early native american music features intervals that are
large perfect fourths and fifths melodic major and minor thirds
title: Indigenous music of North America text: integral part of tribal identity. However, their historical authenticity cannot be verified; aside from supposition and some archaeological evidence, the earliest documentation of Native American music came with the arrival of European explorers. Musical instruments and pictographs depicting music and dance have been dated as far back as the 7th century. Bruno Nettl refers to the style of the Great Basin area as the oldest style and common throughout the entire continent before Mesoamerica but continued in only the Great Basin and in the lullaby, gambling, and tale genres around the continent. A style featuring relaxed vocal technique and the title: Indigenous music of North America text: forms. The majority of songs are iterative with each phrase repeated once, though occasional songs with multiple repetitions are found. Many Modoc and Klamath songs contain only one repeated phrase and many of their scales only two to three notes (ditonic or tritonic). This style was carried to the Great Plains by the Ghost Dance religion which originated among the Paiute, and very frequently features paired-phrase patterns and a relaxed nonpulsating vocal style. Herzog attributes the similarly simple lullabies, song-stories, and gambling songs found all over the continent historically to the music of the Great Basin which was preserved through title: Indigenous music of North America text: the ends of phrases. Box drums, which are found elsewhere, are common, as is a tambourine-like hand drum. Nettl describes "Eskimo" music as some of the simplest on the continent, listing characteristics including recitative-like singing, complex rhythmic organization, relatively small melodic range averaging about a sixth, prominence of major thirds and minor seconds melodically, with undulating melodic movement. Archaeological evidence of Native American music dates as far back as the 7th century. However, the earliest written documentation comes from the arrival of European explorers on the American continent, and the earliest academic research comes from the late 19th century. During title: Indigenous music of North America text: between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic. The most complex styles are that of the Southeastern Creek, Yuchi, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquois and their language group, with the simpler style being that of the Algonquian language group including Delaware and Penobscot. The Algonquian-speaking Shawnee have a relatively complex style influenced by the nearby southeastern tribes. The characteristics of this entire area include short iterative phrases; reverting relationships; shouts before, during, and after singing anhemitonic pentatonic scales; simple rhythms and meter and, according to Nettl, antiphonal or responsorial techniques including "rudimentary imitative polyphony". Melodic movement tends to be gradually descending throughout the title: Indigenous music of North America text: music, and reggae, as well as unique popular styles like chicken scratch and New Mexico music. Singing and percussion are the most important aspects of traditional Native American music. Vocalization takes many forms, ranging from solo and choral song to responsorial, unison and multipart singing. Percussion, especially drums and rattles, are common accompaniment to keep the rhythm steady for the singers, who generally use their native language or non-lexical vocables (nonsense syllables). Traditional music usually begins with slow and steady beats that grow gradually faster and more emphatic, while various flourishes like drum and rattle tremolos, shouts and accented patterns