Songs
These songs are freely shared by their originating Native communities and their (thoughtful) use is encouraged.
Songs Overview – Ojibwe.net (Ojibwe-Anishinaabe)
A collection of Anishinaabe songs which the tribe has put forward to be shared and taught. Scores have been provided, but the group also included instructions that scores should not be the primary means of teaching because the songs constitute an aural tradition. Some cultural context is also provided for each song.
The Densmore Repatriation Project (Lakota)
Drumhop.com, Brian Freeman (many tribes represented)
Spirit Horse Nation (Lakota)
Lesson Plans from Indigenous Educators and Community Members
American Indian Music for the Classroom, by Louis Ballard (Quapaw). Pub. 1973 but still useful.
The Densmore Repatriation Project – Unit Plan 9-12 (Lakota, also broadly applicable to teaching of Densmore’s work).
Sounding Decolonial Futures: Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s “She Sang Them Home” In The Classroom. (n.d.). Sounding Decolonial Futures: Decentering Ethnomusicology’s Colonialist Legacies. Retrieved January 24, 2024, from https://scalar.oberlincollegelibrary.org/decolonizing-ethnomusicology/leanne-betasamosake-simpsons-she-sang-them-home-in-the-classroom
Other Educational Materials from Indigenous Educators and Community Members
These resources are appropriate and easily adaptable for classroom use, but aren’t already in lesson or unit-plan format. They are most likely to be useful in your own learning, or in working with older students who can analyze websites.
Idlenomore.ca/resources-education/ (many tribes represented)
Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance (many tribes represented)
South Dakota Symphony: The Lakota Music Project
Nikamowin (many tribes represented)
National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) (many tribes represented)
Warrior Women Project (many tribes represented)
Wisconsin First Nations – Ojibwe Music (Ojibwe-Anishinaabe)
Densmore’s Works (in the public domain)
Chippewa (Ojibwe-Anishinaabe) Music
Visual Representations of Densmore’s Research and the Cultural Information Therein
Many Indigenous individuals worked with Frances Densmore between 1905 and 1950 including performers, interpreters, cultural advisors, and general informants. Their voices and persons shine through in her work. Use this map to explore these people, their stories, and archived media pertaining to their cultures.
NAA.PhotoLot.176, Bureau of American Ethnology negatives, National Anthropological Archives. https://sova.si.edu/record/naa.photolot.176
This map depicts the geographical origins of every song recorded in Densmore’s works. While organizing such material on a map with borders is sometimes appropriate because it highlights the reality of what has happened to Indigenous lands over the past several centuries, it is equally important to understand these cultural expressions in the context of the land and the Indigenous nations from which they came, without settler labels. Toggle the Native Land Digital territories map layer to learn more about this!