Scan 74
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 8 September 2026. Printed page 50. See the scan on archive.org.
1In spite of the continued contact with the whites, the negro melodies as we have them today still retain their exotic traits. In the older ones there is more of the barbaric character, while those of a later date show the influence of the music of the white masters. Again, in the dances of the negro are to be seen traces of their barbaric origin. The pantomime so generally associated with many songs points to derivation from the same sources. In common with those of all uncultured peoples, the negro melodies frequently are formed on the pentatonic scale, in which the fourth and seventh tones are omitted.
3The first instruments used in this country by the negro slaves were patterned after those of the land from which they had come. Two kinds, or rather two sizes of drums were used, which were fashioned of hollowed logs, over one end of which was stretched a sheep or goat skin. These drums were not played in upright position but were laid on the ground and the player bestrode them, beating them with fists and feet, slowly on the large instrument and more rapidly on the smaller one. The small drum was often made from a section of the bamboo tree, hence the name bamboula, given to the dance which commonly was performed to the accompaniment of this drum.
5Rattles similar to those of the Indian also were used. Another instrument, if such it may be called, was formed of the jawbone of some animal, such as the horse or mule, over the teeth of which a piece of metal was rattled. The morimbabrett was an instrument capable of producing something approaching melody. It was formed of a shallow box of thin wood about eight inches long by four or five wide, across which, under a single strand of wire, were placed several sections of reed of graduated lengths. The performer plucked the ends of the reeds with his thumb nails and so produced the music.
7In Thomas Jefferson's Notes on Virginia (1784) he speaks of the negro as being naturally musical, and adds: "the instrument proper to them is the banjar, which they
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