Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos - Flutopedia.com

58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 165
Translation
Is it not you, young man, is it not you, young man.
That sort of yellow butterfly you painted,
That flies in among the corn plants.
Is it not you, young man, is it not you, young man,
That sort of blue butterfly you painted,
That flies in among the corn plants.
Chortis
Butterfly, butterfly, that yellow butterfly, that beautiful butterfly [repeated]'
I can see it fly away in its sacred way.
Is it not you young man, is it not you, young man?
That kind of yellow butterfly, yellow butterfly you have painted,
So then it is pretty, to alight in the field.
II
(Repeated, mentioning the blue butterfly)
Chorus
Butterfly, butterfly, yellow, blue butterfly,
Beautiful, beautifully it flies to the country.
Beautiful butterfly, red, white butterfly,
Beautiful, beautifully it has flown among the flowers.
Analysis.—The performance of this song occupied 2 minutes, the entire performance
being transcribed. At the close of the repetition of period B, before
the half rest, the tone F was sung slightly above the indicated pitch, this rise
in pitch level having been gradual. The tone F in the upper octave, occurring
early in the fourth period, was clearly sung as F-sharp and the remainder of the
performance was on that pitch level. Throughout the observance of a change
in pitch level, it has been noted that the change occurs in anticipation of a particularly
large interval or, occasionally, in the singing of this unusually large
interval. The transcription contains 179 progressions, and the entire performance,
including the repeated portions, contains 212 progressions. Although the song
is major in tonality, the major third comprises less than 1 percent of the intervals,
the melody progressing chiefly by whole tones and semitones. ^The drimibeat
slightly preceded the voice and is in quarter-note values.
COMANCHE DANCE SONG
This is a pleasure dance among the Acoma, but is closely connected
with traditions of war (cf. Comanche dance of the Zuni, p. 109).
Only boys and young men take part in the Comanche dance, some
appearing like Acoma warriors, while others are in the war regalia
of the Plains tribes. It was said, "if wearing a feather bonnet they
dance more gracefully and trip along." They carry shields and
often dance face to face as though fighting with spears.
The| Comanche dance songs 'usedf at Acoma are in imitation of
songs learned from other tribes. In explanation of the song here