Traditional Iroquois Music

compared to:

Antonin Leopold Dvorak

By: Patricia Bradley

The Iroquois Tribe

• Also known as: The Iroquois Confederacy, Haudenosaunee, and “People of the Long House”

• Territory spans Northeastern Woodlands of America and Canada

• Consists of 6 Native American nations

• Today about 45,000 Iroquois members live in Canada and about 80,822 in America

Iroquois Socials

The Iroquois frequently held social gatherings within their communitiesThese socials provided a time and place for the community to come together for music and dancing Always lead by an individual with specific duties called the “house-keeper” or “pusher”

Traditional Iroquois Music

• Played for religious and entertainment purposes• Music always danced to counter clock-wise• 3 main types of dances/songs

– Stomp, fish, and side-step shuffle• Instruments used:

– Flutes, rattles, drums, and other various percussion instruments

• Music sung in antiphony• Characteristics of Iroquois music:

– Rhythmic complexity, shifts in meter, call and response, short phrases, shouting, and tones based on the pentatonic scale

Iroquois Music and Dancing Video

Antonin Leopold Dvorak

• Composer of the Romantic Period• Born on September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, Prague,

Czech Republic• Began music education at age 6 • Played viola in Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra

from 1860-1871 • Left orchestra to compose in 1871• Married Anna Cermakova in 1873 and had 9 children

together• Became the organist for St. Aldabert’s Church in the

1870’s

Dvorak continued

• Befriended Johann Brahms in 1877 who helped him publish his works

• Received honorary degree from Cambridge University in 1891

• Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York from 1892-1895

• Returned to Bohemia in 1895• 1901-1904 succeeded Antonin Bennewitz as Director of

the Conservatory in Prague• Died in 1904 due to heart failure• Buried in Vysehrad Cemetery in Prague

Symphony No. 9 in E Minor“From the New World”

• Also known as “The New World Symphony”• Composed in 1893• Original numbered as his 5th symphony but renumbered• Inspired by his travels in America and the native music

he heard there (northeastern tribes such as the Iroquois)• Consists of 4 movements:

– Adagio-Allegro Molto

– Largo

– Scherzo-Molt Vivace-Poco Sostenuto – Allegro Con Fuoco

"I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying

the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of

modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral color."

Comparisons

• Both the Iroquois music and the New

World Symphony use fairly short musical phrases

• Both use a call and response style between voices

• Both use drums (or bass voices) to keep a steady beat

Music Samples

Iroquois Music: Our Mother's Song

New World Symphony: Movement 2: Largo

New World Symphony: Movement 3: Molto vivace

Works Cited• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_music

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_music

• http://www.ctbluegrass.org/images/indian_turtlerattle2.jpg

• http://nativedrums.ca/media/woodland/imgs/600/drum67.jpg

• http://www.antonindvorak.com/antonin_dvorak.jpg

• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/The_title_page_of_the_autograph_score_of_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k%27s_ninth_symphony.jpg/250px-The_title_page_of_the_autograph_score_of_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k%27s_ninth_symphony.jpg

• http://www.rec.org/rec/maps/map_gif/Czech_Republic.gif

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois

• http://data.mediarecall-data.com/wgbh/stills/mid/1T04R04_mid.jpg

• http://data.mediarecall-data.com/wgbh/stills/mid/1T04R07_mid.jpg

• http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Anton%C3%ADn_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k_with_his_wife_Anna_in_London,_1886.jpg/150px-Anton%C3%ADn_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k_with_his_wife_Anna_in_London,_1886.jpg

• http://www.dvoraknyc.org/images/dvoraksfamily.jpg

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2001/222/dvorakantonin.jpg

• http://pimadiziwinsingers.com/

THE END