Indigenous Music of the Americas

A Guide to Music of Native Americans in North, Central and South America

Selected Books and Scores

Please note that an "r" indicates a reference title that can be used in the library. Titles with both circulating and reference copies are signified by "(r)" in the call number.

Books

	Bierhorst, John A cry from the earth: music of the North American Indians ML3557.B53 1992
Burton, Bryan Moving within the circle: contemporary native American music and dance (r)q ML3557.B8 1993
Collaer, Paul Music of the Americas; an illustrated music ethnology of the Eskimo and American Indian peoples rq ML3547.C64
	Densmore, Frances The American Indians and their music q ML3557.D353 2006x It is worth noting that Frances Densmore was one of the first American scholars to document and record the music of several North American tribes. Her publications date from 1913 until her death in 1957. An Author Search will bring up more titles from the 2006 reprint editions of her works as well as other books.
	Diamond, Beverley Native American music in eastern North America: experiencing music, expressing culture ML3550.D53 2008
	Ench, Rick North American Indian Music ML3557.E53 2002
Fichter, George S American Indian music and musical instruments: with instructions for making the instruments ML3930.A2 F44
The Garland encyclopedia of world music, v. 2 - South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean (r)q ML100.G16 1998 vol. 2
The Garland encyclopedia of world music, v. 3 - The United States and Canada rq ML 100.G16 1998
	The Garland handbook of Latin American music q ML199.G36 2000 Includes sections about Native American cultures of Mexico, Central America and South America plus a compact disc with musical examples. Articles have been reprinted from the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music", vol. 2.
	Gombert, Greg The Native American Music Directory r ML156.4.F5 G66 2004x
Izikowitz, Karl Gustav Musical and other sound instruments of the South American Indians; a comparative ethnographical study r 781.91 I34
Keeling, Richard North American Indian music: a guide to published sources and selected recordings r ML128.F75 K44 1997
Nettl, Bruno North American Indian musical styles r 970.6 N24
	Schulman, Sandra Hale From kokopellis to electric warriors: the Native American culture of music ML3557.S38 2002x
	Spotted Eagle, Douglas Voices of Native America: Native American instruments and music qML3557.S74 1997x
	Wright-McLeod, Brian The encyclopedia of native music: more than a century of recordings from wax cylinder to the Internet r ML156.4.I5 W75 2005

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Scores

Browner, Tara
Heartbeat of the people: music and dance of the northern pow-wow
E98.P86 B76 2002

Chazanoff, Daniel (compiler)
Music of the Native North American for the flute or recorder
q M1669.M878 1990x

Chazanoff, Daniel (compiler)
Native American music, in seven volumes: for the flute or recorder, with drum/rattle ad. lib.
M1669.N38 1993x

Eckels, Steven Zdenek
Mel Bay presents music of the North American Indians for acoustic guitar
q M128.M33467 2000x

Fletcher, Alice C
Indian games and dances with native songs; arranged from American Indian ceremonials and sports
(r)E98.G2 F6 1970

Hofmann, Charles
American Indians sing
q 784.4 H68am

Hofmann, Charles
War whoops and medicine songs
q 784.4 H68

Levine, Victoria Lindsay (editor)
Writing American Indian music: historic transcriptions, notations, and arrangements
q M2.3.U6 R4 vol. 44

Moore, Gerald (arranger)
Native American tunes: in three and four part settings for SAT & SATB, for recorders or flutes
q M178.M56 N3 1991x

Speckert, George A. (arranger)
Indian chants: for strings
q M553.I53 2007x

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Selected Videos and DVDs

Canada and the United States (volume 1 of JVC/Smithsonian Folkways series)
Dan G- C
Includes section with Inuit music and dance

Central and South America (Volume 5 of JVC/Smithsonian Folkways series)
Central and South America (Volume 6 of JVC/Smithsonian Folkways series)
Dan G- C
Includes sections of music and dance from Native peoples of Mexico, Central and South America

Into the circle: an introduction to Native American powwows
Dan G- Pow

The JVC video anthology of world music and dance Vol. 28: The Americas II Mexico/Cuba/Bolivia/Argentina
Dan G- J

The JVC video anthology of world music and dance Vol. 27: The Americas I North American Indians
Dan G- J

The world of American Indian dance
Dan G- Ame

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Selected Compact Discs

Creation's journey: Native American music
COMPACT DISC Fo Cre #6752

Gathering of Nations 2000: millennium celebration
COMPACT DISC Fo Gat #18094 v. 1
COMPACT DISC Fo Gat #18094 v. 2

Gathering of Nations Pow Wow, 1999: various drum groups
COMPACT DISC Fo Gat #19629

Heartbeat: voices of First Nations women
COMPACT DISC Fo Hea #10379

Heartbeat 2: more voices of First Nations women
COMPACT DISC Fo Hea #15563

Los Calchakis
Sortilèges de la flûte et de la guitare indienne
COMPACT DISC If Cal #1175

Nakai, R. Carlos
Mythic dreamer: music for Native American flute
COMPACT DISC Na Nak #19368

Rough guide to Native American music
COMPACT DISC Fo Rou #15909

Songs of earth, water, fire, and sky: music of the American Indian
COMPACT DISC Fo Son #3669

Wood that sings: Indian fiddle music of the Americas
COMPACT DISC If Woo #15963

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Using Subject and Keyword Searches

The materials listed above are literature about or collections of general works of Native Americans. If you are looking for music of a specific region in the Americas or of an individual tribe, you may wish to use subject or keyword searches. The searches below are just a few examples to get you started.

Subject Search

You can use a Subject Search (includes terms "Music" or "Music History and Criticism"):

Indians of North America Music or
Indians of North America Music History and Criticism
Indians of South America Music
Indians of Central America Music
Indians of Mexico Music

To narrow by region/country:

Indians of North America Canada Music
Indians of North America Great Plains Music
Indians of North America Saskatchewan Music
Indians of North America Southwest, New Music
Indians of Mexico Mexico Baja California Music
Indians of South America Peru Music
Indians of South America Peru Lima Dept Music

To Narrow by State:

Indians of North America Arizona Music
Indians of North America California Music
Indians of North America New York (State) Music
Indians of North America Wisconsin Music

To Narrow by Tribe:

Choctaw Indians Music
Inuit Northwest Territories Music
Shoshoni Indians Music History and Criticism
Zuni Indians Music

If you need help with names of North American tribes, this page from the Library of Congress American Memory Project gives a list of tribe names by geographic region: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/tribes.html

Keyword Search

An Advanced Keyword search may also be useful, especially if you need to begin with a broad topic and narrow to one that is more specific.

For example, if you are looking for dance music from tribes of North or South America on a compact disc, you could use a search in this manner:

indians AND dance AND america
(type each term into a separate search box… using the plural of "indian" and the term "america" will increase your number of hits)

Use the pull-down menu to limit to "Music CD." You can also limit by location if you wish.

Another example… you are looking for songs, texts or printed music, of North American tribes, just some general ideas. You could use this search technique:

indians AND songs AND north america (again, each term in a separate box)

Use the pull-down menu to limit to "Books" and "Music Scores"… the shift key will allow you to highlight both (sometimes printed music is found in general books about Native American music and some poetry books contain texts of traditional songs).

You can use the Keyword feature to find music for a specific instrument, a type of song (e.g. war, ceremonial, medicine), or for terms such as "chants" or names of animals (an important part of Native American culture).

If you need any assistance with your catalog searching, just ask a librarian!

One last important tip:
Many materials about Native American music may not be in the Music Department. You may also wish to ask a librarian about materials found in American History and Anthropology (subject areas in the Reference Services Department) or the Children's Department.

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Online Listening and Websites

• Smithsonian Global Sound
  Click here for remote access with a Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh library card.
  This streaming audio website includes recordings from the Smithsonian Folkways label. You can browse by the "American Indian" category or search the site for more music of Native Americans.
• National Museum of the American Indian
  This museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is a wonderful resource for information about North American tribes. Their media archive includes audio recordings on wax cylinders, phonograph discs, audio tapes, and compact discs. If you plan a visit, their events calendar will inform you of scheduled live performances.
• National Geographic
  Click on their "Music" link, and you can explore the indigenous music of the Americas by searching this page. Includes sound files.