A Native American Music Replication Project: An Ethno-archaeomusicological Perspective

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Music Archaeology's Paradox: Contextual Dependency and Contextual Expressivity" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper chronicles an instrument replication and composition project, using archaeological materials, historic and ethnohistoric documentation, and interviews with archaeologists, music consultants, project commission personnel, craftspersons, composer, and others with a vested interested. Three instrument artifacts assigned to the Mississippian period were the impetus behind the commission. They are a cane flute, cane rasp, and gourd rattle, all of which are documented in situ from rock shelter sites in the Ozark Plateau of Arkansas. A fourth, a clay drum, is based on Mississippian iconographical evidence. The aims were to commission southeastern Native American artisans to replicate the four instruments to then be used by a Native American composer for an original composition. The composition would incorporate precolumbian music elements as derived from music archaeological and organological evidence, but would ultimately reflect the creative choices of the composer, informed by music traditions from his culture. Incorporated education outreach will inform students about music of the past: how it is discovered, interpreted, heard, described, and understood. Native American intertribal political issues and COVID-19 restrictions affecting the project are also discussed. Due to the latter, the performance premier of the composition is currently on hold.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Music Archaeology's Paradox: Contextual Dependency and Contextual Expressivity

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33037