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Appendix
Recordings of Yakutat Songs
WITH TRANSCRIPTIONS OF THE MUSIC BY DAVID P. MCALLESTER
Notes and scores for the following songs are arranged
to correspond as far as possible to the categories described
on pp. 568-572, The words to the songs are
given as dictated or as heard on the tapes, but it has
often been impossible to supply an accurate translation,
I have included notes on additional, songs that were
heard or described, even though these were not sung
for the tape recorder. An "Index of Yakutat Tape
Recordings".is found on pp, 1370-1373 in which the songs
or stories are listed according to year, reel, side, and
letter, with references to the pages where the transcriptions
of the music or the translations of the texts may
be found.
For the transcriptions of the scores published here
and for help in fitting the words to the music I am
indebted to Dr. David P. McAllester, Director of the
Laboratory of Ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University,
and also to the American Philosophical Society
for a grant from the Penrose Fund which made this
work possible, I would also like to express my appreciation
for the many hours of painstaking work contributed
to the project by Madame Agi Jambor, Professor of
Music at Bryn Mawr College, and by Mrs. Lindy Li
Mark. Their preliminary transcriptions were of great
assistance to Dr. McAllester and myself. In addition
to the final notations of the melodies, Dr. McAllester
also indicated the meaningful and the vocable texts.
With these as a guide, I could, by listening again and
again to the tapes, hear the Tlingit words, correct the
transcriptions, and often supply a translation.
I admit that one hears what one thinks one ought to
hear, and that my imperfect knowledge of the language
has colored the version given of the Tlingit texts. When
the words were dictated to me separately, I have recorded
these for comparison with the words as sung. In
many cases, however, a dictated text was not available,
and the only words were those heard on the tape. It
was difficult to decide whether the words should be
written with the sounds used in speech or with those
heard as sung, for these sounds are not always the same.
Not only are sung words lengthened by extra syllables,
but vowels may be shifted in quality (A, I, E, U are apt
to become a, i, e, and u when sung; small capitals were
not available for printing the scores), and consonants
may change (glottalized or velar sounds are most likely
to be affected), A consistent and accurate solution to
this problem would have required linguistic expertise
which I lack.
The singer whose recordings were the most difficult
for both McAllester and myself to transcribe was old
Frank Italio, whose quavering voice, interrupted by
remarks, throat-clearing, or coughs, was particularly
hard to follow. I suspect that he sang in a rather free
style, for he seemed to have no hesitation in interrupting
a song to make a comment. Furthermore, he paid no
attention to my efforts to synchronize the tape recorder
with his singing; he would begin without warning, and
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