Page 712 - OCTOBER 1920 THE ETUDE MR . LIEURANC E RECORDING A SIOU X MELODY an individual will have only one song, and again, I have had different flute players play into a dozen records the same song. He played only one song until he became a master of it. One Pueblo Indian I knew played a certain plaintive melody and adapted this to all condi-tions of his life. It seemed to be his spiritual medium and expressed his whole life in one song. Certain of the native composers of the present time will take some of our hymns, such as "What a Friend I have in Jesus," and adapt it to the Indian fashion. Davis, a Creek Indian, once sang this, hymn for me as sung in our churches and then sang it in Indian fashion. In recent years it has been my privilege to have a number of Indian protegées who have decided musical gifts. I have given them opportunities to go on the Chautauqua circuits and concert platforms to give pro-grams of their music. It is my missionary purpose to make the art and music of the Indian understood by the white people of America. I am interested in all talented Indians and, in my limited way, will do all I can to make them understood and at the same time help them to compete with other races. I have known some very fine Indian musicians, but I have never encountered one that seemed to possess the qualities to do for his race what Coleridge-Taylor did for the negro. Song is a spiritual part of the Indian. They like modern music because it seems a kind of tonic for them and something to taste and use, but not as a necessary me-dium of life. Watahwasso's Art Watahwasso and Tsianina are remarkable Indian singers who have had splendid success in various parts of the country. Watahwasso has given so many pro-grams of my own songs that I would feel a little deli-cate about speaking of her beautiful art and progress in recent years. She is a real Penobscot, with a glori-ous voice and understanding of Indian life. Oyapela, a Creek girl, is the foremost exponent of the myths and legends of her tribe. Te Ata is a Chececha girl. She is the Pavlova of the race, dancing the interpretative and historical events of her people. Pejawah is a Miami Indian and is the greatest violinist of the race. Willliam (sic) Reddy is an Alaskan Indian and is their foremost cellist. Paul Chilson is a Pawnee and has an excep-tional tenor voice. Robert Coon is a full-blooded Sioux Indian and has played the great Sousaphone for years in the Sousa Band with fine artistic satisfaction to the conductor. Sousa, by the way, is giving a great deal of splendid attention to Indian music during this past year and has had upon a great number of his programs the Indian Rhapsody, composed by Preston Ware Orem, upon the themes which I gave him. Edna Wooley was brought up among the Indians on their reservation and has sung their songs from her infancy and now is inter-preting many of my own songs in concerts. She sings in Sioux and has been coached by many Sioux singers and musicians. The voices of Indian men are remarkably developed. They often start their songs as high as high C and end two octaves below. Most of the voices are basso and baritone in quality, the high notes are not falsetto notes. They sing with pure open vowel syllables like Hi-ya and hay-yah and Ho-ya-ho. Most Indian gongs (sic) Collectors of Native American Indian Melodies "My People Are All Civilized. So We haven't any Music" THI S was the pathetic expression of a Creek Indian. Civilization is supplanting the Indian traits with those of the white man and the Indian Race is vanishing faster in that direction than by disease. If it had not been for the activities and the sacrifices of many enthusiastic men and women there would be no question but that all vestiges of the interesting lore might have disappeared in a few years. First among these may be mentioned Miss Frances Densmore, whose work among the Teton Sioux, the Chippewas, the Northern Utes, the Pawnees and the desert tribes in Arizona, has been of the greatest value. She has collected and recorded over 900 melodies. Miss Alice C. Fletcher, the distinguished ethnologist, commenced her investigations with the Omaha, Win-nebago and Nez Perces tribes, and collected an amaz-ing amount of most excellent material. Natalie Curtis, who was educated in music in France, and Germany, has also made exhaustive investigations of the sources of American Indian music, comparing it in time with her investigations of the music of the tribes of South Africa. Among the musicians who have made original inves-tigations Thurlow Lieurance has had, perhaps, the most varied and penetrating experiences. Like Miss Dens-more, Miss Fletcher and Miss Curtis, Mr. Lieurance was employed by the Government to visit the tribes and make notation and phonograph records. This he did, until he had probably visited more tribes than any other musician. Indeed, he is permanently crippled owing to the fact that he was nearly frozen to death while in the quest of certain important American Indian Musical Material. Mr. Lieurance is related by mar-riages of relatives to the Indians and has had their intimate confidence for years, entering into their cere-monials as few white men have ever done. Carlos Troyer is probably the veteran of all living investigators. He lived among the Indians for long periods of time and has therefore employed the true Indian material in the right way. Charles W . Cadman has spent much of his life in the West and has made numerous visits to various tribes, employing themes inspired by their music in highly artistic way. His opera, "Shanewis," on Indian themes, has proven one of the most successful operas ever written by an American. THE music teacher in advancing years is sometimes apt to become self-centered and cease to take the per-sonal interest in the demands of the pupil. This is a common fault of age. The great men are those who live above it and take greater and ever-increasing inter-est in others. Remember the warning of the poet Ter-ence uttered 1,800 years ago: "It is the common vice of all in old age to be too intent upon our interests." Flashlights ELGAR'S Dream of Ger-ontius, when first given in England, is reported to have been only a mild suc-cess. Two years later it was given at the Lower Rhein festival in Dussel-dorf and made such a sen-sation that the English be-gan to take notice of it. "The prophet is not with-out honor," etc., etc. While we use a French word, "Encore," for our desire to have a number re-peated, the French them-selves use a Latin word "bis." Moschele s though t Chopin "crude," played oc-taves with stiff wrists and used the pedals only on rare occasions. H e woul d hardly make a Carnegie Hall sensation to-day. could be divided into the following groups: War Dance Songs, Spiritual Songs, Society or Folk Songs of Clans, Pleasure Dance Songs, Game 'and Gambling Songs, Flute Melodies, Ceremonial Songs and Love Songs. Marvelous Voices While the Indians are divided into tribes and while these tribes are often radically different, it is not gener-ally known they have a common means of communica-tion—this is a sign language, by which an Indian from the plains of North Dakota could communicate with an Indian from the Everglades of Florida. The Indians also have powerful voices. I have heard a group of 18 or 20 Crows singing in unison 8 or 10 miles away. This was in a temperature of 20 degrees below zero, when sounds are readily communicated. The Indian very frequently sings his songs to syllables like vocalises or nonsense rhymes. Rarely, except in his love songs, does he use words. The song is dedicated to a certain purpose and he sings these monosyllables with quite as much enthusiasm as though they were real words. Naturally the great interest now being taken in Indian music is exceedingly gratifying to me. The many fine composers, such as MacDowell, Cadman, Arthur Nevin, Carl Busch, C. S. Skilton, Eastwood Lane, Arthur Farwell, H. W . Loomis, Homer Grün and others, who have given attention to Indian music, have accomplished splendid things; but, really, when one reviews the field, it is only to stand amazed at the extent of its possi-bilities. A Lieurance Program Prepared by the Composer TH E ETUD E asked Mr. Lieurance to send in a pro-gram arrangement of his best-known works. He has responded by furnishing us with the program he has planned for use with his own company which will make a special tour next winter. The program also includes a lecture by Mr. Lieurance and appropriate Indian flute solos. I. Spirit Songs. 1. Pueblo Spring Song. 2. The Sprit of Wana. 3. Wounded Fawn. II. Love Songs. 4. By Weeping Waters. 5. Indian Spring Bird. 6. Canoe Song, III. Dramatic and Ceremonial/ 7. The Owl's Bleak Cry. 8. Dying Moon Flower. 9. From an Indian Village. IV. Sioux Love Songs. 10. By the Waters of Minnetonka. 11. Rose on an Indian Grave. 12. In Mirrored Waters, Musical MR . LIEURANC E AT TH E DOOR OF A N INDIA N LODGE
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