Choctaw Music and Dance

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Since the removal of the greater part of the Choctaws to Oklahoma in the 1830s, Euro-American acculturation has become especially dominant among them, but among the isolated group of Choctaws that remained in Mississippi and a few individuals in Oklahoma, the old tribal dances and songs have been preserved. In Choctaw Music and Dance, James H. Howard and Victoria Lindsay Levine discuss all aspects of the Choctaw dances and songs performed today by dance troupes in Mississippi and Oklahoma. They describe in detail the social organization of the troupes, the construction and use of their musical instruments, their costumes, and the choreography of the dances themselves, which are illustrated with photographs. An overview of Choctaw dance music, with an analysis of musical elements, form, and design and musical transcriptions of thirty songs, is also provided.