Beyond the classroom: Native Americans

 1) After going over many of the Native American ceremonies in class, I decided that I was interested in seeing what other ceremonies they had. I discovered the water ceremony and along with it came the Hopi Snake Dance. In this dance the performers would do it with snakes in their mouth. In this dance, they would have to gather the snakes and then they would watch them for the remaining period until the dance is ready. The snakes tied into the water ceremony because they are believed to be the "guardians of the springs." Today the snake dance is only one that is allowed to be seen by tribe members. 

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-dances/#Hopi%20Snake%20Dance

2) I also really enjoyed Supaman's music and how he combines both the Native American aspects of music with aspects that are used in our music. I looked into other artists and found one named, Drezus. This song "Warpath" is really interesting because it shows images of their culture, clothing, and people playing traditional instruments such as the drum circle. This music was different from that of Supaman because it really did not have any of the traditional sounds actually in it. I think that there is a shaker in the beginning that eventually fades in and out but aside from that the rest of the music seems to get influence from Hip Hop. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Cy1Knyu6A

3) One drum that we talked and hear a lot was the Native American log drum. Knowing that there were other types of drums that they use, I decided to look into some of the other popular ones. One of the most popular ones was the hoop drum. This drum is considered to be the first drum used by the Tarahumara indians and was made with "rawhide on both sides" Another popular drum is the water drum which changes pitch based on the amount of water. This drum was made by placing a gourd in water and then they hit the  gourd with a stick to produce the sound. 

https://drummingreview.com/native-american-drums/