Preamble

This essay was written in the span of one week as the ethnomusicology portion of my Ph.D. candidacy exam. Here is the question to which this essay responds:

A.P. Merriam opened the first chapter of his "Ethnomusicology of the Flathead Indians" with the following statement: "All people, in no matter what culture, must be able to place their music firmly in the context of the totality of their beliefs, experiences, and activities, for without such ties, music cannot exist". Taking the example of one of the great Navajo Ceremonials, the Nightway, demonstrate how its music can be understood through an analysis within the specific cultural context. Consider especially the "Navajo-ness" of this music, i.e. those features that distinguish it from the music of other Native American groups.

The Navajo are the most studied of all Native American groups. For well over a century now, scholars have been attracted to the Navajo culture; it has flourished in the face of the same pressures that have all but erased many other Native American cultures, largely because it has managed to change with the times while remaining strongly rooted in tradition. Substantial amounts of ethnographic data attest to this tradition and provide a solid foundation upon which to build interpretations of specific cultural manifestations.

The music-making of the Navajo has received a certain share of attention, but not the same amount accorded to many other "artistic" cultural activities such as sandpainting, weaving, and silversmithing. A recent doctoral student in anthropology at The Ohio State University found an even greater disparity in the case of dance, which she began to remedy through fieldwork and the writing of her dissertation (Francis 1997). Detailed analysis of the dances she witnessed and participated in allowed her to situate dance in the context of the Navajo worldview with greater insight and precision than had heretofore been achieved. While obviously I have not had the benefit of fieldwork in preparation for this essay, recordings of certain Navajo songs do permit detailed analysis, and I will demonstrate the potential of such analysis for pursuing a deeper understanding of Navajo music than can currently be found in literature on the subject.

While the Navajo incorporate music into the course of daily activity (e. g., weaving songs, riding songs, corn grinding songs), music also plays a crucial role in the religious ceremonial complexes called Chantways. Of these, Nightway is considered to be the most effectual and is among the most frequently performed. Many components of the ritual action and the songs which accompany them are highly private affairs, and taboos against outside observance of them make any sort of video or audio recording improbable and inappropriate. Other components of the ceremony, however, are more or less public affairs, and consequently it is these components which researchers most frequently observe and sometimes record. A certain class of songs known as Yeibichai songs belong to the public parts of Nightway; the accessibility and unusual sound of these songs make them a favorite subject of discussion, and likewise make them the principal subject of this essay. An analysis of a single Yeibichai song will be the focal point, with observations about a small collection of other Yeibichai songs rounding out the picture. The field of view will be widened to include Yeibichai dances and Nightway as a whole, and widened further to consider the Navajo worldview as manifested in their mythology, cosmology, language, and material arts.

As a prelude to analysis, let us consider in general terms some of the principles which organize and inform Navajo experience and activity. As will be seen, these principles are exhibited in Navajo songs and they pervade many other aspects of Navajo culture as well. Witherspoon and Peterson (1995) have identified these principles as dynamic symmetry and holistic asymmetry.

The meaning of these terms are not immediately apparent and require some explanation. Taking the latter first (holistic asymmetry), the first thing to realize is that, in this context, asymmetry implies "not a lack of symmetry or correspondence of form but an inversion of form or orientation" (Witherspoon and Peterson 1995: 24). The human body, for instance, has parts that are identical (or nearly identical), such as the eyes, which display "regular" symmetry, but it also has parts that are inverted with respect to each other, such as the hands and feet, which therefore exhibit asymmetry in the sense intended here. Holistic asymmetry, then, is a coming together of opposing but complementary parts to make a whole. To state it another way, a holistic asymmetry is a binary pair of complementary opposites. Such pairs which are familiar to everyone and which also feature prominently in Navajo thinking include male/female, night/day, and earth/sky. The widely recognized Chinese T'ai-chi T'u symbol, which depicts the opposing but complementary forces of yin and yang, also demonstrates this principle (Witherspoon and Peterson 1995: 25).

Holistic asymmetry in turn creates dynamic symmetry: "[b]inary pairs constitute polarized aspects of a single phenomenon. The polarized differences create a fertile and dynamic ebb and flow of contrast and complementarity" (Witherspoon and Peterson 1995: 24). Certain opposing qualities create a back-and-forth, give-and-take motion that is highly regular on a larger scale but which may be variable on a smaller scale. For instance, summer always gives way to winter and vice versa, but the temperatures and types of precipitation that occur during this changeover vary considerably from year to year.

Let us now consider how Yeibichai songs in particular exhibit these types of symmetry. (See Figure 1 for details concerning the songs discussed here.) An important holistic asymmetry in Navajo thinking is inner/outer (Witherspoon and Peterson 1995: 75), or, to state it differently, center/periphery. Yeibichai songs are characterized by insistent repetitions of a home or baseline pitch, punctuated regularly by upward excursions in pitch space. A spectrogram of Song No. 1 makes this structure immediately apparent (see Figure 2). The baseline pitch does not deviate from a hypothetical horizontal line that could be drawn all the way through it (except for the inevitable upward-sweeping vocal preparations and downward-sweeping dropoffs which happen in a very short span of time). The baseline pitches express "center" and the upward pitch excursions express "periphery". An auditory inspection of the other songs reveals that this general arrangement holds true for them as well. Song No. 2 also dips below the baseline from time to time, but these valleys are briefer, less active, and less distant from the center compared to the peaks.

In some Yeibichai songs, the center/periphery distinction is reinforced with vocal timbre. A distinctive feature of some Yeibichai songs is the use of "falsetto", an upper vocal register that, in men, has a noticeably different sound quality than the normal singing voice. But the high-energy, full-force nature of Yeibichai falsetto (which typically makes a strong impression on observers) suggests that simply "head voice", standing in contrast to "chest voice", would be a more appropriate term. Not all Yeibichai songs use head voice, but in those that do, it is the "tumbling strains" (upward excursions in peripheral pitch space) that are delivered in head voice and the baseline pitches that are delivered in chest voice. Thus the chest-voice/head-voice pair can be mapped onto center/periphery. Songs 2, 3, 4, and 8 use both chest and head voice in this way, but Songs 1, 5, 6, 7, and 9 do not. Of those that do not, Song No. 1 is delivered entirely in head voice (the only one I have encountered like this) while the others are delivered all in chest voice.

The baseline vs. tumbling strain contrast discussed above can also be interpreted as a manifestation of another fundamental holistic asymmetry, namely stasis and motion. In fact, "static and active seem to be the most fundamental observation in the Navajo view and classification of the world" (Witherspoon and Peterson 1995: 19; emphasis mine). Furthermore, "all matter and being have a dualistic nature: static and active. The assumption that underlies this dualistic aspect of all being and existence is that the world is in motion, that things are constantly undergoing processes of transformation, deformation, and restoration, and that the essence of life and being is movement" (Witherspoon 1977: 48). In terms of pitch, the baseline exhibits stasis, never deviating from its central place in pitch space; the tumbling strains are the paragon of motion, moving restlessly through pitch space. In Song No. 1, the tumbling strains never establish perceptually stable pitch areas. Some of the other Yeibichai songs do have localized, stable pitch areas within the tumbling strains, but the melody moves through them quickly and they do not begin to rival the baseline for centrality.

The lack of stable pitch in the tumbling strains of Song No. 1, or, to use other words, the continuously-variable pitch of these tumbling strains, can be demonstrated with an objective pitch transcription (objective in the sense that the subjective human perceptual system is taken out of the process). The most efficient means of producing such a transcription at the present time is through computerized analysis of a digitally sampled sound signal. The computer program Sigmund (Will and Martin 1998) was designed for just this purpose. It moves beyond the resolution limitations imposed by Fourier (spectrogram) analysis, which must always make a trade-off between accuracy in the time domain and accuracy in the pitch domain. Sigmund makes pitch measurements by determining the periodicity of the signal from instant to instant; that is, it calculates pitch (frequency in Hz) by measuring the distance between successive cycles (zero-crossings of the waveform). Figure 3 shows a graph of frequency measurements obtained with Sigmund of two instances of tumbling strains, with the preceding, succeeding, and intervening baseline. (In the structural analysis still to come, these two types of tumbling strain are labelled as motifs d and f respectively, with d being the shorter. In Figure 3, an instance of f precedes an instance of d.) The juxtaposition of stasis in and motion through pitch space should be clear.

Another method of objective pitch transcription of which I recently became aware is a certain autocorrelation algorithm developed by Paul Boersma (1993) and implemented in his computer application for phonetics, Praat (Boersma 2001). Figure 4 and Figure 5 present graphs of motifs d and f respectively, produced with this method; the correspondence of contour with the motifs in Figure 3 is encouraging. The unmodified graphs (top panels) have eliminated the obvious outliers but retain some of the jitter and "fuzziness" seen in Figure 3. Praat provides a process for smoothing pitch contours within a specified frequency bandwidth; the bottom panels of Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the results of this process. On the one hand the smoothing process falsifies to a certain extent the actual measurements of the sampled sound, but on the other hand the smoothed graphs might be a closer correlate of subjective pitch perception because they reduce the largely imperceptible vocal jitter as well as many of the artifacts of interference between the two voices. It would seem that both manners of presentation have their benefits, and that both taken in conjunction will yield a more complete picture of pitch contour.

The continuously-variable nature of the pitch contour of the tumbling strains is obvious, but a few spots could potentially be interpreted as very localized, stable pitch areas (such as the spot marked by the arrow in Figure 4a). This would not, however, falsify the idea that baseline/tumbling-strain can be mapped onto the stasis/motion asymmetry; recall that other Yeibichai songs do make use of localized, stable pitch areas within tumbling strains. The presence of "centers of gravity" in pitch space can be explored by constructing histograms of the frequency measurements. Figure 6a shows what one would expect: a prominent peak corresponding to the baseline pitch, with the remaining measurements spread fairly evenly among the upper frequencies, notwithstanding the possibility of local peaks. The upper span is given "close-up" treatment in Figure 6b, which confirms the existence of some local peaks. These local peaks may be the result of localized stable pitch areas within the tumbling strains, or perhaps of some secondary "centers of gravity" in the pitch domain, or perhaps of both.

To indulge in a methodological tangent for a moment, it will be interesting to compare the periodicity method (Sigmund) and the autocorrelation method (Praat) of frequency measurement. Figures 7a and 7b show histograms constructed from frequency data produced by Praat. As with the Sigmund histograms, a prominent peak towers above a plain of upper frequencies which is interrupted by a few small, local peaks. Since the two methods produced different numbers of data points, however, it was not possible to compare them directly in a formal statistical manner. To get around this, I used the Humdrum Toolkit (Huron 1995) to round each frequency measurement, in both the Sigmund and Praat data sets, to the nearest chromatic pitch name, and then to tally the number of occurrences of each pitch name. Discarding obvious outliers, I was left with two pitch-name inventories with an equivalent number of points, which could be directly compared by means of a correlation calculation. I found an extremely close correlation of +0.99, which attests to the accuracy of Boersma's autocorrelation method. Figure 8 presents the pitch-name inventories in graphical form; the counts are expressed as percentages of the total.

The tension between the two poles of the holistic asymmetry complex discussed above (center/periphery, motion/stasis, head-voice/chest-voice, stable/unstable) gives rise to an "ebb and flow" that is expressed in the dynamically symmetrical phrase structure of Yeibichai songs. As the first step toward a structural analysis of Song No. 1, I prepared a transcription of it in standard Western notation (see Figure 9). I do not claim that my transcription represents the emic meaning or essence of the song, nor even that it accurately captures all of the significant features of the song. (For example, Western notation is wholly inadequate for the representation of continuously-variable pitch, which, as we have seen, plays such a critical role in the Yeibichai songs.) The purpose of the transcription, rather, is to put the song into my own etic mental space so that I may perform the mental operations necessary for a structural analysis.

With transcription in hand, it becomes possible to break down the song into its component parts or motifs (see Figure 10). Someone else might have legitimately divided up the song differently, but my guiding principle was to find the indivisible parts, i. e., those rhythmic-melodic-verbal elements that never occur apart from each other. While this atomistic procedure flies in the face of the Navajo passion for synthesis and holism, it does allow us to witness how the components are (re)integrated, and thereby to witness an expression of Navajo aesthetics. Having identified the indivisible motifs, it is a simple enough procedure to lay out the order in which they occur in the song. Figure 11 does this three times over in order to demonstrate dynamically symmetrical structures ocurring on different levels.

Three types of dynamic symmetry can be identified from Figure 11: overlapping or interlocking segments, repetition with variation, and progressive development. Considering Level 1 (smaller-scale symmetries) of Figure 11, we can see that exact repetitions of segments with no overlap or interlock do occur, such as at the outset with A (a b3). But we can also observe overlapping segments: B (c d e) is stated and repeated, but the (d e) of the repetition also begins another segment, C (d e f d g), which is itself repeated later. Level 2 (larger-scale symmetries) shows an example of interlocking segments, E and E' (the two halves of the song). The last motif (b3) of the first half (E) is already the second motif of the second half (E').

Repetition with variation occurs when a certain segment is repeated with changes in some motifs. This type of dynamic symmetry can be seen on Level 2 between D and D', and also between the two largest segmentations, E and E'. In the latter case, subtle alterations of certain motifs (i. e., e' and f') render E' just slightly different than E. With motif f (an expanded tumbling strain), the singers modify it slightly with a short glottal-stop interruption at the outset. (In the second instance of f', it sounds to me as if one of the singers forgets to make the modification; or, conceivably, that the other of them forgets not to make it.)

Finally, Level 3 reveals a process of progressive development in which subjective perceptual segments are expanded and elaborated upon. This is shown with the numbered segments that gradually increase in length. Each numbered segment uses some, but not all, of the motifs from the previous numbered segment, interpersing the previously-heard motifs with new ones. For example, segment 2 reuses a from segment 1, but prepends b3; segment 3 begins like segment 2 but then moves on to new material; and so on. To speak of it in terms discussed earlier, the music moves progressively from the center (old material) toward the periphery (new material), with some of the old material flowing into the new. After expanding to the extreme periphery in segment 5, the song performs the process once more all over again.

To non-Navajo or "Anglo" ears, the song breaks off abruptly. It gives this impression because it ends with material (a b3 ) that in every other instance is followed immediately (without rests) by more material. However, with this final statement, the structure of the song is perfected; any additional material would imperfect the song and thus render it ineffectual. (The power that a song derives from its proper structure is an idea that will be discussed in more depth later). The only concession to finality is a brief, concluding rattle tremolo.

Of these three types of dynamic symmetry which I have proposed for this song, perhaps the progressive development type would spark the most disagreement from others. While it rests on my own subjective perception, I believe it is valid. I would not be surprised, however, if different people heard different motivic groupings. Likewise I would not be surprised if further pondering of this song's structure would reveal additional dynamic symmetries.

One additional dynamic symmetry awaits revelation, and it returns us from large scale structure back to individual motifs. Looking again at Figure 5b (a pitch transcription of motif f), we see a series of three, possibly four, rounded peaks that get progressively lower and narrower. The same vocal gesture is being repeated at a decreasing pitch and in a shrinking span of time (i. e., faster). The same process can be observed in motif d (Figure 4), but to a lesser extent; indeed motif f is but an expanded version of motif d.

Now that we have considered the music on its own terms, let us expand our field of vision to consider how Yeibichai songs figure in the Nightway ceremonial and how they are related to Yeibichai dancing.

The Navajo practice a complex system of ceremonials known as Chantways. These are divided into three major categories: Holyways, Evilways, and Lifeways. Nightway belongs to the Holyway class, meaning that it is intended to attract good (as opposed to repelling evil, as in Evilways). At one time, as many as a few dozen different Chantways existed, but at present, less than ten are practiced on a regular basis. The overarching purpose of all Chantways is to restore hózhó. "For the Navajo, hózhó expresses the intellectual notion of order, the emotional state of happiness, the physical state of health, the moral condition of good, and the aesthetic dimension of harmony. . . Hózhó is the grand metaphor by which the Navajo understand the world and their place within it" (Witherspoon and Peterson 1995: 15). Illness is thought to be caused by a disruption in hózhó, which may occur as a result of a person's erroneous behavior or thinking. A restoration of hózhó will therefore effect a cure; for this reason the various Chantways are also described as curing ceremonies in the literature.

Hózhó is created or restored through ritual action, of which there can be many varieties or components within a given Chantway. Each Chantway possesses its own unique sequence of events, but common components among them can be identified. Figure 12 lists some of the various kinds of ritual action, and also when they are likely to occur. Depending on the severity of the situation, the ceremonial may be performed in two-night, five-night, or nine-night versions. The full-blown nine-night version of Nightway, for instance, involves considerable preparation and expense. Yeibichai dancing and singing occurs on the last night of the full Nightway, with a "dress rehearsal" the night before and short previews earlier on.

Figure 12 does not mention singing specifically, but it should be understood that all of the various types of ritual action are inevitably accompanied by singing. Song is the common thread throughout the ceremonial complex. The importance of song can be seen in the fact that many ceremonial practitioners (hataalii, directors of the ceremonial) prefer to be called "Chanters" or "Singers" in English, although they are also referred to as "Medicine Men" in the literature. In addition, casual terms for the Chantway itself include "Chant" and "Sing". Wyman (1983: 550) sums up the situation well: "Singing accompanies nearly every act and in Navajo thought it is the one indispensable part of any ceremonial; without it there can be no cure, indeed no chantway." Likewise McAllester helps us understand the importance of singing (and related activities): "Motion is a key to sacred power in Navajo thought. Wind is the basic metaphor of the power of motion. Speech, song, and prayer are wind in motion shaped by the added power of human articulation" (McAllester 1979: 31-32; see also Griffin-Pierce 1992: 72-73).

The various Chantways are seen as reenacting an event from the distant past in which Holy People (gods, Diyiin Diné) showed Earth Surface People (humans, Diné) how to perform a ceremonial in order to restore hózhó. The legends often detail the quest of a particular human hero which culminates in a meeting with Holy People. The person for whose benefit the Chantway is being performed (described as the "patient" or the "one-sung-over" in the literature) becomes identified with the legendary hero; the restorative power received by the hero from the gods thus flows into the one-sung-over as well.

According to Francis' informants, Nightway is the most powerful of the ceremonials; it also the most dangerous if performed improperly, for which reason numerous precautions and restrictions are observed (Francis 1997: 15). Improper ritual action destroys rather than restores hózhó, and can cause grave illness or other negative consequences. Nightway is performed during the winter months, after the first killing frost and ending before February 1. As one of the most important and frequently performed Chantways, Nightway has received its due share of attention from researchers during the entire 20th century (e. g., Matthews 1902, Faris 1990).

Yeibichai dancing and singing occurs throughout the ninth night of Nightway, and is the culmination of several days of building excitement. As a semi-public component of the ceremonial, it often attracts considerable numbers of people to witness it, including Anglos. A rehearsal without regalia or masks may take place on the eighth night, and shorter previews may occur on nights five through seven (Francis 1997: 92).

The term Yeibichai incorporates the idea of both gods and ancestors; the Navajo consider themselves to be related to Holy People through kinship ties. Yeibichai dancers don regalia and ceremonial masks (see Haile 1947) in order to imitate the appearance of the Yei. The Yei are a particular category of Holy People who, upon their Emergence (birth, creation) tried to speak but were unable to do so; they were only able to make inarticulate sounds. For this reason, the texts of Yeibichai songs consist largely of vocables (non-lexical syllables); some vocables are simply syllabic "placeholders" with no referent whatsoever; other vocables are intended as imitations of Yei calls (see Frisbie 1980). Yeibichai singers/dancers are also known as "God Impersonators": by resembling the Yei in both appearance and sound, and by demonstrating proper order (hózhó) in song and dance, the God Impersonators attract the presence of the actual Yei themselves, who are invisible but who nonetheless are never far removed from Earth Surface People. Thus the restorative power of the Yei is commandeered for the benefit of the one-sung-over.

Yeibichai dances fall into two basic categories, First Dances and Na'akai. First Dances use four or six men, who are usually apprentices of the Chanter (the professional ceremonial practitioner who guides the entire sequence of events). Na'akai feature teams of dancers, some of which have existed for decades and others of which form on an ad hoc basis. The long-term teams move around from Nightway to Nightway; any given Nightway might attract the participation of numerous teams. Between the First Dances and the Na'akai, they fill the entire night with dancing and singing, from a little while after sundown to sun-up.

First Dances, which, as the name implies, occur first in the evening and then not again, are considered the more serious of the two categories. Consequently greater concentration is given over to avoiding error; if an error is made, the entire ceremonial is cancelled, and considered invalid (Francis 1997: 148). The corresponding songs are performed in a slower tempo, about 78 beats per minute, according to Francis. Songs No. 4, 5, and 6 sound to be in this slower tempo, suggesting that they are First Dance songs, though they are not indicated as such in the recording annotations (Frisbie and McAllester 1992).

Na'akai dance songs are performed at a quicker tempo, at about 104 beats per minute, according to Francis. This observation is corroborated by my own tempo estimate of Song No. 1 (made before reading Francis), which was close to 100 beats per minute. Na'akai dances can be further divided into male-only and male/female categories. The former uses six men while the latter uses six men and six women (or six female impersonators), for a total of twelve. Both First Dances and Na'akai dances can be further categorized according to whether or not they incorporate optional Yei characters called "Talking God" and "Water Sprinkler"; the latter typically engages in humorous antics to provide some comic relief. (See Francis 1997: 91 for a grid laying out the various categories.)

McAllester (1971: 167) identifies one further subcategory of Yeibichai dances/songs, those which are to be performed at the end of the night as daylight approaches. He states that these Daylight songs fall into ternary meter, which creates a more animated and entertaining atmosphere that is appropriate for children. (According to Frisbie and McAllester 1992, our Song No. 9 is supposed to be sung toward dawn. Puzzlingly, it is not performed in a ternary meter.) With the exception of Daylight songs, all Yeibichai songs feature a simple binary meter.

All Yeibichai dances begin with a formal opening:

This description of the formal opening of the dance explains the sounds heard at the beginning of our collection of songs. (Unfortunately, the efforts of the recording engineers to reduce noise have rendered the initial rattle tremolos of songs 4-7 very faint.) A few of the songs, including No. 1, do not begin with the vocal call described above.

All Yeibichai dances also include stationary segments:

After the formal opening and stationary segment, First Dances proceed to a moving segment which consists of rotating in place:

By constrast, Na'akai dances proceed to a travelling segment:

Six-man Na'akai dances have just one line travelling in a clockwise direction, as described above; in the twelve-person male/female version of the dance, a second parallel line of dancers creates a mirror image of the first line. Having said all this, the meaning of na'akai­"groups moving here and there" (Haile 1947: 73)­should come as no surprise.

The basic dance sequence (formal opening, stationary segment, rotating or travelling segment) is repeated four times. The resultant four-part segment is itself repeated four times, constituting a full performance, after which a new dance/song begins.

A number of insights can be gained from these descriptions of the dances. The first and most apparent is that the dances are divided into stationary and moving sections­another manifestation of the holistic asymmetry of stasis/motion discussed earlier. In First Dances, the correspondence between rotation and rattle tremolo (active), and stepping-in-place and steady rattle beat (static), reinforces this notion. With regard to Na'akai dances, a telling clue comes from Francis' statement that "[w]hen the singing changes to falsetto, the circuit begins". We already saw how the falsetto (head voice) / chest voice distinction mirrors the static and active portions of the song; thus we also now see how the active portions of both the song and dance are linked together. It is not clear from Francis' descriptions if there is an exact correspondence between travelling parts of the dances and the (head-voice) tumbling strains of the songs; in fact, it seems that the brevity of some tumbling strains would not give sufficient time to complete the travelling motion of the dance. At any rate, the travelling part at least begins on the first shift into head voice, lending additional support to our earlier interpretation which mapped baseline/tumblng-strain and chest-voice/head-voice onto stasis/motion.

The above dance descriptions also attest to certain symbolisms that are not directly related to song. The travelling portions of Na'akai dances inscribe an open circle on the dance field. Open circles recur as a motif in Navajo ceremonialism; closed circles can be dangerous because they leave no room for evil to exit or good to enter (Reichard 1950: 89-90). In addition, all rotational motion (formal opening, First Dance rotation, Na'akai circuit) occurs in a sunwise (clockwise) direction. (The only exception comes in the twelve-person, male/female Na'akai dance form in which the second line moves in a counter-sunwise circuit to balance out the first line.) In general, sunwise motion is considered to be the proper order of things. In the formal opening and in the First Dance rotation, the four cardinal directions are marked. Quadrilateral symmetry (of which the cardinal directions are an example) and the number four hold great symbolic significance. It is not surprising, then, that dance segments are performed in groups of four.

It should be observed that "static" does not necessarily mean motionless. In the stationary parts of the dances, the dancers continue with a slight bobbing motion, and in the baseline-pitch parts of the songs, the rhythms and vocables vary. It seems that "stasis" should be viewed as a sort of living, pulsing stasis that does not contradict the fundamental reality of the cosmos in continual motion in the Navajo worldview. Perhaps the pair "unchanging/changing" captures the concept more accurately.

A few additional items concerning the role and status of Yeibichai songs and dances must be mentioned. The structure of the dances is passed down by tradition and can not be varied. Likewise, the First Dance songs are traditional and do not change. The na'akai category, however, allows for additions to the repertoire. The repertoire of a Yeibichai team will typically consist of some songs which have been handed down and some which have been composed anew by one of the team members (Francis 1997: 107).

While both song and dance demonstrate proper order and thereby contribute to the restoration of hózhó, song seems to carry a greater status or weight in this regard. When queried about the meaning of specific dance movements, one of Francis' informants said, "ÔYou know, it's not the movement that's important­it's the song'" (Francis 1997: 77).

Given the importance placed on correct performance, one might be surprised to learn of the seemingly casual attitude exhibited toward certain kinds of details. For instance, while the dancers do strive to coordinate their motions, a certain amount of discoordination or individual variation is not considered disastrous (Francis 1997: 120). The same might be said of the singing: while Song No. 1 does sound quite polished, some other songs sound a little more ragged. If we add to this observation the facts that a given song may change over time (Faris 1990) and that any team member can compose a new song, we might be left with the impression that correct performance actually matters very little. The resolution to this apparent contradiction lies in what Faris (1990: 106) calls the "ever-changing/never-changing dialectic". While the surface details change from song to song and from time to time, the underlying principles of organization manifested by those details remain forever and always the same. Some of those underlying principles were illuminated earlier in the analysis of Song No. 1.

In lieu of a fuller discussion of "mythology, cosmology, language, and material arts" as promised above, and since these topics are covered admirably elsewhere (notably Reichard 1950, Witherspoon 1977, Griffin-Pierce 1992, and Witherspoon and Peterson 1995), I will offer a brief discussion of aesthetic linkages that can be made between Yeibichai songs and Navajo material arts, based on an example of sandpainting and on one of weaving.

Sandpainting should not be viewed as an "art" in the normal sense, but rather as one of the various types of ritual action in the Chantways. Emphasizing process over product, sandpainters simply sweep away hours of painstaking work when the purpose of the sandpainting has been accomplished. (In recent decades, though, permanent, board-mounted sandpaintings with modified designs have been produced for a wider commercial art market; see Parezo 1983). With powdered pigments of various colors (including many materials apart from just sand), sandpainters create a design on the floor of the ceremonial hooghan (traditional Navajo dwelling). When completed, the patient sits directly atop the sandpainting while the Chanter sings appropriate curative songs. Various sandpainting designs incorporate depictions of Holy People, sacred crops (corn, beans, squash, and tobacco), and many other symbols. Many sandpaintings display radial and/or quadrilateral symmetry, as well as aspects of holistic asymmetry and dynamic symmetry.

Figure 13 presents a recreation of a sandpainting drawn from Witherspoon and Peterson (1995). Its basic design is of the "Whirling Logs" variety, which also names one of the branches of Nightway practice (see Faris 1990). The center/periphery asymmetry is immediately apparent. Four "logs" (black bars) radiate outward from the center in the cardinal directions, and four cornstalks (colored in the four sacred Navajo colors) radiate in the intercardinal directions. Upon the logs stand identical pairs of Yei, identified as such by the sprigs of spruce and the gourd rattles clutched in their hands. Finally, two pairs of Holy People frame the entire composition. The rounded backs of the horned gods to the North and South (see the compass in the upper left corner) give a suggestion of circularity to the composition. (In some other designs, circularity is much more prominent.) These North/South gods are identical, but the East/West gods appropriately express the asymmetries of white/black and day/night. Finally, the overall dynamic symmetry of the design addresses the challenge of representing motion in a still picture. The large black arrows at the North and South indicate continuous rotation of the entire design (in the sunwise direction, of course). The pairs of Yei are not so much four distinct pairs but one pair at four points in time. (I have no explanation for the apparently headless arrow at the West.) In summary, the features of this sandpainting combine the central/peripheral and static/active dualities into a picture of continuous motion in a manner reminiscent of the Yeibichai songs.

For the second example, consider Figure 14, a Navajo woven rug. The main figure in this composition is that of a diamond, a common cultural motif which expresses quadrilateral symmetry and all else that that implies. Diamonds of various sizes are placed on a solid red background. The resulting pattern possesses bilateral symmetry on both the vertical and the horizontal axis. The incomplete diamonds all around the edges imply that this pattern continues infinitely; this rug is but a window onto a ubiquitous pattern. The many individual components merge into a single visual impression. Speaking of Navajo woven compositions in general, Witherspoon and Peterson (1995: 74) state that a typical design "reduces compositional parts and integrates them into summative wholes. This is often achieved by the addition of repetitious parts that together form all-over patterns. Summative wholes and all-over patterns possess the qualities of simplicity, clarity, directness, and immediacy." Yeibichai songs achieve similar effects by placing a small number of motifs (tumbling strains) in recurring patterns against a background of stable pitch. A glance back at the spectrogram in Figure 2 will confirm this point: Song No. 1 places motifs d d f d in sequence and repeats that sequence four times over. (Recall also that f is the same "shape" as d, but expanded.) In addition, the abrupt end of the song with a b3 is reminiscent of the incomplete diamonds at the edges of the woven composition in Figure 14.

In summary, the goal of illuminating some aspects of the inner workings of Navajo Yeibichai songs, and of thereby situating them more firmly in their ceremonial, aesthetic, and cultural contexts, has been achieved. The quotation which begins this paper claims that material works of art "express the essence of being Navajo"; clearly the same can be said of the Yeibichai songs as well.

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Bibliography

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Faris, James C. (1990). The Nightway: A History and a History of Documentation of a Navajo Ceremonial. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Francis, Sandra T. (1997). The Y'e'ii bicheii Dancing of Nightway: An Examination of the Role of Dance in a Navajo Healing Ceremony. Ph. D. thesis: The Ohio State University.

Frisbie, Charlotte J. (1980). "Vocables in Navajo Ceremonial Music", Ethnomusicology 24/3: 347-392.

Frisbie, Charlotte J., and McAllester, David. (1992). Annotations to Navajo Songs. Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings SF 40403. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian. Distributed by Rounder Records.

Griffin-Pierce, Trudy. (1992). Earth is My Mother, Sky is My Father: Space, Time, and Astronomy in Navajo Sandpainting. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Haile, Father Berard. (1938). "Navaho Chantways and Ceremonials", American Anthropologist 40/4: 639-652.

Haile, Father Berard. (1947). Head and Face Masks in Navajo Ceremonialism. St. Michaels, AZ: St. Michaels Press.

Matthews, Washington. (1896). Navaho Legends. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Reprinted Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994.

Matthews, Washington. (1902). "The Night Chant: A Navajo Ceremony" in Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History VI. New York: Knickerbocker Press.

McAllester, David P. (1971). Review of Night and Daylight Yeibichei. Ethnomusicology 15/2: 167-170.

McAllester, David P. (1979). "A Paradigm of Navajo Dance", Parabola 4/2: 28-35.

McAllester, David P., and Mitchell, Douglas F. (1983). "Navajo Music" in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 10. Alfonso Ortiz, ed. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution: 605-623.

Parezo, Nancy J. (1983). Navajo Sandpainting: From Religious Act to Commercial Art. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

Reichard, Gladys. (1950). Navajo Religion: A Study of Symbolism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Witherspoon, Gary. (1977). Language and Art in the Navajo Universe. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Witherspoon, Gary, and Peterson, Glen. (1995). Dynamic Symmetry and Holistic Asymmetry in Navajo and Western Art and Cosmology. New York: Peter Lang.

Wyman, Leland C. (1983). "Navajo Ceremonial System" in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 10. Alfonso Ortiz, ed. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution: 536-557.

Discography

Music of the Sioux and the Navajo. (1949). Ethnic Folkways Library Album No. FE 4401. New York: Folkways Records.

Music of the American Indians of the Southwest. (1951). Ethnic Folkways Library Album No. FE 4420. New York: Folkways Records.

Navajo Songs. (1992). Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings SF 40403. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian. Distributed by Rounder Records.

Titon, Jeff Todd, ed. (1996). Recorded selections to accompany Worlds of Music, 3rd ed. New York: Schirmer Books. Used by permission from Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture 12" LP, AFS L41. Washington, D. C.: n. d.

Computer software

Boersma, Paul. (2001). Praat, version 3.9.30. Copyright 1992-2001, Paul Boersma and David Weenink.

Will, Udo, and Martin, Mark. (1998). Sigmund, version 1.0a. Portions copyright 1989-1998, Water's Edge Software.

Huron, David. (1995). The Humdrum Toolkit: Reference Manual. Stanford, California: Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities.

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