Dance-Music Interdependence

Abstract

X HILE there is music without associated movement and dance without melodic accompaniment, the two are for the most part so closely related as to demand joint analysis. A large proportion of ethnic music calls forth knowledge of physical expression in visual form (Rhodes, 1956:4), because of the mutual dependence of the two arts. Musicologists who attempt analysis of audible effects alone are apt to miss part of the point and may well encounter questions which could be answered by a choreologist. Thus some particular stylistic features encountered by McAllester in Navaho and Zuni songs (personal communication) are perhaps traceable to motor causes. This has prompted the citation of a number of instances within one type, namely bipartite music associated with two distinct dance patterns, one for each part. The familiar Calumet Dance of the Ojibwa, Menomini, Meskwaki, and other Great Lakes Indians contrasts two parts by use of the following devices -A. Percussion tremolo, melodic legato, suited to smooth body swaying and quivering of hand holding a rattle. B. Duple or iambic percussion beat, melodic staccato or portamento, in faster tempo than A, conforming exactly to lively hopping steps with ad lib progression or cross-over with a partner (both male). Generally, though not always, A and B have the same rhythmic theme, for example, Song I, 2c of the author's Ethnic Folkways L P (1956). Here, rather typically, A and B occupy respectively the upper and lower ranges of a scale 5 321 5, A playing on notes 5 321 and B on 3 1 5.

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