Comparison of Slovak Folk Music
To Native American Music

Published by the Smithsonian Institute
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin #75
Washington Government Printing Office, 1922
Northern Ute Music by Frances Densmore

The comparitive Analysis of Indian and Slovak Songs was made possible by the courtesy of Mr. Ivan Daxner, secretary of the Slovenian League of America.

In order that the structure of Indian songs might be compared with that of European folk songs, the write obtained a group of Slovak songs and analyzed them according to the method used in analyzing Indian Songs.

Dr. Ales Hrdlicka recommended the use of Slovak songs for this test, as the Slovak is one of the most isolated and racially pure groups of the Slavs, living in the foothills of the Carpathians. There they persued their own manner of life from the dawn of history until disturbed to some degree by Magyarization, which began about a century ago.

Members of the Ute Circa 1922

The songs used in the test were selected for the purpose by Mr. Ivan Daxner, secretatry of the Slovenian League. They comprised a group of 10 songs, including the Slovak National Anthem; a song concerning Janosik, the people's hero; a very ancient meoldy, "In Praise of Song"; a "dialogue on melody"; several love songs; and folk songs concerning the plowboy and the girl who watched the geese.

On comparing the structural analyses of the Slovak and Indian songs we find the resemblances to be less than the differences, suggesting a widely different temperament in the peoples of the two races. These differences are much greater than between the songs of the several Indian tribes analyzed by the writer.

Considering first the resemblances, we find the percentage of songs with a compass of an octave is 30 in the Slovak and varies from 21 to 35 in the Indian, except in a small group of Souix songs recorded by the Chippewa, in which it is smaller.

There is also a resemblance in the proportions of ascending and descending major thirds and major seconds and in ascending fourths.

Among the differences, we note that the minor third, which is so prominent in the Indian songs, occurs from one-fourth to one-half as frequently in the Slovak songs, while the minor second occurs from three to four times as frequently.

The average interval in the Slovak songs is smaller than the songs of any Indian tribe under analysis. In this connection it is interesting to note the contrast in the environment of the Slovaks and the Indians, the former, whose analyzed songs are characterized by one-semitone interval, being a sedentary and agricultural people, and the latter, whose analyzed songs are characterized by a three-semitone interval, being a nomadic people, whose principal industries were hunting and fishing.

The musical instinct is strongly marked in both peoples, and is part of the heritage of all Slavs.

The proportion of descending intervals and the proportion of songs beginning with a descending trend, a characteristic of Indian songs, is not characteristic of Slovak songs.

The change of measure lengths, occurring in 85 per cent of the Indian songs is entirely absent from the Slovak.

The percentage of songs beginning on the accented portion of a measure and of those beginning in 2-4 time is much greater in the Slovak than in the Indian songs.

From the foregoing it appears that the Indian and Slovak songs under analysis differ in trend and in the principal interval of progression.

It also appears that the Slovak songs have more directness in beginning and a more simplicity of rhythm.

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