Julio César, Luiseño Musician: California Indian Oral Tradition, Franciscan Music Instruction, and California Missions, 1769–1846

This article examines the role of California Indian oral tradition in the Franciscan mission music programs in Alta California. It argues that California Indian men and women negotiated mission music instruction, which sought to produce musicians who could read and write European music, by adapting traditional ways of learning by ear. The oral history by Julio César (Luiseño), recorded in 1878, as well as those of other California Indian musicians, grounds this study of Native music-making at the missions. His recollections guide the first sections, locating his experiences at Mission San Luis Rey between 1838 and 1849. A section follows on California Indian music-making and Franciscan music instruction. As contested spaces, the California missions encompassed both European choral and instrumental repertories and California Indian song, instrumental playing, and dance. The final section explores Indigenous agency in mission music instruction, proposing that California Indian oral tradition and memory played a greater role in sustaining mission music demands, including Indian music teachers and directors as proxies for the missionaries. This article challenges previously held assumptions that California mission music programs revolved primarily around the Franciscans. Rather, Indian musicians appear to have had more presence and agency than scholars have recognized.