http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDPTOqDyVOw
Unit 2: Native American Music
Great Basin and Plateau Native Americans
Location – Lots of overlap!
v Rocky Mountains
^ Sierra Nevada Mountains
^ Mississippi River
Early Lifestyle

First encountered in early-mid 1800s
◦ Lewis and Clark – 1805
◦ California Gold Rush – up through 1860s

Varied climate = varied lifestyle
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North: Lived seasonally in teepees or huts/dugouts
Ate fish, plants, or buffalo
Use of both horses and/or canoes
Central: Often dug for food in desert
Music Style
Tense, tight, strained vocal style
 Melodies generally start high and fall lower as the
song continues
 Rapid change in pitch and volume
 Frequent ululations in female voices
 Most singing in unison
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Lower in pitch
 Simple Accompaniments
 Frequent use of melodic rise
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Instruments
One large drum with
several players
 Hand drumming
 Flutes and whistles
 Bells, shells, and other
attachments produce
ambient sound

Raccoon Dance (We WILL finish it!)

Leader: Hey ya da di yama

Leader: Higher

Leader: Lower
◦ All: Hey ya da di ya ma,
◦ All: Lower
Hey ya da di ya ma,
Hey da di yo

Leader: Hey ya da di yama
◦ All: Hey ya da di ya ma,
Hey da di yo

Leader: Hey ya da di yama
◦ All: Lower, shorter

◦ All: Lower, shorter
◦ All: Hey ya da di ya ma,
Hey da di yo

Leader: Hey ya da di yama
◦ All: Hey ya da di ya ma,
Hey da di yo
Leader: Higher

Leader: Lower,
◦ All: Lower, shorter