Seminole music is the music of the

Seminole people The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

, an

indigenous people of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

who formed in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

in the 18th century. Today most live in Oklahoma, but a minority continue in Florida. They have three

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Unite ...

, and some people belong to bands outside those groups. Their traditional music includes extensive use of

rattle Rattle may refer to: Instruments * Crotalus (liturgy), a liturgical percussion instrument * Rattle (percussion instrument), a type of percussion instrument * Rattle (percussion beater), a part of some percussion instruments * Ratchet (instru ...

hand drums A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. Types The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are a ...

, water drums, and flutes. Seminole folk songs include those used to treat the sick and injured, and to encourage animals to be easily hunted. Hunting songs are a cappella and

call-and-response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

. The two major ritual dances are the

Green Corn Dance The Green Corn Ceremony (Busk) is an annual ceremony practiced among various Native American peoples associated with the beginning of the yearly corn harvest. Busk is a term given to the ceremony by white traders, the word being a corruption of t ...

, held in June, and the Hunting Dance, held in October. Other informal dances are held throughout the year, with some specific dances only performed in either summer or winter. Many dances are connected with an animal spirit, such as the Snake, the Crawfish and the very important Alligator. Western Presbyterian Christian missionaries and Creek translators developed Muskogee language hymns in the 1830s that continue to be sung in Creek and Seminole churches today in Oklahoma. The hymns are syncretic constructions with texts and performance practices that carry Muskogee and Western meanings at once.

References

* Eastern Woodlands Indian music

Music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

Indigenous culture of the Southeastern Woodlands {{music-genre-stub