Let’s begin by watching the following video. Tribal music of the Pacific Northwest probably sounds somewhat familiar to you in that you have heard it or music similar to it before because you live in the Pacific Northwest. As you watch the video, consider some things:

• Where have you heard this type of music before?

• Do you associate it with a specific place/culture/people/setting?

• What purpose might this type of music serve?

• In this video specifically: what kind of instruments do you see/hear? How does the vocalizations of the singers sound different from what you might hear on the radio? What are the musicians wearing? How are they arranged physically? What about the music itself? What is striking you about the Rhythm/Melody/Harmony/Timbre/Dynamics/Texture/Form of the music that gives this music its unique quality?

WHO ARE THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TRIBES?

NATIVE-LANGUAGES.ORG recognizes 64 distinct indigenous tribal groups in the Pacific Northwest located on the North American continent spanning an area from Oregon to Canada and Alaska, along the Pacific coast and inland to Idaho. The PUYALLUP, the namesake tribe of our city and Pierce College Puyallup campus, is one sub-tribe of the larger Puget Sound Salish tribal group which also encompasses the Skagit, Swinomish, Snohomish/Tulalip, Sauk-Suiattle, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Sahewamish, Skykomish, Snoqualmie, Suquamish, Stillaquamish and Squaxin tribes. The Salish tribal group has spoken Lushootseed for hundreds of years. An almost-extinct language due to colonization efforts, Lushootseed has been reclaimed and preserved by Salish tribal members in recent years due, in part, to the efforts of groups like Tulalip Lushootseed and Puyallup Tribal Language with missions to revitalize the indigenous languages of Puget Sound.

MUSIC TRADITIONS

The tribal music of the Pacific Northwest has many similarities to music of many tribes across the United States and Canada. In general, the music is vocalization-heavy, relying on instruments to accompany voice and/or dance (but even most dance music is still vocal). The vocalizations are generally monophonic (sung by a soloist or a group in unison) and usually follow a textural pattern of male soloist, followed by men in unison, followed by women joining in an octave higher with a drum accompaniment keeping steady beat. Often and especially in more recent times, the lyrics of the songs include or are made up entirely of VOCABLES which are non-lexical words that do not carry specific meaning. Examples in Native American songs include the word “hey” and “yah”. Examples in the English language are words like “uh-huh” and “uh-oh”. It is suggested that the use of Vocables help tribal singers to create a more resonant soundscape to connect with the earth in addition to the ability to share music across tribes who speak different languages from each other. Vocables also help to create rhythmic pattern and structure within a song.

A SACRED PRACTICE

Much like indigenous Australian practices, the musical traditions of many indigenous North Americans are considered to serve a religious function, obscuring the line between secular life and sacred connection with a higher power. Music exists to archive and recite historical events and religious stories, pray to deity, and elevate everyday and singular activities in tribal life. While record of many music and dance practices exist, descriptions and explanations are sparse as tribes tend to keep the purpose of their musical offerings private.

Upon embarking on the research for this class, I (Dr. Bove) reached out to several tribal musicians and cultural liaisons, inviting them to share their music and cultural practices with our class. The response I received was gratitude that our class is learning about our local indigenous music practices and an explanation that the spiritual nature of Salish musical practices prevented tribal members from performing or speaking about them in an academic classroom setting.

POW WOW

Due to forced migration, assimilation, and movement to reservations across the United States and off historic tribal lands, the indigenous American tribes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries faced more and more dissolution of their traditional practices and ways of life.

In the 1920’s different indigenous tribes began to meet together in cultural celebrations and exchanges known as POW WOWS. These events would be held for a day, a weekend, and even up to a full week as a way for different tribes to preserve, display, and share their individual cultural practices: most especially dance, music, and art. In these events, Native Americans from many tribes across the United States participate in “show and tell”-type displays of their tribal dance and music. In addition, members of many tribes may come together to make music and art together as a way of embracing their shared “Indian-ness” regardless of the tribe they represent. The Pow Wow serves as a way to exist in a larger community of which many indigenous populations do not have access to in their daily lives.

The music generated by the Pow Wow drums is considered one of the most important aspects of any Pow Wow. Groups (usually men) of relatives, friends, or drum teams will assemble with beaters seated around a drum and strike the drum head together in unison. This rhythmic tempo provides a foundation for dancers and also singers. Usually the men around the drum sing along to their percussive beat, but women and other men standing around the drum circle also often participate, with the women singing up on a higher octave or harmony.

The video above was captured at the Puyallup, Wa 2019 Pow Wow (held on the campus of Chief Leschi School). The vocal technique performed in this video in addition to the communal striking of a single drum are less like that of the Pacific Northwest tribes and more reflect the practices of Great Plains indigenous tribes such as the Apache, Cheyenne, and Comanche. The presence of this music so far west is further proof of the necessity of the Pow Wow to bring indigenous Americans together and preserve their culture.

POTLATCH

The POTLATCH is a tribal meeting specific to the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest. Potlatches are a gathering event designed to celebrate major events in tribal membership lives (such as the naming of children, marriage, death, etc.) and tribal business with gift giving. Unlike Anglo-American gift giving (where the one celebrating their event receives the gifts), the individual or family celebrating their life milestone gives gifts to guests as a way of honoring their community and redistributing wealth. The act of gift giving can be quite extreme, with individuals or families giving away almost all of their possessions to friends, relatives, and community members. These highly formalized ceremonies generally last several days and include feasting, storytelling, dance, music, communal singing, and other cultural exchanges.

Potlatch was banned in Canada (the country with the highest population of Potlatch practicing tribes) from 1885 to 1951 because the practice was considered unChristian and anticapitalist. During this time, many tribes continued to practice Potlatch in secret, but cultural markers such as music, art, and dance became more challenging to participate in and teach during this time. Today, Potlatch ceremonies are more prevalent and updated to reflect cultural trends. The website U’MISTA POTLATCH hosted by the Virtual Museum of Canada shares these examples of gift giving practices through generations:

The site goes on to stress the importance of music both within the context of a Potlatch specifically and communal and individual identity as an indigenous American.

“A copper is a material item considered very valuable in Kwakwaka'wakw [North Vancouver Island] culture. But perhaps even more valuable than a copper, a song is considered the most treasured gift one can receive. Songs are usually passed down within families to the oldest son. No pile of blankets, no matter how high, can equal the value of a song. To receive a song is to receive great cultural wealth and gives a person high status in the community.”¹

INSTRUMENTS

DRUM

The hand DRUM is the most important instrument in Pacific Northwest tribal music. It consists of an animal hide stretched taught around a shallow circular frame with the use of rawhide cord. The instrument often has the depiction of an animal or human on the front face and is struck with a soft beater with a teardrop shaped head. The drum is most often used to establish tempo and meter of the song, and is not used to perform complex rhythms like drums in many other world cultures. Also of note, while most tribal drumming across American involves the use of a single, large, communal drum that all members of the drumming group strike together, in the Pacific Northwest, drummers each strike their own drum in communal circles.

RATTLE

The RATTLE is another important and spiritual instrument to the tribes of the Pacific Northwest. It can come in many shapes and designs, but a significant and oft-replicated design is the Raven Rattle. This rattle appears to be a simple raven figure from afar but on closer inspection, it is a much more complex carving involving the large raven with a box in its mouth, an ocean creature on its belly, a human figure and a frog figure on its back, usually with one’s tongue extending into the other’s mouth, and a kingfisher bird blending into the handle. Each of these symbols represent an important aspect of tribal life or origin mythology and shaking the rattle activates the awareness of lineage and knowledge within the participants and observers of the music.

WHISTLE

WHISTLES are often performed in accompaniment with the presence of spirits in religious ceremonies and are considered a highly sacred instrument. The whistles are generally fashioned in the shape of different animals to help the player take on the characteristics of that animal. Whistles can also be fashioned in the shape of humans and, specifically, ancestors, as is the case with the whistle pictured to the left. Whistles create more of a “sound effect” and less of a discernible melody. Whistles are often played by dancers while dancing.

FLUTE

Today, the FLUTE is rarely played in Pacific Northwest tribal practices. There is evidence that the instrument was played before heavy colonization and assimilation disrupted its practice. Documents from early research on Pacific Northwest tribes write of the flute being used specifically for love songs. Due to forced migrations and assimilation practices in Canada and the United States, the Native American flute is now a more generalized instrument with many different tribes playing the same instrument even if it was not part of their historical cultural practices pre-colonization. For the most part in the Pacific Northwest, the use of flute in traditional practice has been abandoned.

MUSICAL ELEMENTS OF PACIFIC NORTH WEST TRIBAL MUSIC

RHYTHM: The rhythms of Pacific Northwest tribal music vary from song to song and tribe to tribe but in general, songs are established and remain at one tempo for the whole song. Rhythms are simple and symmetrical, usually in duple simple or duple compound meter. The drum is the main source of steady time with singing voices filling in slightly more complex rhythms and the rattle and whistle supporting with effect. Sometimes, the rattle is used as a time generator along with the drum.

MELODY: Melodies are simple and diatonic or pentatonic and tend to operate within a short range of notes, though singers may often leap from a short range of notes to another short range of notes higher or lower than the first. There is much repetition in the melodies and the movement is mostly stepwise until a wide leap propels the melody into a new range.

HARMONY: There is no harmony in traditional Pacific Northwestern tribal music as all melodic lines are solo or unison. While there is no evidence today, early writers noted some polyphonic performance in PNW tribal practices which would have created harmony with two or more pitches sounding simultaneously.

TIMBRE: The preferred vocal timbre of Pacific Northwestern tribal singers is open, warm, and vibrant. Vocalists sing with a clear tone and no vibrato although they may accentuate sustained pitches with a pulsation from the diaphragm, resulting in a sound resembling: “aaaaAaaaaAaaaaAaaa”. Drums are hollow, resonant, and deep.

DYNAMICS: Dynamics in individual pieces may rise and fall with the volume of the drum accompanied by an increase or decrease in the volume of the voices. Most songs stay at an established volume.

TEXTURE: As mentioned previously, there is evidence that 18th and 19th century tribes performed with some amount of polyphony although there is no polyphonic practice in today’s active tribes. Contemporarily, PNW tribal music is monophonic with solo singers, voices in unison, or voices at the octave.

FORM: PNW tribal music is quite repetitive and structured which accompanies the idea that songs are prayers or connection with the spiritual realm and, therefore, repetition heightens the connection. There are not strict formula that can predict different types of musical structures as exist in Western Classical music.

WHERE TO HEAR PNW TRIBAL MUSIC …

• Tacoma Art Museum

• Chief Leschi School in Puyallup (Pow Wow Host)

• Tacoma Community College Campus (Pow Wow Host)

• Public Tribal Heritage Events

• Puyallup Tribal Language Website