Native Americans

K

6

Eastern Woodland Styles

Eastern Woodland music resembles Plains music, but it tends to have narrower melodic ranges, and Eastern singing makes use of polyphony (multipart music) as well as forms that are antiphonal (with alternating choruses) and responsorial (with alternating solo and chorus). Dances include men's solos, as well as ritual dances and social round dances.

K

7

Mexico and the Andes

Almost no archaeological evidence exists for prehistoric music in the Americas; all that is known from pre-Hispanic civilizations is a few preserved instruments (such as panpipes and ocarinas in Peru) and painted or carved scenes of musicians and dancers. In Mexico officials organized rituals for each month, with hundreds of richly costumed, carefully rehearsed dancers and musicians. Responsorial singing was practised; sophisticated scales and chords were apparently used, and compositions seem to have been formally structured, with variety in melody and in combinations of metres. The harps, fiddles, and guitars found in the Native American music of present-day Mexico and Peru were adopted from the Spanish.

K

8

Other South American Areas

Elsewhere in South America, indigenous music was relatively unaffected by European music. The pentatonic scale of the Incas spread to some other regions, but earlier scales of three or four notes also survived. Polyphonic singing, characterized by various voices and melodies, developed in some areas, notably in Patagonia. Flutes are still sometimes played in harmony, and the music of some tropical forest peoples is often a complex combination of voices, percussion, and flutes.

VII

History Since European Contact

As early Europeans first stepped ashore in what they considered the “New World”—whether in San Salvador (West Indies), Roanoke Island (North Carolina), or Chaleur Bay (New Brunswick)—they usually were welcomed by the peoples indigenous to the Americas. Native Americans seemed to regard their lighter-complexioned visitors as something of a marvel, not only for their dress, beards, and winged ships but even more for their technology—steel knives and swords, harquebus and cannon, mirrors, hawkbells and earrings, copper and brass kettles, and other unusual items.

A

Initial Reaction to Europeans

Nonetheless, Native Americans soon recognized that the Europeans themselves were very human. Indeed, early records show that 16th- and 17th-century Native Americans very often regarded Europeans as rather despicable specimens. White Europeans, for instance, were frequently accused of being stingy with their wealth and avaricious in their insatiable desire for beaver furs and deer hides. Similarly, Native Americans were surprised at European intolerance for native religious beliefs, sexual and marital arrangements, eating habits, and other customs.

To many Native Americans, the Europeans appeared to be oblivious to the rhythms and spirit of nature. Nature to the Europeans seemed to be an obstacle, a commodity. Some Europeans perceived the Native Americans themselves as a resource. Europeans, in sum, were regarded as somewhat mechanical—soulless creatures who wielded ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish their ends.