American Indian Music: More Than Just Flutes and Drums: A Guide to American Indian Music

The goal of American Indian Music: More Than Just Drums and Flutes is to assist Montana teachers in incorporating an appreciation for Indian music into music and social studies curricula to meet Indian Education for All criteria.

This handbook looks at the history and development of Indian music from the traditional to the contemporary and explores a broad spectrum of American Indian music – including drums and flutes-- ranging from blues to folk, country to gospel, and heavy metal to hip-hop. Neither teacher nor student will be able to think of Indian music as simply drums or flutes and longer; they will realize that Indian musicians are creating sounds in many genres.

Topics in this handbook include traditional forms of music associated with several larger culture regions on Indian America at the time of first recorded European contact; the development of contemporary Indian music by genre; how Indian music record companies and the Native American Music Association (presenters of the annual Nammys) influence the development of Indian music; and how internet tools such as CD Baby and MySpace are allowing once relatively segregated musicians on reservations to share their music with the global community.

The print copy of this item is accompanied by an audio CD with a selection of American Indian music.