Kimberly Gleason

Winston Salem State University

Kimberly Gleason

October 3, 2021

Ethnomusicology

Native American Music in America in comparison

With Papua, New Guinea’s Music

I choose Native American music throughout culture and its fascinating story. I will

explain is how theses first peoples originated with their Native American population becoming

the most diverse ethnic “group” throughout North America. We never, ever should use any over-

generalized statements or labels. The stereotypes of the old “Western” films resemble in no way

modern Native American life. Early ethnomusicologists between the years of 1890-1930, studied

how these first indigenous people and how they brought their rich musical traditions to all people

of the world. Thought to have immigrated to the United States originally from Asia, according

to the book “Music in the New World”, by Charles Hamm, Native Americans went across a land

bridge which connected Siberia and Alaska. About 30,000 years ago a bone from a caribou was

found where the two continents separated. Very resourceful throughout all history, they lived off

the land fashioning tools for hunting and fishing from wood, stone, and animal bones. Contact

with the world throughout nature and dependent on it gave a great awe and respect for food,

clothing, shelter, and natural medicine.

Explained in our class textbook, World Music a Global Journey (Chapter 13, pg. 464), by

Miller and Shahriari, is the first listening example included in the book, called “The Plains

Indian Dance Song. https://youtu.be/88a-BHZQcjA. Close your eyes to imagine a scene of

Dancers who are feather-adorned dressed and moving around in a circle with the sound of the

drum being the spiritual center of performance. The Plains Indian Dance Song is celebrated with

the drum beating in time with dancers move in a circle. The voice is the very focus of the Plains

Indian music and its performance. Chanting and cascading melodic contour starts with the high

voice starting on one pitch and falls into a lower pitch with vocal pulsation is accented and

dynamics become louder with rhythmic accents when vocables are sung. A warbling sound is
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created on just a single pitch. Musical timbre is created by gently pressing on their throat which

creates a strained calling sound. Plain Indian style dance features a drum with a steady beat

which is symbolizing the sound of a heartbeat which unequal short-long rhythm, which is

supposed to be an imitation of Mother Earth. Vocables are not necessarily in time with the beat

of the drum, therefore also polyrhythmic.

In their music, Native Americans music have characteristics which are universal

throughout their culture. Using their voice as to communicate with nature, they used vocables

which were sung as one syllable such as yaa, heh, daa, weh, common in all their traditions. These

vocables were thought to have a secret meaning that their music communicates with the spiritual

world. Nature is revered throughout songs and respected through their music, believed dreams

about different animals. In the book “Song of the Sky, the version of Native American song

poems, by Brian Swann states, “This is a non-calculative use of language, a way of

communicating directly joy and strangeness of the other world without explaining it away in

ordinary language”.

Native American people have a rich cultural musical background. In the Documentary

film example from RUMBLE: Indians Who Rocked the World-The Official Trailer, at

https://youtu.be/hovJUoyxulc explains how their music is used, especially through four women

called the Tuscarora’s. Jennifer Kreisberg, Musician/Tuscarora states that “The Tuscarora people

had a very specific style of singing, you can hear the spirit in the music, we hear the birds here,

we hear the waters, and the rivers, all the music which came from the south was informed by our

land, and that is what comes out of our mouth”. Before the plantations and colonization in the

Tuscarora of the south this traditional music of the southeast started in the state of North

Carolina still located there today which brought to light the profound influence of these
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indigenous people of North America.

In the artic areas of North America, the indigenous people called the Inuit, created a form

of Throat-singing. The Inuit people had created what is called Throat-singing. Only sang by

women, they face each other, joining arms with each other while one woman leads, and the other

woman follows with her second voice interlocking and filling in the gaps. Imitations of nature

are used as a form of entertaining while men are gone for more than a month on hunting

expeditions. Considered a game, the person who runs out of breath, or cannot keep pace with

another loses. The last song is a love song, which both end in unison.

https://youtu.be/LKTQcxCcxrM.

Other interesting examples of the style of their music include a Ulali singing a mother’s

tribute to Native American women, https://youtu.be/VdskIPwpsDI. One other example I decided

to include is another video from you tube where women would sing this lullaby to get their

babies to sleep, https://youtu.be/jamMea6T5LM.

My last example which I feel is most important leading into comparison of

the next musical culture, is from a Native American woman from Siberia, named Haar Suor ,

playing the “mouth harp” https://youtu.be/5r0ggzDTisQ

The second culture I choose is in the destination of Papua, New Guinea. In

Melanesia, it is the largest land in the area. In 1975, this country achieved its own independence.

50,000 years ago, it was believed to evolve first from the Aboriginal population of Australia.

Currently, the term “Aboriginal” is now replaced with the word “indigenous people”, which in

Canada for several national organizations changed their names from “Aboriginal” to

“Indigenous”. Native American culture is so widespread throughout the world that I feel it was

the beginning of all music including the original blues genre of today, also which was the basis
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of all the other musical genres. My second listening example and the most original recording I

could find that I would like to describe is the Song of the “Ujangong” mask dance, a recording

from New Guinea which is the only first wax cylinder which was recorded on August 23, 1904,

by anthropologist, Rudolf Poch. Only available on Wikepedia music, this is the only first

recording of the song found. My first listening example Song “Ujangong” mask Dance,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Papua_New_Guinea, is so interesting because the

people of New Guinea’s music history could be traced and recorded so very far back. The

similarities with this music and how it sounds expands on this dance according to this website,

https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100484 (uploaded: 2008-

7-21) into using a swing bass and slicing techno chunk in ¾ time. This is another example of

how songs of the first peoples originated by New Guinea and the culture could create a new form

of music in America called techno music.

With the Plains Indian Dance in comparison how the music sounds compared to New

Guinea is the same as they are still communicating and dancing believing in the legends of the

spiritual world. Early ethnomusicological literature for the idea that music can tell us many

things about a particular culture through its instruments, instrument makers, and its performance

structures encompass the interaction between performers, audience and/or composers (Lomas,

1976; Merriam, 1964; Spearritt, 1980),

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326993769_The_Relationship_Between_Music_Cultur

e_and_Society_Meaning_in_Music_Implications_for_Classroom_Practice.

In field work with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea demonstrate the

relationship of Native American music in the United States having a similar social musical

experience. Kaluli seem to not rationalize competence but interpreting and making sounds on
 Kimberly Gleason

their instruments are natural skills that are acquired by all. (Feld, 1984, p. 391). Just like with the

Plains Indian Dance the drum is the basis of the spirit in music. Instruments used were the large

slit drums, which were called Gamarut. The hourglass shaped drum called the kundu (idophone)

constructed from a hollow log. The kundu was used in ceremonial musical context, in

government festivals and tourist shows. https://youtu.be/ZVPQXE0_nds: Listening example of

the kundu drum with Thomas Wiegant using the old kundu spirit drum from Papua, New Guinea.

In conclusion, in my last listening example I talked about how Haar Sour,

from the artic native American Siberia used her talent, https://youtu.be/5r0ggzDTisQ from my

first musical culture on the Susap “Mouth Harp”. Siberia is a culture that can get so cold a

person’s breath would freeze outside in icicle form. Even though Haar Sour is now living in the

United States, see how these cultures are so similarily used within both areas according to this

instrument, the Susap! The Susap or Mouth Harp from Papua, New Guinea was first described in

a listening example from Global Music in the you tube video https://youtu.be/F1WIR4DsB_s.

Another name for this instrument can be called is the “Jaw Harp”. The Lamellophone uses a

vibration of a twangy sound the instrument was culturally used by children as a form of

entertainment. Used for adults is used as a “toy” for courting a mate, to possess love-controlling

magic that can attract the woman’s love. In this sense when a man is rejected it is not necessarily

based on looks but rather a lack of talent playing the susap or perhaps he is in need of a better

susap. https://uaismusic.weebly.com/papua-new-guinea-susap-mouth-harp.html
 Kimberly Gleason

Works Cited

“World music a Global Journey Track 27: Rock Dance Song –The Pembina Chippewa Singers.”

YouTube, uploaded by the Orchard Music, 10 December 2014,

https://youtu.be/88a-BHZQcjA.

“RUMBLE: Indians Who Rocked the World-The Official Trailer.”

YouTube, uploaded by Kino Lorber, 21 April 2017

https://youtu.be/hovJUoyxulc.

“IHPP Event – Inuit Throat singers”

YouTube, uploaded by McGill University, 8 March 2018,

https://youtu.be/LKTQcxCcxrM.

“Ulali Mother Tribute to native American women”

YouTube, uploaded by Christophe powder, 31 October 2011

https://youtu.be/VdskIPwpsDI.

“Navajo Lullaby: “Shii Na-Sha” By Julia Begaye”

YouTube, uploaded by Aluna, (from under the green corn moon) 19 May 2013,

https://youtu.be/jamMea6T5LM.
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“Can’t believe that she makes all the sounds!!! Mouth harp/jaw harp (khomus) by Haar Suor.”

YouTube, uploaded by OLOX official, 6 July 2020,

https://youtu.be/5r0ggzDTisQ.

“Music of Papua, New Guinea.” Wikepedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Papua_New_Guinea

“Ujangong Mix, recording of “Ujagong (Mask Dance)” from New Guinea

Uploaded 7 July 2021,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Papua_New_Guinea

Barton, Georgina. (2018). The Relationship Between Music, Culture, and Society: Meaning in

Music: Implications for Classroom Practice. 10.1007/978-3-319-95408-0_2.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326993769_The_Relationship_Between_Music

_Culture_and_Society_Meaning_in_Music_Implications_for_Classroom_Practice

“Thomas Wiegandt plays old Kundu spirit drum from Papua-New Guinea

YouTube, uploaded by Thomas Wiegandt, 15 September 2013,

https://youtu.be/ZVPQXE0_nds.

“World Music a Global Journey CD 1 - #2: Badra from Buzi/ Susap from Papua New Guinea”

Youtube, uploaded by X-Clusive 18 May 2016

https://youtu.be/F1WIR4DsB_s.
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“The Susap “Mouth Harp” from Papau, New Guinea https://uaismusic.weebly.com/papua-new-

guinea-susap-mouth-harp.html

Hamm, Charles “Music in the New World” 1983, published by Dartmouth college

Swain, Brian “Song of the Sky, the version of Native American song poems, 1993 published by

University of Massachusetts Press

Barton, Georgina. (2018). The Relationship Between Music, Culture,