Arapaho music facts for kids

The Arapaho are a group of Native American people. They come from the western Great Plains, which is an area in eastern Colorado and Wyoming. Traditional Arapaho music includes both sacred (religious) and everyday songs.

Arapaho songs often have a special way the melody moves, like stepping down a staircase. These songs usually have two parts. Each part covers a wide range of notes, more than an octave (like going from one C note to the next C note on a piano). Their songs often use scales with four to six different notes.

Sun Dance Ceremony

The Arapaho Sun Dance is a very important ceremony. It happens in the summer when different Arapaho groups gather together. This ceremony helps warriors on a special journey to receive a vision. During this vision, they hope to gain a guardian spirit.

There are also Arapaho folk songs that are taught by these guardian spirits. These special songs are usually only sung when a person is close to death.

Everyday Music

Arapaho everyday songs are quite varied. They include many different round dances, which often have a triple beat (like a waltz). There are also songs for the snake dance and the turtle dance. The rabbit dance is a partner dance that became popular after Europeans arrived.

Besides dances, Arapaho music also features lullabies for babies, children's songs, war songs, songs about history, and courtship songs used when people are looking for a partner.

Ghost Dance Songs

The Ghost Dance was a religion that came to the Arapaho from tribes further west in the 1880s. Music was a very important part of the Ghost Dance. People sang many folk songs during these ceremonies. Even after the movement ended, many of these songs were still remembered and sung for a long time.

Peyote Ceremony Music

Peyote is a type of cactus that grows naturally in Mexico. Parts of this cactus were, and still are, used in religious ceremonies by local tribes. Over time, Peyote ceremonies spread north and east. They reached the Apache tribes in the 1700s and then most other tribes in North America.

Peyote songs are sung during these ceremonies. These songs are quite similar across all the areas where Peyote is used for religious purposes. They sound a lot like traditional songs from the Plains area. However, they have a fast rhythm, often using two main note lengths, like quarter and eighth notes in Western music. These songs also use special sounds called vocables, which are syllables that don't have a specific meaning. They also have special sounds at the end of musical phrases and at the very end of the song.