Native American Music
The Native American people were extremely spiritual and many of their tribal spiritual customs and traditions involved music. Native American music varies among the thousands of tribes that once inhabited America but one thing that they all had in common were the drums crafted from wood and animal skins. Many tribal stories of creation and the spirit world were passed on through Native American music from generation to generation. A lot of tribes believed that the songs they sang came from the spirits, and a lot of Native American music is honoring the spirits that the Native Americans believed lived within everything in nature.
The Native American Indians worshipped the spirits of the animals, the sun, the moon and the stars and everything else that they could not explain. The songs they sang and danced to were meant to honor these spirits as stated but many of their traditional celebrations would also have re-enactments of these stories, where members of the tribe would dress up and perform ceremonial dances to the gods while they would re-enact tribal myths.
As with anything among the thousands of Native tribes that were spread throughout the land the Native American music had different meaning and varied among tribes. Some of the Native American tribes were very violent and a lot of their music was war music, where they had war drums that would be played while they prepared for battle and prayed to the gods of war. The Native American music also played an important part in the famous Native American rain dance of the tribes from the Southwest. Another instrument that was popular among a lot of Native American Indian tribes was the flute that they would craft out of wood. The Native American flute started out as a whistle and then was eventually added to with more holes and the flute was developed. Native American culture and music is alive and well today and there are Native Americans that have been involved in all forms of popular music throughout the world today. There are many reservations where you can see many of the Native American ceremonies and hear the traditional music that goes back thousands of years.