Music of the American Indian Pueblo: Taos, San Ildefonso, Zuni, Hopi

In 1938, the first broadly conceived recording program with modern equipment of American Indian music had its beginning in a unique meeting of personalities. Dr. Willard W. Beatty, director of Indian education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a man with unusual sensitivity to the unique value of Native American arts, was on one side of the equation. On the other side was Prof. Willard Rhodes of the music department at Columbia University and conductor of Columbia's Opera Workshop. Rhodes combined a wide background in musical performance, criticism, conducting, and scholarship with a deep interest in Native American culture.

American Indian music had been recorded before, notably in Frances Densmore's pioneer work between 1907 and 1940, during which time she recorded well over two thousand songs. In the late 1930s, electronic equipment for the making of phonograph discs in the field became available and a few samplings of Native American music began to appear on commercial discs. It seemed appropriate that a sustained effort should be launched to continue the work of Densmore (and others) in a form that could be made available to the public. In addition, Beatty and Rhodes had a research goal: to ascertain what kinds of new musics were beginning to appear in Native American communities and the extent to which traditional musics were still in use.

Rhodes undertook nine field surveys between 1940 and 1952. The recordings included 260 tenand twelve-inch discs, obtained from 1940 to 1949, and 50 seven-inch tape reels, obtained from 1950 to 1952. The tremendous task of indexing, editing, and preparing selections of this material for publication on records took place in 1952-54. In September 1954, ten long-playing albums were made available to Indian schools and agencies across the United States and to the general public as well.