The importance of keeping a beat: Researchers link ability to keep a beat to reading, language skills

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-importance-link-ability-language-skills.html

The study—the first to provide biological evidence linking the ability to keep a beat to the neural encoding of speech sounds—has significant implications for reading, according to Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory.  Previous investigations found a link between reading ability and beat-keeping, says Kraus in a study published in the Sept. 18 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Previous research has established a link between reading ability and neural response consistency. "By directly linking auditory responses with beat-keeping ability, we have closed the triangle," Kraus says.

In a "brainwave test," the students were fitted with electrodes measuring the consistency of their brain response to a repeated syllable. Across the population, the more accurate the adolescents were at tapping along to the beat, the more consistent their brain response was to the speech syllable.  "This is supported biologically," Kraus says. "The brainwaves we measured originate from a biological hub of auditory processing with reciprocal connections with the motor-movement centers. An activity that requires coordination of hearing and movement is likely to rely on solid and accurate communication across brain regions."  Accurate beat-keeping's implications for reading and language skills simply make sense, according to the co-authors. "Rhythm is an integral part of both music and language," Kraus says. "And the rhythm of spoken language is a crucial cue to understanding."

Native American Languages: History, Reclamation, and Examples

We have a very different experience bring in our own country/on our own land and not allowed to speak our languages.  From Wikipedia: The Native American Languages Act of 1990 is the short cited title for executive order PUBLIC LAW 101-477 enacted by Congress on October 30, 1990. Public Law 101-477 of 1990 gave historical importance as repudiating past policies of eradicating Indian Languages by declaring as policy that Native Americans were entitled to use their own languages. The fundamental basis of the policy's declaration was that the United States "declares to preserve, protect and promote the rights and freedoms of Native Americans to use practice and develop Native American Languages". In addition, to "fully recognize the right of Indian Tribes and other Native American governing bodies, States, territories, and possessions of the United States to take action on, and give official status to their Native American languages for the purpose of conducting their own business".

Language reclamation is a big deal across nations.

Wampanoag
Wampanoag words in the English language
http://www.wlrp.org/
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/we-still-live-here/
http://ourmothertongues.org/language/Wampanoag/12

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/awakening-sleeping-language-cape-cod-wampanoag-language
Reclaiming the language
Wampanoag words/name on Cape Cod

Nipumuc http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/language_nipmuc

Narragansett https://www.facebook.com/narragansettlanguage

Abnaki http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/saints-and-strangers/articles/learning-the-language/

Pequot http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20030127/opinion/301279925

Taino http://www.taino-tribe.org/tedict.html
http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/puerto-rico/native-lingo

Historical Native American colleges
https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~rnelson/asail/mla.pdfhttp://cas.ou.edu/native-american-language-program

And then there is the interesting history piece - destroying the language

Code Talkers (many are from boarding schools where they were not allowed to speak their language) http://navajocodetalkers.org/
http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/navajacode.htm

Boarding Schools http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=airc_hist_boardingschools

http://www.pbs.org/indiancountry/history/boarding.html

And, developing the language

Cherokee/Sequoyah http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/History/Facts/SequoyahandtheCherokeeSyllabary.aspx
http://www.manataka.org/page81.html

And, being bilingual

Fighting for the right  http://m.learningenglish.voanews.com/a/navajos-study-to-save-their-language/2999599.html

Across generations http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2005/septemberoctober/feature/speaking-across-generations

Talibah Begay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDf8DNlFIX8

I Love You in multiple languages https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjtHXRyZhGs

Bilingual songs (I picked well known popular ones)

Sharon Burch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixmJMN9-gzM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTYEztN40K4

Walala https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqkpYgvIBtU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxdAqv5SnCg

Ulali https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEhhmDEfJ5s

Buffy St. Marie  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLCk066o9sU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWsGyNsw00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKmAb1gNN74

Kalolin Johnson/The Climb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDOn6CZJwxg

Christmas Native American Style

The Night Before Christmas

Stuck in the Smokehole if my Tipi (Careful, this tune is very catchy)

 

12 Days of Christmas

Jana Mashonee - Winter Wonderland (Sung in Ojibwe)

 

Jana Mashonee - Joy to the World (Sung in Chiricahua Apache)

Jana Mashonee - Hark The Herald Angels Sing (sung in Lakota)
 

Jana Mashonee - Little Drummer Boy (sung in San Juan Tewa Pueblo)

  

Jana Mashonee - Silent Night (Sung in Arapaho)

 

Indian Car

Indian Car

16 Year Old Dine Singer Who Uses Native American Sign Language

NAMA 2015

Native American Music Awards http://fnx.org/live/

If you didn't know or have never seen the Native Nations version of the Grammy's, then you should watch this at least once in your life.  It's only an hour.

MTV Rebel Music

Who'd a thunk?

More details:
http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/mtv-world-offers-unprecedented-look-modern-native-america-rebel-music-native-america/

Originals First: Frank Waln at the Field Museum in Chicago

Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0w6OHKe1uA

Studio Enjoy: Supaman - "Prayer Loop Song"

The fusion of flute, regalia, fancy dance, scratching, beatboxing, rapping, and even the robot was something he came to accidentally. "I always kept them separate until I was asked to Fancy Dance and rap for Heritage Day in Bozeman," he tells the Billings Gazette. "I danced first and then I was going to change into my civilian clothes to rap. But there wasn’t any time, so I ended up just performing hip-hop in my fancy outfit, which was something different and the people really thought it was special."

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/21/doing-robot-regalia-supaman-fuses-fancy-dance-flute-hip-hop-153677

 

Taino Culture and Art

My friend  is starring in another video.  He is here with his daughters at home in his garden telling singing a family song.  As he sings, they ask questions, and learn about their culture and ancestors.

A beautiful artist:  http://vimeo.com/3nvideopro/review/84523074/052a20df6c
Daniel 'Guayacan' Silva Pagan de Bieke (Vieques), Boriken (Puerto Rico) shares his story and work as a Taino artesan. (Video en Español)

What's Cooking, Bedford?

I was part of a video project illustrating multicultural cooking.  See this page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flavorful-Memories/116246301780021 and read this comment:
It's been a week since the very hot Summer Solstice day when I had the opportunity to interview Claudia Fox Tree, a member of the Arawak nation, and videotape her drumming circle and potlatch (potluck) dinner to celebrate the season.

Here's a portion of a song called the "Rabbit Dance". Rabbits are significant animals to think about in the summer because they multiple and are associated with growth, adolescence, fertility and community.

 

Talibah Begay

She is amazing.  One thing she does not mention, is that she also uses Native American sign language as she sings this song.  Talibah Begay translates & performs a song from her new album with Canyon Records, "Walk in Beauty," that is sung in Diné (Navajo).

The Climb by Kalolin Johnson

10 year old, Kalolin Johnson sings The Climb by Miley Cyrus in TWO LANGUAGES - Mi'kmaq and English.

Traditional Songs by Diné (Navajo) Women in Diné Langauge

A Beautiful Dawn by Radmilla Cody.  More of her music at http://wn.com/A_Beautiful_Dawn_by_Radmilla_Cody.

 

Corn Pollen Boy by Sharon Burch

Touch the Sweet Earth by Sharon Burch

The Native American Drum

The Drum is a deep and sacred part of Native American culture. The round form of the drum represents the circle of life and the whole universe as well as cycles like the seasons. Its steady, strong beat is the pulse, or heartbeat, throbbing at the center of “Mother Earth.” The sound of the Drum can move our Spirit and help us to know and understand the natural world and our place within it. It is the healing rhythm that we hear throughout this world, starting as an infant in our mother's womb. Many songs span hundreds of years, having been passed down from generation to generation, others are new. Drum music reminds us to be patient and understanding about the mystery and power of all things. The Drum amplifies what is brought to it, so with cleansed spirits we drum, sing and dance as a community.

Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Indians

by Dennis Banks

(I use these song lyrics by this this Native American activist to explain portions of the Racial Identity Development theory as originally put forth by William Cross and further developed by other researchers.)

A friend of mine sang a song called,

“Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys”

and I began to think of a song for Indian people

But, you know, the more I though of good words,

the more I began to think of broken treaties and broken promises and broken homes.

Names like Shivington, Jackson and Custer started running through my mind.

and I said, “Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be Indians”

I thought of the long walk of the Navahos

The Trail of tears, 500 years of Columbus…

and I said, “Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be Indians”

Then I began to think of our ancestors

like Chief Joseph, Seattle, Crazy Horse and Geronimo

and their dreams and what they lived for…

and I said, “Mama let your babies grow up to be Indians”

And my heart began to swell with pride

As I saw Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills in the Olympics.

And in the distance I saw the longest walk across America

and I said, “Mama let your babies grow up to be Indians”

Then I felt the spirituality and strength of our people

In ceremonies, the elders, the women.

I saw the sun dance and the cottonwood tree.

I smelled the sweet grass and the sage that purifies our people.

I saw Leonard Peltier and freedom

I heard the many drums and singers

And watched the gracious beauty of our dancers…

and I said, “Mama make sure your babies grow up to be Indians…make sure”

Boarding Schools & Indian Drums

Click here to see a local school's theatrical production about boarding schools, The Rememberer.

Some groups, like the Navajo, were recruited from NA boarding schools to serve as Code Talkers in WWII, after being chained to bedposts for refusing to stop speaking their Native language. See the Code Talker Dictionary. Carl Gorman (father of famous Navajo/Diné artist and painter, R.C. Gorman) was one of the Code Talkers.

IN THE NEWS
Abused by nun, native woman tells commission about Prince Edward Island boarding schools

P.E.I. survivors of Indian residential schools had an opportunity Tuesday to testify about their horrific treatment at the hands of the federal government and the church.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission held an all-day hearing at the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel. The commission gives people an opportunity to speak openly, or privately, about the residential school system that existed in Canada for more than 100 years.

Marie Knockwood wrote a song about her time at the Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia. She told the hearing about sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of a nun.

Children's BOOKS
Stolen Words by Melanie Florence (Author), Gabrielle Grimard (Illustrator)

 I Am Not a Number by Dr. Jenny Kay Dupuis (Author), Kathy Kacer (Author), Gillian Newland (Illustrator)

6 Boarding School Laws Still on the Books

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com:81/2014/04/30/6-boarding-school-laws-still-books-154579

1. 25 USC § 302, Indian Reform School—Enacted June 21, 1906
2.  25 USC § 282, Regulations for withholding rations for nonattendance at schools—Enacted March 3, 1893   
3. 25 USC § 280, Patents of lands to missionary boards of religious organizations—Enacted September 21, 1922 
   
4. 25 USC § 282, Regulations by Secretary of the Interior to secure attendance at school—Enacted February 14, 1920  
5. 25 USC § 273, Detail of Army Officer—Enacted June 23, 1879
   
6. 25 USC § 277, Fort Apache military post—Enacted January 24, 1923

MUSIC
This is a great song about Boarding Schools (deculturalization), Role Models, and Cultural Identity.



Johnny Cash Drums Lyrics:
From the Indian reservation to the governmental school
Well they're goin' to educate me to the white men's Golden Rule
And I'm learning very quickly for I've learned to be ashamed
And I come when they call Billy though I've got an Indian name

And there are drums beyond the mountain Indian drums that you can't hear
There are drums beyond the mountain and they're getting mighty near

And when they think that they'd changed me cut my hair to meet their needs
Will they think I'm white or Indian quarter blood or just half breed
Let me tell you Mr teacher when you say you'll make me right
In five hundred years of fighting not one Indian turned white

And there are drums beyond the mountain Indian drums that you can't hear
There are drums beyond the mountain and they're getting mighty near

Well you thought that I knew nothing when you brought me here to school
Just another empty Indian just America's first fool
But now I can tell you stories that are burnt and dried and old
But in the shadow of their telling walks the thunder proud and bold

And there are drums beyond the mountain Indian drums that you can't hear
There are drums beyond the mountain and they're getting mighty near

Long Pine and Sequoia Handsome Lake and Sitting Bull
there's Magnus Colorado with his sleeves so red and full
Crazy Horse the legend those who bit off Custer's soul
They are dead yet they are living with the great Geronimo

And there are drums beyond the mountain Indian drums that you can't hear
There are drums beyond the mountain and they're getting mighty near

Well you may teach me this land's hist'ry but we taught it to you first
We broke your hearts and bent your journeys broken treaties left us cursed
Even now you have to cheat us even though you think us tame
In our losing we found proudness in your winning you found shame

And there are drums beyond the mountain Indian drums that you can't hear
There are drums beyond the mountain and they're getting mighty near

Lyrics/Vocables to Songs I Use in Classes

These are phonetic.  If you did the song with me, and remember the tune, you can probably figure them out again.  Enjoy!

River Song
Brooke Medicine Eagle (Seneca)
(Straight Beat)
(Works with just rattles, no drum, too)

Wishi ta, do ya, do ya, do ya
Wishi ta, do ya, do ya, hay
(Repeat Verse)

Wash a, ta nay ya, hay ya, hay ya
Wash a, ta nay ya, hay ya hay
(Repeat Verse)

(Start over at the top)

:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:

Crow Hop
(Straight Beat with a sideways rock to it)
(You can do this with the lead, or everyone just sings it all together once they get it)

LEAD - Way yo, way yo, way yo; way yo, way yo, way yo
ANSWER - Way yo, way yo, way yo; way yo, way yo , way yo

Way yo, way yo, way yo; way yo, way yo, way yo
Way ya, way ya, way hi yo BEAT
(Repeat Chorus)

:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:

Call of the Sea Turtle
Roberto Borrero (Taino)
(Best with just rattles, no drum)
(Call/Lead and Response/Answer, Repeat each pair for total of 2 calls and 2 responses)

hi hey lay lay (call)
hi hey lay lay (response)

warico carey (call)
warico carey (response)

bo ma tome carey (call)
bo ma tome carey (response)

:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:

Pine Nut Gathering Song

(Paiute)

(Straight Beat with a sideways rock to it)

Tuh-von-ga  boy, wah-nay

Tuh-ven-ah boy, wah-nie wah-no

wah-nie wah-nie wah-no

wuh-nah wah-nie wah-nie wah-no

:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:

Caguana Song

(Robert Mucaro Borrero - Taino)

(fast straight beat)

LEAD - da can ah-boriah, a ta bey

da can ah-boriah, a ta bey

ANSWER - da can ah-boriah, a ta bey

da can ah-boriah, a ta bey

LEAD (deep voice) - boe ma tome, Atabey, boe ma tome

ANSWER - boe ma tome, Atabey, boe ma tome

LEAD - boe ma tome, Atabey, boe ma tome

ANSWER - boe ma tome, Atabey, boe ma tome

Arawak/Taino Videos

I Am the Tribe Called Arawak

Cacibajagua Taino Dance Group

Identity, Culture, and Political Power

First People of Suriname

More Videos

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Songs

Lyrics/Vocables for Songs I Use in My Classes

You can find many of these songs on YouTube, all on their original Music CD, and mostly all on iTunes.

Mostly Pow Wow Drum Songs
ARAWAK MOUNTAIN SINGERS (Arawak and Taino)
Listen To The Jingles 2:15
Everybody Dance 2:48
Señorita Linda 3:18
Soldier Boy Fought Hard 3:36
Dance Dancers Dance 3:37
Guazabara 3:22
Within The Circle 3:31
BROOKE MEDICINE EAGLE (Crow - from Montana)
Hey Ney Ya Na – Ute 3:50
Wishi Ta 5:49
Neesa Neesa 2:49
Women's Shuffle
Willow Song 4:19
CRYSTAL WOMAN (Cherokee)
Honoring the Deer 2:14
EASTERN EAGLE SINGERS (Canada)
Mi'kmaq Gathering 2:10
Kwan-Do-Daey 2:48
Ko-Ju-A 2:56
Rabbit Two Step 2:53
JOANNE SHENANDOAH (Wolf Clan/Oneida Nation - Iroquois Confederacy)
Iroquois Social Songs 5:27
SHARON BURCH (Navajo)
Little Star Shine 3:34
First Cry 3:05
I Walk Alone 3:39
Welcome Home 3:43
Corn Song 3:07
ULALI (Cherokee and Tuscarora)
Mahk Jchi 2:39
Mother 4:38
Native American Rattle 1:17
WALELA (Cherokee) Video of their song below:


Mostly in English Native American Songs
JOANNE SHENANDOAH (Wolf Clan/Oneida Nation - Iroquois Confederacy)
I May Want a Man 4:02 with A. Paul Ortega
We Are the Iroquois 3:32
Please Sign Here 4:22
BROOKE MEDICINE EAGLE (Crow - from Montana)
Walking (Pine Needles) 4:24
Circle Round the Wheel 6:22
Path of Beauty 5:32
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE (Cree) Here is her educational website
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee 5:16
My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying 6:49
CRYSTAL WOMAN (Cherokee)
Here Come a Woman 3:41
Eagle Prayer Song 2:52
The Buffalo 3:27
The Trail of Tears 5:18
Who Will Speak for Mother Earth? 4:02
Seven Generations from Now 5:38
Fancy Dancer 3:11
Amazing Grace 4:14 video below:


SHARON BURCH (Navajo)
We Are Here 2:55
Colors of My Heart 4:18
Brother Warrior 5:04
WALELA (Cherokee)
I Have No Indian Name 4:33