The Pima Indians/Esthetic arts/Musical instruments

by Frank Russell

ESTHETIC ARTS

Musical Instruments

The Pimas have four kinds of musical instruments—the flute or flageolet, the basket drum, the scraping stick, and the rattle, the last having many forms. They say that the first two instruments were adopted from the Maricopas within a century or two. If this be true Pima attainments in instrumental music must have been of a very modest character indeed. There are few flutes to be found and the drum is never heard except in ceremonies which are themselves becoming increasingly rare. The gourd rattle is the commonest form of the last class of instruments.

FLUTE

The Pima or Maricopa flute is of cane cut of such a length that it includes two entire sections and about 4 cm. of each of the two adjoining. It therefore contains three diaphragms, of which the two end ones are perforated, while the middle one is so arranged that the air may pass over its edge from one section into the other. This is done by burning a hole through the shell of the cane on each side of the diaphragm and joining them by a furrow. With such an opening in the upper section the instrument can not be played unless a piece of bark or similar material be wrapped over all but the lower portion of the furrow to direct the air into the lower section. The forefinger of the left hand is usually employed as a stop if no permanent wrapping directs the current of air so that it may impinge upon the sharp margin of the opening into the second section.^[1] As there are but three finger holes the range of notes is not great and they are very low and plaintive.

These instruments are usually ornamented with geometric designs having no symbolic significance at the present time among the Pimas. A bit of cloth or ribbon is sometimes attached to the middle of the flute, as in specimen c, figure 80.^[2]

DRUM

Any shallow basket of sufficient size, such as are in common use in every household for containing grain or prepared food, may be transformed into a drum by simply turning it bottom up and beating it with the hands. In accompanying certain songs it is struck with a stick in rapid glancing blows.

SCRAPING STICK

The notched or scraping stick is in very general use to carry the rhythm during the singing of ceremonial songs. When one end of the stick is laid on an overturned basket and another stick or a deer's scapula is drawn quickly over the notches the resulting sound from this compound instrument of percussion may be compared with that of the snare drum. However, it is usually held in the hand and rasped with a small stick kept for the purpose. So important are these instruments in Pima rain ceremonies that they are usually spoken of as "rain sticks."

There are four scraping sticks in the collection. One of these (fig. 81, a), is smoothly cut, tapering, and evidently very old. The wood has not been identified, though it resembles ironwood. There are six small notches at the side of the handle, possibly fulfilling some mnemonic purpose. At the base of the series of notches is a broad X; there is another at the middle, and evidences of a third appear at the tip, which is broken away. There are 36 deep transverse notches on the lower part and 49 on the upper.^[3] This stick was used for the cure of the piholt disease (p. 265) and was probably obtained from the Yaquis. The other three sticks (c, e, f) are much rougher and are undoubtedly of Pima make. The two large ones (c, e) have deep notches, which are few in number.^[4]

RATTLES

The gourd rattle is used in most Pima ceremonies. It is made by fitting a wooden handle to a gourd in which gravel have been placed. The handle passes through the center and, reduced in diameter, projects slightly from the larger end, as shown in figure 82,^[5] which also illustrates the distribution of the perforations, which are said to be for the purpose of "letting the sound out." It will be observed that the sacred number 4 is represented by the principal lines of holes extending longitudinally. About a dozen specimens were seen and none were decorated in any way except in the arrangement of the perforations; the handles were invariably rudely made.

A disk rattle that has been used in the Navitco ceremonies was secured at the village of Pe’-eptcĭlt. It is not a Pima instrument, but whether Papago or Yaqui the writer can not say. It contains two sets of four tin disks loosely held by wires passing through a wooden handle. The sound emitted resembles that of tambourine rattles (fig. 83).^[6]

From the same individual who used the disk rattle the writer obtained a rattle that had been used as a belt during the Navitco ceremonies. It is made of successive layers of canvas, red cotton cloth, oilcloth, and an old braided hatband, to which are attached by leather strings 21 brass cartridge shells (fig. 84).

There are two sets of cocoon rattles in the collection that were worn on the calves of the legs in certain ceremonies. The cocoons were obtained from the Papagos or Yaquis of Sonora. They are of a species of bombycid moth; their outer coverings have been removed,^[7] and a few gravel have then been sewed in each cocoon. There are 70 pairs of cocoons in one strand and 66 in the other (fig. 85). The rustling sound given out by this number of rattles is not unlike the warning of the rattlesnake.^[8]

At the village of Sacaton Flats at least one turtle-shell rattle is still used in the treatment of the "turtle disease," although no specimen of such rattle was seen.

Hoof rattles, usually of dewclaws, were of universal distribution among the American Indians and were common among the Pimas, though none are to be found at the present day. Bartlett figures such a rattle in his Personal Narrative (II, 223).

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1. "The principle of its construction is believed to be different from any known among other tribes or nations. These instruments are common with the Coco-Maricopas, and Yumas or Cuchuans, and among the tribes on the Colorado. Young men serenade their female friends with them," Whipple, Pac. R.R. Rep., II. 52.
2. Length of flute a (fig. 80), 364 mm.; diameter, 22 mm.; b, length, 518 min.; diameter, 23 mm.; c, length, 512 mm.; diameter, 22 mm. Flute c has an old pale yellow necktie tied around the middle as an ornament and to direct the air past the diaphragm.
3. Length, 675 mm.; width, 25 mm.; thickness, 15 mm. The accompanying stick (b) used to scrape with is 494 mm. long.
4. Scraping stick (fig. 81. c), is 630 mm. long, 19 mm. in diameter, and has 11 notches: e is 625 mm. long, 26 mm. in diameter, with 12 notches; f is 555 mm. long, 11 mm. in diameter, and is provided with 35 shallow notches.
5. Length, 332 mm.; diameter, 90 mm.; diameter of handle, 25 mm.
6. Length, 247 mm.; diameter, 36 mm.; diameter of disks, 40 mm.
7. "The Huichols use the cocoons of Attacus orizaba for necklaces." Lumholtz, Symbolism of the Huichol Indians, 189.
8. Each cocoon now measures 30 mm. in length by 25 mm. in breadth. The entire strands are 1.900 m. long.