California Music Research Paper

The California region makes up what is now modern-day California. The region is made up of many tribes, including the Pomo, Whilkut, and Shasta. Instruments of California tribes are made up of the gambling drum, flutes, whistles, gourd rattles, bullroarer, mouth bow, and clapper sticks. Almost all of these instruments are different in comparison to the other regions excluding whistles and rattles. The region also has many other songs, languages, and spiritual meanings that will now be explored. Musical structure and sound change depending upon what area of California a tribe was located. For example the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada has music described as softer and in unison. When this is compared to the music of North-Central California, there are differences. The North-Central California tribes have a unique texture and their singers are not as nasal.

Brush Dance is the name of this track and it brings together many of the characteristics of California music. This dance was traditionally used to help heal a sickly child. It lasts roughly thirty minutes and is made up of repeating songs. These songs can be described as both light and dark. Light songs consist of both sexes, are faster, and include text and vocables. This is in stark contrast to dark songs, which are slow, have a religious meaning, and can only be sung by the males. In our track you can only hear the light version of this ceremony. There is a central female singer who is joined by background male singer. During the song all that can be heard are the singers and rattles, which are a group of idiophones. The spirituality, song structure, and performance help distinguish this area of tribes from the rest of North