The Maidu Indians live in the northern Sierra Nevadas of California and in the adjacent Sacramento Valley. Anthropologists have divided the Maidu who live in the Sierra Nevadas into three major groups: the Mountain Maidu, who live along the edges of mixed coniferous forests in what now is Plumas and part of Lassen County; the Concow, who live in the foothills and mountains of Butte County; and the Nisenan who live in the oak parklands of Yuba, Placer, Sacramento, Nevada, and parts of Sierra and El Dorado Counties.

For many thousands of years the Maidu lived in the same place. Their way of life changed but slowly. The great stability and depth of the Maidu material culture, coupled with the simplicity of their musical instruments and their relative isolation in the vastness of the Sierras, suggests that Maidu music reaches deep into mankind's archaic past.

Maidu singers generally use a relaxed and nonpulsating vocal technique. And, compared with Native American songs from other musical areas, they sing large amounts of music with an unchanging beat and with a simple rhythmic organization. The music also has characteristic sequences and syncopations. A rise, a section of song with a higher pitch–a kind of musical plateau–can be heard in some of the songs. This rise can be one of three varieties: 1) no higher than the rest of the song but the melodic movement stays around the high tone of the range already established, 2) both higher and different from the nonrise part of the song, and 3) a transposition, frequently of an octave or a perfect fifth, of the non-rise part of the song. The scale of Maidu music is the series of pitches actually used that are not duplicated in another octave. Most Maidu songs, moreover, have a small range, averaging only five or six tones, many less. Maidu songs from the adjacent Sacramento Valley, studied by Densmore, resembled other Native American songs in beginning in double time, but she found that they have a more direct attack in that a larger portion begin on the accented part of the measure.

The basic vehicle of Maidu music is the human voice. But Maidu songs are frequently accompanied by one or more musical instruments. Some of these musical instruments unfortunately are no longer being played. These discarded instruments include the hunting bow, which was reportedly tapped with an arrow; a skin drum, which the Concow stretched between tree branches; a bullroarer, which the Concow used to cause snow to fall; a flageolet or elder flute, which the Maidu played for amusement; baskets which were either drummed or scraped (the Maidu were fine basketmakers), and abalone shell pendants, which were worn on certain dance outfits and made a fine tinkling noise. The Maidu also quit using birdbone whistles and the footdrum, but these have recently been reintroduced by the Maidu themselves (Band 8, song 1). They have retained, however, most of their idiophones, which combine in one element the properties of vibrators and resonators. These include clappers, rasps, rattles, sticks, jingles and so on. There has also been some borrowing of occidental musical instruments; namely the fiddle and guitar, both of which on occasion have been used to play Maidu tunes.

At the time the songs in this record were collected (1965-74), most of the singers lived in scattered houses in the mountains. Some, however, lived in towns and cities adjacent to the Sierras. All of the Maidu now speak English fluently.

Many of the younger singers take shortcuts in the words of the songs and leave out the "Indian twists." But this is not so important, as many Maidu songs never had meaningful words-and many other songs had archaic words whose meanings were known only to a few. In other words, the songs can exert the same effect upon an English-speaking person as they can upon a person who speaks fluent Maidu. The full effects of the music can only be gained by performing it, however.

A good singer, the Maidu believe, should be able to sing both high and low and be able to produce a musical tone like a bell ringing. They should be able to sing loudly for a long time also. The old-time singers sing from deep within their chests rather than higher up in their throats as singers often do in recent years. Maidu songs usually have a slow beat. But, in recent years, the singers have tended to sing faster. Nonetheless, Maidu music yet has a distinct stamp that differentiates it from the music of any other peoples. After 125 years of repression, the Maidu are still singing. And it is certainly possible that four thousand years from now people in the Sierras will still sing homage to the acorn.


CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MUSICIANS

When the animals were still people, the Mountain Maidu say, they all had a singing contest to find out who was the best singer. It turned out that Humans sang the best. And so it is today.

Tom Epperson. (Born about 1886). Raised by his grandparents, who lived an essentially stone age existence. Tom was generally recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of the Mountain Maidu. Tom was an intelligent and pragmatic man with a wide knowledge of the old ways in
the Sierras.

Herb Young. (Born about 1900). An old-time doctor named Shem Taylor held a contest between Herb Young and Ernest Baker to find the best singer. He decided Herb sang better than Ernest. So when Shem died Herb got his shamans rattle. Herb said if you sing any Maidu song long enough spirits will begin coming to you and you will get the power. But some songs work better-they are faster. He sang one of his songs for two or three hours every morning, beginning in the fall of the year. By the next spring he began to get results.

Bill Baker. (Born about 1910). His brother Ernest did become a doctor. Bill's father was a doctor, his grandfather too. Bill is an intelligent, happy-go-lucky man who still carries the old Maidu spirit and speaks Maidu fluently.

Jasper Peconom. (Born about 1900). jasper's parents were Maidu but his stepmother was a Pit River doctor-woman, and he knew many Pit River songs also. Jasper used to sing:

I tried to climb the mountain,
But the mountain was too high.
So I stuck my hand in an eagle's nest
To hear the little ones cry.

Marie Potts. (Born about 1895). A good teacher and an intelligent woman, Marie is well known in Sacramento for her efforts to teach the Maidu way. Marie is a basket maker whose children and grandchildren sing and perform many of the traditional Maidu songs and dances.

(Upper Feather River)

Rex Edwards. (Born about 1890). His singing has affinities to that of Bryon Beavers, and they used to sing together. Rex was a retired logger who spoke fluent Maidu.

Starry Potts. (Born about 1890). Starry was the sister of Rex Edwards and no blood relative to Marie. She lived in a tiny trailer parked alongside the highway. Sometimes she sang as she worked in the trailer, but only after looking about to be sure no one could hear her.

Bryon Beavers. (Born about 1900). Bryon was born under unusual circumstances in the French Creek area. While Bryon's grandmother dug mushrooms with a digging stick, she inadvertently unearthed her grandson. As she trudged back to camp, Bryon kicked some mushrooms out of her basket, and she first noticed him. Bryon was a suicide beetle too--one of those beedes that fly into trees and knocks itself down, one that has rainbow colored wings. Byron's brother, Chelekto, is another kind of beetle. And his grandmother discovered him as he was being drug out of her yard by a huge black ant, clasping his ear. The old people trained Bryon to be one of those kinds of people who made everyone laugh. Then the old world came apart so much there was no longer a need for that kind of a person. So Bryon became a logger and a fiddle player. In later years he lived in an isolated cabin in the bottom of the Feather River Canyon. While he was young, an old woman told him he wood die at the age of seventy. Shortly after he turned seventy he fell and injured his back. In the hospital room he said he could see spirits crowded all about the room, waiting to take him away. After about a week he died. henwakano wano kawanasup

Alta Fitch. (Born in 1896). Alta, a friendly woman with a strong personality, likes to go to grass games and loves to sing her people's songs. Alta knows many old Concow songs Her parents told her not to speak Maidu but she went ahead and spoke it anyway.

(Bald Rock)

Leland Scott. (Yewope). (Born about 1900). Leland was the grandson of Oregon City Charlie, a famous shaman, who raised Leland. Leland picked fruit and hops in the summer, and in the winter he lived in an isolated cabin located a couple of miles from where he was born. He was too poor to have children. If he got sick, why he just had to "tough it out."

Frank Day. (Born about 1902). His father was one of the last Captains (headmen) of the Concow. Frank also has affinities with the Miwok, immediately to the south of the Maidu. Frank has been teaching the younger people in the Sacramento area traditional songs and dances. When I first visited Frank, he was sitting in his darkened house, singing to himself.