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NUNC COCNOSCO EX PARTE THOMASJ. BATA LIBRARY TRENT UNIVERSITY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/iroquoismusicdanOOOOkura SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 187 IROQUOIS MUSIC AND DANCE CEREMONIAL ARTS OF TWO SENECA LONGHOUSES By GERTRUDE P. KURATH U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1964 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington D.C., 20402 - Price $1.50 (Paper) LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Smithsonian Institution, Bureau op American Ethnology, Washington, D.C., March 30, 1962. Sir. I have the honor to submit the accompanying manuscript, entitled “Iroquois Music and Dance: Ceremonial Arts of Two Seneca Longhouses,” by Gertrude P. Kurath, and to recommend that it be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Very respectfully yours, Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., Director. Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. CONTENTS PAGE Foreword_ XI The investigations_ XI The longhouses_-_ XIII Niawe__ XV Linguistic note___ XVI Part 1. Description and analysis_ 1 Introduction_ 1 The longhouse and the people_ 1 —The study of the songs and dances_ 2 The dance cycles_ 4 Rituals addressed to the Creator_ 4 Great Feather Dance_ 4 Thanksgiving or drum dance_ 5 Individual chants of men_ 6 Rituals addressed to the midpantheon_ 6 Ashes stirring_ 6 Eagle Dance_ 6 Striking-the-stick (Pole) Dance- 7 War Dance or Thunder Rite_ 8 Scalping Dance_ 8 Shamanistic cures addressed in part to animal spirits 9 False Face Company_ 9 Husk Faces or Bushy Heads- 10 Medicine Company or Society of Shamans- 11 Buffalo Society Dance songs- 12 Bear Society Dance songs- 13 "v Women’s medicine societies_ 13 -- Dark Dance_ 13 Quavering. __- 14 Changing-a-rib_ 15 Feast for the Dead_ 15 Rituals and dances addressed to the Food Spirits- 16 ^ Society of women planters- 16 ~ Women’s Shuffle Dance- 16 Corn Dance_ 18 Stomp or Trotting Dance- 19 Hand-in-hand or Linking-arms Dance- 20 Social Dances—stomp type_ 21 Shake-the-pumpkin or Shaking-the-jug- 21 Garters Dance_ 21 Passenger Pigeon or Dove Dance- 22 Duck Dance or Song_ 22 Shaking-the-bush or Naked Dance- 22 Robin Dance_ 23 in IV CONTENTS Part 1. Description and analysis—Continued The dance cycles—Continued page Social Dances—fish type_ 23 Fish Dance_ 23 Raccoon Dance_ 24 Chicken Dance_ 25 Sharpen-a-stick_ 25 Choose-a-partner_ 25 Miscellany of songs not adequately recorded at Coldspring, but in Tonawanda series_ 25 Fishing_ 25 Cherokee Dance_ 25 Grinding-an-arrow_ 25 Knee-rattle and Devil Dance_ 25 Alligator_ 26 iMarriage Dance_ 26 Musical analysis_ 27 The material_ 27 Performance_ 27 Instruments_ 27 Singing- 27 Method of study_ 28 Transcription_ 28 Comparative procedure_ 29 Nucleus and development_ 29 Tonality_ 29 Weighted scales_ 29 Focus_ 32 Composite scales_ 33 Progressions—intervals_ 33 Range or compass_ 34 Summary_ 35 Tempo- 36 Rhythmic figures_ 36 Instruments_ 36 Melodies_ 37 Meter_ 40 Structure_ 40 Nuclear construction_ 40 Consecutive construction_ 42 Distribution_ 42 Manipulation_ 43 One or two themes_ 43 Pattern analysis_ 44 Contours_ 44 Types of antiphony_ 45 Interlonghouse variation and personal creativity_ 46 Summary_ 4g Choreographic analysis_ 50 Performance_ 50 The setting_ 50 Participation_ 50 CONTENTS V Part 1. Description and analysis—Continued Choreographic analysis—Continued page Methods of study_ 51 Transcription_ 51 Comparative procedure_ 51 Ground plans_ 51 Rounds_ 52 Straight lines_ 54 Distribution_ 54 Steps_ 56 Walk_ 56 Side stomp_ 56 Forward stomp_ 56 Pat-step or step-pat_ 56 False Face round_ 56 Fish Dance step_ 56 Feather Dance step_ 57 Drum Dance step_ 57 Women’s Feather Dance step_ 57 Women’s Shuffle_ 57 Jump-kick_ 57 Crouching hop_ 57 Body action_ 57 Relationship of action to music_ 58 Function and form_ 60 Choreographic and musical grouping_ 60 Time dimension_ 61 *-~>The relation of musical patterns to present ritual functions- 62 Physiology and psychology of performance___ 63 Ecology and mime_ 65 Mammals___ 65 Buffalo_ 65 Bear_ 66 Birds_ 67 Eagle_ 67 Duck_ 68 Passenger pigeon_ 69 Robin_ 69 Fish_ 69 , Functional change_ 70 , Artistry_ 71 \ Focus_ 71 Interaction_ 71 Structuralism_ 71 Tradition and flexibility_ 72 Solemnity and gaiety- 72 Realism and stylization_ 72 Appendix_ 73 Singers and their longhouses and dates of recording- 73 - ^ Names of dances and rites_ 73 Bibliography_ ^ VI CONTENTS PAGE Part 2. Songs and texts of coldspring longhouse- 101 Texts_ 101 Dance script_ 101 Rituals addressed to the Creator- 101 Rituals addressed to the Midpantheon- 103 Shamanistic cures_ 103 Women’s Medicine Societies_ 110 Rituals addressed to the Food Spirits- 111 Social dances—Stomp type_ 112 Social dances—Fish type_ 112 Part 3. Songs and texts of tonawanda longhouse_ 193 Rituals addressed to the Creator_ 193 Rituals addressed to the Midpantheon_ 193 Shamanistic cures_ 193 Women’s Medicine Societies_ 195 Rituals addressed to the Food Spirits_ 195 Social dances—Stomp type_ 196 Social dances—Fish type_ 196 Miscellany of songs_ 196 Tables 1. Dance function and musical characteristics_ 41 2. Dance function and choreography_ 55