"Frances Densmore's modestly titled Teton Sioux Music and Culture is one of the many volumes that resulted from her prolific life-long project to record and transcribe the traditional music of American Indian peoples. The book explores the role of music in all aspects of Sioux life, and is a classic of the descriptive genre produced by members of the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology. Music serves as the vehicle for organizing this detailed account of traditional religion, warfare, and social life, enriched by first-person narrations by the Lakota men and women who worked with Densmore from 1911 to 1914 to preserve their songs by means of a wax cylinder recorder, the modern technology of that period. The evident quality of the narratives (translations from Lakota) as well as the complete transcription and translation of all the Lakota lyrics to the songs, resulted from Densmore's close collaboraton with Robert P. Higheagle, who shared her dedication to the project and was an exceptionally capable translator and cultural mediator. The material recorded here on such topics as dreams and visions, healing, the Sun Dance, and buffalo hunting -- all with appropriate musical transcriptions and song lyrics -- makes Teton Sioux Music and Culture one of the most significant ethnographic works ever published on the Sioux, as well as an important landmark in the study of ethnomusicology." -- Raymond J. DeMallie, author of The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (1984), also available in a Bison Books edition. Book jacket.

Excerpt from Teton Sioux Music The analytical study of Indian music which the writer commenced among the Chippewa has been continued among the Sioux. Those familiar with the two books already published will find no material change in method of treatment in the present volume. We have but passed from the land of pine forests and lakes to the broad plains where the buffalo came down from the north in the autumn and where war parties swept to and fro. The present volume contains tabulated analyses of 600 songs, comprising the Chippewa songs previously published as well as the songs of the Teton Sioux. By means of these tables the songs of the two tribes can be compared in melodic and rhythmic peculiarities. In Bulletin 53 the Chippewa songs were grouped according to their use, and descriptive, as well as tabulated, analyses disclosed resemblances between certain groups of songs having the same mental concept. In the present memoir the comparison is based, not on the use, but on the age, of the songs, this series being divided for analysis into two groups, one comprising songs believed to be more than 50 years old and the other comprising songs of more recent origin. This analysis shows that the restrictions of civilization have had a definite effect on the structure of Sioux melodies. In presenting Teton Sioux music the writer desires to acknowledge her appreciation of the valued assistance of her principal interpreter, Mr. Robert P. Higheagle, a member of the Sioux tribe and a graduate of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute as well as of the business department of Carnegie College. Mr. Higheagle's cooperation covered the entire period of collecting the Teton material and of preparing it for publication. To this work he brought a knowledge of Sioux life and character without which an interpretation of their deeper phases could not have been obtained. During Mr. Higheagle's absence it became necessary to employ occasionally other interpreters, whose aid is acknowledged in connection with the material which they interpreted. The principal assisting interpreter was Mrs. James McLaughlin, whose courtesy is gratefully acknowledged. The writer desires also to express her appreciation of the assistance cordially extended by the members of the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology and of the National Museum in their respective fields of research. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The beautiful and mysterious song of the Sioux is a carefully crafted and highly individualized ritual performed to invoke the strength of the spirits in order to harness the power of nature. In this, the first literary study of a fascinating tradition, Dr. Harry W. Paige immerses himself in the Sioux society and culture to unlock the mystery of this enchanting ritual. Passionate and intoxicating, Songs of the Teton Sioux will astound and fascinate scholar and casual reader alike. The voice of their people may be fading, but the powerful songs of the Sioux will live on forever.