Module 5: Great Blue Heron, Arvel Bird

Title: Great Blue Heron

Performer: Arvel Bird (see his bio here)

Culture or Origin: self-proclaimed: a fusion of Celtic and Native American music

Orchestration: It sounds like there is a pre-recorded accompaniment track that he is playing along with him that contains most of a full orchestra (I hear strings for sure), bass guitar, and drum set, as well as piano in a few parts.  He plays the flute and then switches to the violin about 3 minutes in and then switches back at the end. There is a live person playing a drum during some parts, but since the camera doesn't pan much, I can't tell about anyone else.

Since my focus for my curriculum project is Native American music, I have been noticing in my research that a lot of Native American is fused with other musical styles. For this week, since we are discussing creativity, I chose Arvel Bird's video of Great Blue Heron. I think his style of music is wonderfully creative since it is composition that fuses two styles of music that are generally fairly distinct from one another. In watching this video, it becomes clear that Celtic music is closely related in several ways (harmonically, melodically, ornamentation, etc) to Native American flute music. Bird is a classically trained violinist, which is evident when he plays his very decorated violin.  Creatively, I think he demonstrates great skill because in he clearly understands the principles of both Celtic and Native American musics well enough to pick and choose elements to add to his compositions. I found this video very enjoyable, and it prompted me to explore his website and other videos to hear some more of his music.

An interesting thing about him is that he settled on Celtic and Native American music because those are his roots (as mentioned in the bio in the link above) even though he studied a great variety of music. I think this makes his music truly American. I know as a "mutt" of Caucasian cultures, I find myself struggling to choose which of my roots I should cling to.  I think it is especially beautifully that he is able to find his own personal sound and expression by combining his primary ancestral roots into one sound, just like he is one person from many different roots.

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.

Module 3 - Northern Cree Singers - Facebook Drama

Title: Facebook Drama

Performers: The Northern Cree Singers

Culture or Origin: Northern Cree Native American (Canada) round dance

Orchestration: singers accompanied by hand drum

This recording is a round dance made by the Northern Cree Singers accompanied by a hand drum.  A round dance is normally part of the intertribal powwow and is a social dance; however, for this particular nation, the round dance is independent of the powwow and functions as a social dance alone.  The song is inclusive because even those who are not dressed in traditional dancing clothes are allowed to participate during particular parts of the dance as indicated by the master of ceremonies.  The form of the song is a rondo, switching back and forth between the vocable section (lyrics with no translatable meaning) and the English words section, which is about a status on Facebook.  The lyrics are included in the video.  The beat is in a meter of 2 with an accent on the second beat.  The dancers stand in a circle and move to the left.  More people join the dance as each new group gets established, beginning with the lead male and female dancers who start the circle.  I chose this piece because I am very interested in the incorporation of modern technology into traditions of native peoples.  In this case, the lyrics about Facebook are almost funny to me because it seems to be making fun of traditional music.  I kept thinking that it was something Mel Brooks would do.  There is no indication that it is a mockery in any of the texts that I read about it, but I found myself, in the context of my culture, trying hard not to giggle because it seemed like a spoof.

Module 2 - Lakota National Anthem (Flag Song) and Veteran's Song, The Porcupine Singers

Title of Piece: Lakota National Anthem (Flag Song) and Veteran's Song
Performers: The Porcupine Singers
Culture or Origin: Lakota Native American flag song, as part of the powwow ceremony
Orchestration: unison high-register (seemingly male) vocals, drum(s?)(membranophones)

With the minimal instrumentation of this piece, the only real classifications that one needs to consider are vocal and instrumental.  In this case, according to the Sachs-Hornbostel classification system, the instruments are voice and membranophone, because the accompanying instrument is a drum.  According to the Perea, the flag song occurs in the powwow after the grand entry and a prayer.  The song is for the purpose of the flag processional, hence the title as a "flag song." The tempo begins rather slowly with what Perea calls an "honor beat" and sets a new faster tempo at 1:25 in the video. The "honor beat" is meant to be more reflective than faster tempos and is for contemplation rather than dancing. The language of this flag song is Lakota.

Reference:
Perea, J.C. (2014). Intertribal Native American Music in the United States. New York: Oxford.