The music lover who is listening to Indian music for the first time
is apt to be perplexed by his novel experience. He may protest that
"It all sounds alike," that "They only have one tune," and in all
seriousness finally ask, "But is it music?" Such honest reactions
are not uncommon among the uninitiated. They are normal human
responses to the unfamiliar and are not peculiarly related to
Indian music. Similar questions have been raised about the art work
of our best contemporary composers, artists, writers, and
architects by those who are unable to view the new art in its
social setting and to see it in its historic relationship with the
past. Persons who would know more about the "first Americans," with
whom our past three and a half centuries of history is so
intimately connected, will find in Indian musical traditions a
full, expressive revelation of the inner life of these interesting
people. For the Indian, music is a medium of communication and
contact with the supernatural, and since all the varied activities
of life find their respective places in the Indian's cosmos, there
are songs for every occasion. The hard and fast distinction between
sacred and secular 'which we are accustomed to make loses its
definiteness in the Indian's world. There are songs for the making
of rain, Guardian Spirit songs for success in hunting, fishing, and
gambling, songs for the protection of the home, the curing of the
sick, lullabies, love songs, corn-grinding songs, social dance
songs, and songs connected with legends. From this brief,
functional listing, it will be noted that music was closely
associated with the daily and seasonal activities of living. Though
the Indian is not lacking in aesthetic enjoyment of his native
music, he rarely regards it as something to listen to apart from
its social and ceremonial function. For the open-minded, open-eared
listener, Indian music is neither inaccessible nor difficult to
enjoy. Patient and repeated hearings of these songs will gradually
reveal the subtle, haunting beauty that is enfolded in their
carefully modelled forms. Here one will find the same artistic
features--color, symmetry and balance of form, bold, striking
designs, logical unity and coherence of thought-that distinguish
Indian painting, pottery, weaving, and silversmithing, so widely
admired and enjoyed. Like the music of the Greeks, and like folk
music in its purest, primeval form, Indian music is basically
monophonic, single-lined. There are occasional excursions into
heterophony whereby one voice or group of voices temporarily
deviates from the melodic line of the song while others adhere to
the established pattern. Such examples of part singing, however,
are relatively rare. The simplicity of this monophonic music may
fall strangely on ears that have been conditioned by the thick
harmonic and contrapuntal texture, rich orchestration, and massive
volume of our Western European music. Just as it becomes necessary
to adjust one's aural perspective in turning from symphonic music
to the more modest and economical medium of chamber music, so must
one adjust one's listening for Indian music.
General
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