: "Fire"

"Fire" is a myth from the Alabama Tribe that is a creation story about fire and how fire came to be used by man.  At the beginning of the world, Bear owned Fire, however, Bear took poor care of Fire one day.  Bear and his people had set up fire by a great forest and found tasty acorns.  They left Fire alone in search for more of the tasty acorns, leaving Fire to die out slowly. Man then came walking through the forest and heard Fire crying out in desperation, "feed me!"  Fire told man to feed him sticks, so Man put sticks on the North, South, East and West sides of Fire and Fire was able to grow from eating the sticks.  As it grew, Fire warmed Man and Man also enjoyed watching Fires natural dancing and movement.  Therefore, Fire and Man started their relationship and from that day on, Man owned Fire.

This was an interesting myth; even though it was somewhat short, it got to the main point regarding fire and Man's relationship.  Both fire and man were dependent on each other; one could not thrive without the other.  

I found this myth from americanfolklore.com 

Navajo and the White Mountain Apache Ceremonial Dances

The Navajo and White Mountain Apache have several things in common in regards to their spiritual ceremonial dances and prayers.  First, both the Navajo and Apache’s ceremonial rituals and dances are rooted in healing and reconnecting the individual with nature to heal them spiritually.  The Navajo’s “Blessingway” is performed to prepare an individual for all of the good things that will occur in their life.  Similarly, the Apache’s spiritual ceremonies are deeply rooted in healing an individual and ridding the individual of evil. An example of this is when special dancers drive away evil spirits during the Crown Dance. 

Also, both the Navajo and White Mountain Apache have spiritual dances for women after they begin their menstrual cycle.  In both cultures, ceremonies take place to prepare the girl for womanhood and ultimately motherhood. In the White Mountain Apache culture, the Sunrise Dance is a ceremonial dance that takes place a month after a woman begins her menstrual cycle.  The ceremony takes place to help the woman transition into womanhood. Similarly, The Navajo’s Blessingway covers this part of a woman’s life, as it is considered a good thing, and all good things are celebrated through this spiritual ceremonial dance.

Furthermore, the Navajo and White Mountain Apache music and dances aim to enact the power of the Creator and reference the myths behind the creation of the universe.  These spirits dwell in nature, specifically the mountains. One possible reason for the similarities in the two tribe’s spiritual ceremonies and dances is because they are close in region.  Both tribes are from around the Arizona, New Mexico area, thus it is possible that ideas spread due to the proximity of the tribes and possible interactions.

Religion Summary

The "Religion" article in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians discussed the concept of religion in Native American cultures.  The author of the article highlighted a few key characteristics of Native American "religion" that were very intriguing.  The author points out that describing Indian spiritual practices does not truly constitute the use of the term, "religion" to describe the spirituality of Native Americans.  In fact, many Native Americans do not use the "religion" to articulate their spiritual practices for several reasons.  First, the spirituality as infused with everyday life; every part of Native American life and culture is somehow connected to the spirit world.  Examples used in the article to explain this concept are daily routines and activities such as hunting and killing animals, in which a for of ceremony takes place.  Another important characteristic is that of spatiality meaning that the spiritual practices are relevant to the space and place in which they occur.  These spiritual practices are deeply rooted in space and place which, the author notes, differs from traditional Euro-American traditional religions that revolve around timing.

Native American religion is quite different from traditional Catholicism and Protestantism which fall under Christianity, however it does have some similarities.  It is important to note that is impossible to generalize Native American religion when comparing characteristics to Catholicism and Protestantism.  One difference, as mentioned by the article is that Native American religion is rooted in space and location, where as Christianity revolves around time.  Also, Christians believe in one God and his son Jesus, however Native Americans, depending on the culture, believe in multiple gods or spirits and they pray and worship multiple different gods.  Furthermore, Native Americans hold ceremonies for events that are not celebrated in Christianity such as hunting, killing and eating an animal.  However, Native American cultures do have coming of age ceremonies, as do Christians.  Christians celebrate baptism, first communion, and confirmation, and marriage and anointing of the sick and dying.  These sacraments are celebrating major steps in an individual's life that are also celebrated in many Native American cultures.

Diamond Chapter 2 summary

In Chapter 2 "Music and Historical Encounter: Inuit Communities" Diamond discusses Inuit communities and how Inuits of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland use drum dances, and music in games as forms of traditional knowledge.  First Diamond goes into detail about traditional drum dances and how these dances are used to tell storie, usually filled with emotions, to the listener.  For example, the psiit of a women "often relate to their children, expressing love and also concern about their well-being" (Diamond 43).  Music also plays an important role in giving meaning to the places where the Inuits live.  Thus games often utilize music because of the close proximity in which Inuit people lived.  For example, throat singing evolved into a popular game, particularly among women. Diamond extensively discusses throat singing and how it became so popular among Inuit populations that it has also become modernized.
Throughout this chapter, there are two important things to take note of.  First, just because one Inuit tribe has one meaning for a song, another Inuit tribe could have an alternate meaning behind the song.  Therefore, as ethnomusicologists, it is crucial not to make the generalization that all Inuit styles of music are the same.  Diamond notes that throat singing varies as you move from place to place through the Inuit's history.  Also, the issue of authenticity arises when discussing the modernity of inuit music, in particular throat singing. Diamond discusses how some modernized solo artists are incorporating "authentic" inuit music in their work.  The question remains as to where the line of authenticity is drawn.  Are the bits and pieces of throat singing in Tanya Tagak Gillis's music authentic, or have they lost their authenticity? Authenticity means genuineness; altered renditions of throat singing thus is no longer genuine because it has been tampered with, thus her music lost its authenticity.

Dvorack Summary

In "Antonin Dvorak and the Development of National Music," Dvorak fully believes that the roots of the american national identity is centered on the music of Native American and African Americans.  He then uses the Native American/African American music to compose his new music, and allow for performances that will sounds like Native American and African American folk music.  He also firmly believes that everyone in American can identity with these two styles of music.  He argues that where he comes from, in England, there is no true English school of music because English composers always failed to take into consideration Scottish, Welsh and Irish music when forming a distinctly English School of music.  Therefore, he wanted to ensure that the same thing would never occur within America.  He also argued that the plantation songs were the most distinct and sought after musical tunes in the New World, thus leading to his belief that Native American and African American music were the foundation of the American school of music. However, I agree with his critic, Amy Beach.  America is far too diverse for any one type of music to be representative of such a vast majority of people.  Also, she makes a particularly interesting point: "The Africans are no more native that the Italians, Swedes or Russians."  She denies that African American, as well as Native American music in particular cannot be representative of an entire diverse population that was  continuously growing.

As ethnomusicologists, we must remind ourselves that there are multiple ways for people to express themselves and their patriotic identity.  When studying Native American music in particular, we must keep in mind that there are multiple different cultures under the umbrella of Native American music.  What may be representative of one tribe, might have little to no meaning in another tribe.  Thus ethnomusicologists must remind ourselves of this when researching distinct groups of people.

Titon and Nettle Summary

Titon's "Knowing Fieldwork" discusses what ethnomusicology is and goes into detail about the difference between knowing and understanding how research and field work is a key component in that difference.  Titon talks about how ethnomusicology is not a necessarily a scientific study of a culture's music; if it was strictly scientific the researcher would just want facts about the music to simply know about the music.  Therefore, transcriptions were the key piece and often the only sought after piece of research because it helped other to know the music.  However today ethnomusicologists go above and beyond knowing and try to understand the people and the culture behind the music. On this note, during their research, ethnomusicologists' field work is comprised of experiences and observations that involve interaction with a culture and people.  This method of research and type of fieldwork can be applied to our study of Native American music.  Transcriptions do not allow us to see the larger, over reaching picture behind the music.  In order for us to reach a better understanding of the music, we must draw upon interviews, observations and other forms of interaction with Native American people and culture that go along with our recordings and possible transcriptions.
Similarly, in Nettle's "Come Back and See Me Next Tuesday: The Essence of Field Work," Nettle expands on the issue of ethnomusicology fieldwork that was laid out in Titon's article.  He discusses aspects of culture that ethnomusicologists should attempt to collect and he talks about the methods and approaches to field work that ethnomusicologists should take when starting field work.  He mentions how field work methodology is typically individualized as there is no universal methodology.  There are five general stages of field work: collecting, preserving, being the observer, being the participant,  and making a specialized contribution.  These stages evolve as your relationship with the people evolves.  There is a major issue of outsider v. insider that arises when beginning field work, so it is important to develop a relationship with informants or consultants or teachers because field work is primarily interactive.

Curtis, Densmore, McAllester vs. Diamond

There is a notable difference in the Curtis, Densmore, McAllester and Diamond articles in regard to how they approach the study of Native American music and culture.  In Curtis's, The Indians Book, Curtis approaches Native American music as uncivilized, and in a way looks down upon Native American music as foreign and lowly in comparison to white man's more civilized music.  He approaches the topic in a "respectful manner," however in today's academic society it would not be considered respectful; he refers to Native Americans as the"red man" and non-Native Americans as "the white men friend."  He holds traditional western civilization in high regard, as if it is better than the Native American way of life.  In terms of his informants, he takes into consideration what they have to offer about Native American Music, yet he tries to understand Native American music from his strictly western perspective, for example, he attempts to transcribe the music into standard staff notation, and disregards songs that he cannot transcribe.  Similarly, Densmore has a similar relationship with Native American music. Densmore also analyzes Native American music using his western music education.  He transcribes songs and then analyzes them using traditional scales and musical notation.  Both authors fail to set aside their western and white supremacy perspectives, thus disallowing them from truly comprehending Native American music from the Native American perspective. In the McAllester article, "An Apache Fiddle" McAllester approaches Native Americans and their culture with much more respect and dignity than Curtis and Densmore  He has a greater sense of respect for his informants, and he is better able to set aside his western music understanding to delve into Native American culture to better understand how the Apache fiddle is made and the significance of the fiddle and its sound.  However, there is still some bias toward the Native American way of life in McAllester's article.  In Diamond's book on the other hand, Diamond approaches Native American culture with little to no bias.  Also, Diamond recognizes that staff notation is useful when it comes to analyzing Native American music, however, Diamond also recognizes that there are multiple approaches that lead to a better understanding of Native American music.  Also, Diamond places a great amount of emphasis on the necessity of putting aside stereotypes and bias and instead focusing on the cultural background behind the making of Native American music.

Diamond Chapter 1 Summary

In Chapter 1, "Traditions of Knowledge: Indigenous Knowledge and the Western Music School," Diamond discusses how there are three main themes that are incorporated throughout the book. Diamond explains that traditional indigenous knowledge (TIK), encounter, and indigenous modernity must be utilized when learning about Native American music because Native American music is different from the traditional western view of music.  In order to learn and understand Native American music, it is key that outsiders understand the traditional indigenous knowledge that is connected with a given song or dance, and we must also take into consideration observations and values of the people on a local level and to avoid generalizing because Native American music is culturally diverse.  Thus it is also crucial to be aware of the inter-relationships that the music has to the place and the environment.  Once we are able to incorporate these three main themes in our studies of Native American music, we can begin to learn and understand the diversity among Native American people in North America.

Wade and Parea Chapter 1 Summary

Wade, "Thinking About Music":
Throughout Wade's article, "Thinking About Music," Wade discusses how people make and use music and how they make it meaningful in their lives.  He talks about five key factors of and their role in the musical world. First he discusses the role of people, particularly music makers, listeners and the definition of musicians. I identify as a musician, according to Wade's definition, because I "experience music as a practice" (Wade 2).  Next he defines what music is, which according to John Blacking, is "humanly organized sound"but Wade believes it is also a process of organization (Wade 3). Wade then discusses how and what people determine to be music.  People do based on their musical values and distinct tastes.  Music is culturally diverse; what one group of people may deem music, another group may not see certain sounds as music.  Part of the process in identifying something as music comes from the person's judgement of its affect or ability to express and elicit emotion from the audience.  Wade then discusses the importance of the meaning behind the music.  According to Wade, people make music meaningful.  Based on this interpretation, an example from my life is the song my father wrote for me when I was born.  He plays the guitar and sings the lyrics to his original song "Allison, My Sweet."  If a stranger sang that song, it would have no meaning to me because it would not elicit the same emotions I feel when my dad is singing the song.  Wade then discusses the use of music, which are many.  For example, one use of music is to unite people; at swim meets we have a specific playlist with our teams favorite "pump-up" songs that bring us together and rally us for our meet.  Music is useful in so many grand and seemingly insignificant ways.  I have always agreed with this concept of music, and this concept is one of the main reasons why I love to engage music in any way possible.  After reading this, I'm really intrigued to find out the many ways that Native Americans use music in their daily lives.  Lastly, Wade discusses the transmission of music which he believes to extremely important in the musical world.  Learning about music is crucial for music's existence. Music can be transmitted orally, aurally, and through written transmission.  One particular aspect of this argument that struck out to me was his discussion about the staff notation system.  I have been a musical student since I was in elementary school, and I had to learn staff notation.  However, I wrongly assumed that staff notation was the only way to transmit music, and I believed that it was a norm in all cultures.

Perea Chapter 1:
Perea gives an introduction to his textbook by describing the perspective that he will take when discussing Native American music, and by defining key terms, that will reappear throughout the novel. He talks about how he will be introducing intertribal genres of Native American music.  In order for the reader to understand what intertribal means, Perea tells the reader to focus think about several aspects: Soundings, time, inter tribalism, and identity. First, Perea discusses how soundings "represent the collective activity of a group of individuals that includes the musicians, their families, friends, and listeners" (Perea 4) and that they are not simply a product .  This interpretation is similar to Wades in that music is not just sound, its a process that involves the making and reception of the sound. Next Perea discusses the concept of time.  He notes that the meaning of time can vary through cultures.  He introduces the circular time concept rather than the traditional linear time concept. In this perspective, past, present and future are happening at the same time and interacting.  His example regarding his deceased grandmother enabled me to come up with my own personal example regarding my deceased grandmother as well. Even though she passed away two years ago, we still tell stories at the dinner table, look at pictures of her, display her collection of carousels.  According to Perea, by remembering my grandmother, we are bringing the past into the present and into the future. When studying Native American music we must take into account the past present and future, and think about time as circular rather than linear.  Next Perea discusses thinking about intertribalism.  One key point to take away from this section is that "an interactive culture of intertribal exchange has simultaneously been inspiring new musical and artistic forms over time" in other specific tribes, which allows for Native Americans to form an intertribal identity as well as their own distinct tribal identity (Perea 8).  Lastly,  Perea clears the air on certain names and terminology, specifically in regards to the use of "Native American" and "American Indian."  He makes it clear that those terms are just generalizations, and that there are hundreds of distinct Native American nations.  Thus, many Native Americans do not actually identify with the term, Native American, and instead they prefer to identify with a specific heritage.