 |
| The now-famous photo capturing Frances Densmore and an Indian chief in a recording session of sorts! |
'Music
is intertwined with the life of every race. We understand the people
better if we know their music and we appreciate the music better if we
know the people.' - Frances Densmore
FRANCES DENSMORE (1867-1957)
Unlike Alice Cunningham Fletcher who came to the music of the Native Americans (and to anthropology/comparative musicology) relatively late in life, and mainly as an enthusiastic 'amateur', Minnesota-born Frances Densmore was an Oberlin trained pianist who was reportedly 'frightened by the Indian music' she heard at the World Fair Columbian Exposition in Chicago (Myers, 1993). However, it was Fletcher's monograph on the Omaha Indians that sparked Densmore's own interest in the subject and initiated a lifelong career as a pioneering, prolific ethnomusicologist.
I find it fascinating to trace the development of Densmore's own career and compare it to the development of the discipline of ethnomusicology. From 1903 until 1957, Densmore published more than 120 books, monographs and articles on American Indian music and produced over 2000 wax cylinder recordings of this music. In addition her collections of Chippewa and Teton Sioux musics continue to remain landmark reference works in the field even though they were written in 1915 and 1918 respectively.
But what was it that caused a prim, young, well-educated Victorian women who could have gone on to have a perfectly respectable musical career to venture into dangerous regions, and endure numerous personal hardships to study this 'frightening' music? An overview of a handful of Densmore's writings suggests that she was, like Fletcher before her, deeply invested in the music of the people she studied. Her background as an accomplished musician gave her the added advantage of being able to transcribe and analyse this music. In evaluating her writing, it is obvious that her most important contribution is to the field of regional studies (as opposed to comparative studies which were the trend in ethnomusicology at the time). Her early writings are much more focused on musical/theoretical issues in 'primitive music' as Indian music was then called. One such example is her 1909 article 'Scale Formation in Primitive Music' where Densmore undertakes a detailed analysis of several hundred Chippewa songs which she recorded so as to determine whether the music of the American Indians conformed to any known principles of 'tonal' music. Densmore, like other scholars working at the time (notably George Herzog) was preoccupied with understanding musical form and structure in Native American songs, for she concludes that article by saying that she has found, in her experience that the 'minor third' interval is given most prominence, and calls this interval the 'principle interval of musical intuition'. In later articles from the late 1920s, Densmore is still preoccupied with these issues, for these articles are titled ' What Intervals do Indians sing' and 'Musical Composition among the American Indians'. Another article from this period attempts to provide an overview of existing scholarship on Indian music in the 19th Century, with Densmore offering her own opinions on the findings of other scholars. Interestingly, she (modestly) fails to include any of her own work in this overview, even though she was a very well established ethnomusicological scholar by this time.
Unlike Alice Cunningham Fletcher's writing, Densmore's own style is far more analytical and focused on concrete musical issues without too many diversions into the historical or spiritual. But Densmore thought differently about her own work, for in a letter from the 50s to Willard Rhodes, she states that her own personal approach is opposed to becoming very technical. She also states that she prefers to use the term 'study of Indian music' instead of 'musicology' for this reason. Compared to Fletcher, Densmore is much more specific when discussing the music she has studied, for instance she does use tribe names (Ojibway, Chippwea) and avoids too many broad generalisations. However, in most of her writings, the words 'Indian music' and 'primitive music' are still widely used. Her writings also tend to reflect the preoccupation amongst early ethnomusicologists for 'collecting and preserving' non-Western musics as is reflected in the fact that her songs are arranged by social context and function with detailed descriptions about genesis and use. She was also one of the first ethnomusicologists to address issues of 'acculturation' in her 1934 article 'Songs of the Indian soldiers during the World War'.
Unlike Alice Cunningham Fletcher's writing, Densmore's own style is far more analytical and focused on concrete musical issues without too many diversions into the historical or spiritual. But Densmore thought differently about her own work, for in a letter from the 50s to Willard Rhodes, she states that her own personal approach is opposed to becoming very technical. She also states that she prefers to use the term 'study of Indian music' instead of 'musicology' for this reason. Compared to Fletcher, Densmore is much more specific when discussing the music she has studied, for instance she does use tribe names (Ojibway, Chippwea) and avoids too many broad generalisations. However, in most of her writings, the words 'Indian music' and 'primitive music' are still widely used. Her writings also tend to reflect the preoccupation amongst early ethnomusicologists for 'collecting and preserving' non-Western musics as is reflected in the fact that her songs are arranged by social context and function with detailed descriptions about genesis and use. She was also one of the first ethnomusicologists to address issues of 'acculturation' in her 1934 article 'Songs of the Indian soldiers during the World War'.
As for Densmore's (emic) transcriptions, I found them far more useful and accurate, for they do provide a good general idea of the music being heard. Even shortly before her death at the age of ninety, she travelled to the Seminole Indian community in Florida, and recorded and transcribed their music. She was also one of the earliest ethnomusicologists to experiment with new technologies for the purposes of transcription and analysis such as phonophotography and graphic notation.
I have only scratched the surface of the writings and recordings of both Frances Densmore and Alice Cunningham Fletcher. There are other women ethnomusicologists from this period, most notably Natalie Curtis and Helen Roberts, and I know there are still others who remain forgotten today. I am only beginning to discover the work of these women who were motivated to take 'the road less travelled' despite the fact that they could have chosen far more 'comfortable' scholarly pursuits. There are many unanswered, problematic questions, especially when one considers that Native American music and songs are interwoven with cultural and spiritual life amongst these people. Is listening to them out of context as it were a contradiction of many of their beliefs? I would argue that it is not, for many of us will come to some of this music through the work of pioneering ethnomusicologists who, through their writings and dedication, express the traditions and values of the Indian people who have faced persecution for the longest time.
I have only scratched the surface of the writings and recordings of both Frances Densmore and Alice Cunningham Fletcher. There are other women ethnomusicologists from this period, most notably Natalie Curtis and Helen Roberts, and I know there are still others who remain forgotten today. I am only beginning to discover the work of these women who were motivated to take 'the road less travelled' despite the fact that they could have chosen far more 'comfortable' scholarly pursuits. There are many unanswered, problematic questions, especially when one considers that Native American music and songs are interwoven with cultural and spiritual life amongst these people. Is listening to them out of context as it were a contradiction of many of their beliefs? I would argue that it is not, for many of us will come to some of this music through the work of pioneering ethnomusicologists who, through their writings and dedication, express the traditions and values of the Indian people who have faced persecution for the longest time.
