The following information is taken from the book "Songs and Dances of the Lakota". We are deeply indebted to Sinte Gleska University for allowing us to create these web pages

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Ben Black Bear on the Role of Music in Lakota Life

On this day, I want to speak about what is already known. The Lakota don't sing for just one certain thing. The first thing they sing about is the sacred ways. Some songs were given to the holy man, the medicine men, the holy men. An then, through the songs, men and women and boys and girls ask things for themselves and they also sing sacred songs. In addition, theyu sing to merely enjoy themselves. That is for recreation and they will be happy. A then again they sing songs of sorrow. These are the different kinds of songs and if someone sings, he will learn to like singing very much. So, that is why I, singing from the age of twelve, love singing. That is me. So be it.

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Introduction

The songs and dances of the Lakota and dress utilized in their performance are considered by many to be one of the most viable of traditional culture traits among the contemporary Lakota. While it must be realized that singing and dancing continue to play an important role in Lakota society, we must also remember that the seeming predominance is due in large part to the greater visibility of singing and dancing in more or less traditional tribal dancing clothes.

Yet, in spite of this greater visibility, there are many-and this holds even more true for the young-who do not understand all that is going on at contemporary "wacipis" or celebrations. When it comes to questions of evolution or of the traditional ways of the song or dance, the number of Lakota who can perform or know of the earlier manner of doing things-"ehanni wico' ecun"-is smaller still. Thus it is vital for a text of this kind to make available introductory material on traditional and contemporary secular ways of singing and dancing, especially since the natural or traditional ways of acquiring such knowledge often do not reach the majority of the people.

Background and Procedure

Since the Lakota musical tradition is a completely oral one, it was and still is passed on and maintained with some gradual changes by word or mouth. This reliance on the individual and group memory which perfectly suited the Lakota since their beginnings seemed "improvable" to non-Indian specialists who undertook great pains to record in writing and musical notation the music and dances of the Lakota and other Native American peoples. Though many of these efforts are commendable and have proved of valuable aid in dealing with the songs preceding our day, the more sensitive among these recorders soon despaired of capturing the total creative performance via written western musical notation. They became aware that this system captures chiefly the similarities between Native American songs and Euro-American music, but cannot record the uniquely "Indian" quality inherent in the tribal music. Attempts to play such songs on instruments such as the piano or saxophone proved even more abortive. Only gradually did the print and text oriented non-Indian witnesses to the music of the Native American begin to realize the potential of mechanical ways of recording and replaying these songs. (The Indian people themselves, on the contrary, quickly utilized tape and cassette recorders once they became available to the layman.)

In addition to the inability of written notation to do complete justice to the oral original, it must be remembered by both student and teacher that music, dance, ritual, dress, as well as audience form on organic creative act which should be studied separately only as an analytic learning approach. Thus, for a truer understanding of Lakota music, the song texts, cultural comments and other notes within this book need to be augmented by audio tape, as well as the visual aspects captured in drawings, photographs, video tape, and film. We have therefore attempted to incorporate numerous photographs and some sketches into this text. Cassette tapes, color video tapes of selected songs and dances dealt with, as well as a color poster which shows Lakota ways of dressing for the dance are available from Sinte Gleska College, Rosebud, South Dakota.

The format of this text is based largely on the profound knowledge of Ben Black Bear, Sr., and old-time singer residing at Ironwood on the Rosebud Reservation. As suck it must be realized that the text is a personal document to some degree, although this is typical for the oral experience.* Yet the transcribed songs and comments are representative enough that they can be considered in the body of secular Lakota songs and dances with some applicability even to the Nakota and Dakota divisions of the Sioux. The temptations to expand this introduction to an in-depth study of the traditions, the evolution, and current manifestations of Lakota song and dance have been resisted in order to stay within the limits of this text which proposes to offer a basic resource text of Lakota non-sacred songs and dances. A study of sacred or religious songs and of instruments has thus been left outside the scope of this study.

In addition to the songs and dances of the text which are primarily a reflection of Ben Black Bear's large personal treasure of songs, I have incorporated some of my own observations, which are contained mostly in this introduction or in comments and footnotes throughout the text. Additional structure has been lent to the whole by Howard P. Bad Hand who supplied the translations and other valuable comments.
The Lakota stock of secular songs encompasses many more songs than we have included in our selections, as music has always played a central part in every phase of Lakota life. ** The songs and/or dances presented here may, however, be considered a cross section of a beautiful and living musical tradition.

*Oral literature and music allow for some personal innovation and variation-less so with religious songs-as long as certain core elements are present and the final product is accepted as "valid" by the people. In this way, the song texts in this volume will often have alternate versions which are not recorded here. In addition to a personal style, we also find specific group characteristics either in the way a group of singers styles its songs or in the type of songs it elects to sing. Similarity, although most Omaha songs diffuse across the Sioux divisions and beyond, certain songs-especially honor songs and scared songs-are frequently restricted to a specific locality or community and recognized as stemming from there.

**An amazing number of songs are in active circulation. Even more astounding is the latent repertoire of Lakota singers once they are reminded of a song.

II. Voice

The Lakota way of producing the singing voice, the "Indian throat," results in a very unique sound that is difficult to describe fully. The higher parts of songs are sung by men called "h' oka wicasa" in falsetto ranging from piercing to mellow. As the melody descends, the voice gains energy and rhythm. The sound is produced at the back of an open mouth and throat with the volume and quality of the voice depending to a good part on development of abdominal muscles. The women called "wicaglata" sing an octave higher than the men usually joining in the latter parts of each rendition and trailing out songs a little longer at the endings. In addition to their singing, the women produce a unique trilling sound at special junctures in song to indicate deep feelings, to express intensive joy or appreciation, such as when a relative, who is being honored, has his name mentioned. It is called "hohnagicala hotun."

III. Song Structures*

Some general comments on the basic structure of songs should prove to be of help in understanding and enjoying Lakota singing:

1. Virtually all songs are bipartite in structure; that is, a rendition of a song is made up of two repetitions of a specific melody, following an introductory phrase called the "lead" or "push up" and its repetition, the "second."

The typical rendition:

2. Virtually all songs begin each rendition on high notes and then descend in a "cascading" manner of some variation:

3. The "lead" or "push up" is generally the highest section in pitch of a song and consists of a musical phrase or line. It is sung by one male singer, often referred to as the "head singer" or "lead singer."

4. Then all the singers sing the balance of this rendition of the song through what we will call the "first chorus," "first ending," "second chorus" and "final ending." Frequently a short introductory phrase will precede the second chorus.

5. In this manner, songs may be sung for many renditions with each successive "lead" breaking into the previous "final ending." The female singers, the "wicaglata," begin singing an octave above the men generally sometime after the "second."

6. At the end of many songs, the second half of a song will be repeated after a short pause. It is called the "tail" or "sinte." We may refer to this as a "short tail," whereas if another whole rendition of a song-or occasionally several renditions-are sung in addition to the short tail, we can refer to this as a "long tail."

7. Four or five loud or "accented" beats are generally inserted partway into the second chorus.

*William K. Powers, to my knowledge, deserves the credit for first formulating some of these basic structures in his series of articles in American Indian Tradition.

IV. Song Types

Songs are not improvised on the spot, but rather have to be learned from other singers today often with the help of a tape recorder. The stock of songs ranges from songs of an indeterminably ancient tradition which have been handed down, to those of recent composition which may even have been composed by a member of the group singing them.

Lakota songs may be divided into three basic categories. The first type of song has Lakota words throughout the whole song (see#6). The second type has "vocables" throughout (see #11). (Vocables are syllables used to carry the melody along, but in contrast to the Lakota words they have no meanings.) The third type uses vocables in the first half of each song rendition, (i.e., the push-up, second, first chorus and first ending) but employs Lakota words in the second half of each rendition, (i.e., in the second chorus( (see#8).