Friday, July 18, 2014
Module 4 - Beneath the Raven Moon
Title of Piece: Beneath the Raven Moon
Performer: Mary Youngblood
Culture or Origin: Native American
Orchestration: solo flute
Mary Youngblood is considered one of the greatest Native American flute players in North America. She composes and performs her own music, which is significant because Native American flute has typically been only a male performance practice. She combines her traditional sounds of Native American flute music with modern music. This piece of music is from her Grammy award winning album. On the album, the piece of music includes also cello and acoustic guitar, but this live performance is solo flute. My favorite thing about the piece is the use of small embellishments to the melody to add a more authentic traditional sound to a very modern melodic and diatonic piece of music. This is what I would consider very cross-cultural because it follows Western harmonies but still contains the authentic sounds of Native American music.
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I see what you mean about the harmonies used crossed with the cultural instrument and authentic technique in which it was played. I had never heard Mary Youngblood before, but I'm glad you posted this, because it's just beautiful. The way it resonates through the hall it's being performed in and the absolute stillness of the audience during the performance just seems to accentuate how they are all becoming enraptured by the sound. I would call it pure, but with a hint of airiness to it all the same. I concur that the subtle embellishments are very tasteful and add the required cultural context to the piece. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMary Youngblood is a fantastic artist. Her performance is totally Native American. Listen to some other Native flute players and you'll see what I mean. Those embellishments are meant to make it 'sound more authentic', they ARE authentic.
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