The new composer participants in CANOE (Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor) are going strong. The next composing sessions will occur after spring break happening next week, with the participants starting their own individual compositions. Each participant has a unique idea for their composition, some starting with melodic ideas, some starting with ideas about harmony, and others beginning with rhythmic ideas. Creativity is everywhere with these composers, and it will be an exciting event to go hear their finished works performed by the Civic Symphony of Green Bay in the fall!
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It's not the easiest of pursuits to compose written music. A good friend of mine, who would later become a Senior Ethnomusicologist with the Smithsonian, now Emeritus, once commented that he had taken a couple years of composition in college—and quit. He admired what I did, he said, because he knew how hard it really was. However, several aspiring composers have started their own studies this year, in Bowler and Gresham high schools, and from the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation too. They will succeed!
The program transpires in basically three phases. The first phase is a group orientation on the CANOE program, and a beginning practicum on written notation. Phase One of the 2015 program is now complete, and the participant composers will start Phase Two next week: individualized composition studies. Over the next several weeks, the composers will create a seed of some music idea: perhaps a few notes, possibly some chords, or maybe a conceptual thought such as a scenic sunset. From this starting point, whatever it may be, they will enhance and develop a longer, fully-conceived composition, before moving to the third and final phase, adapting their compositions for string quartet. 2015 is off to a great start! If you personally know any of these students, please encourage them with their ambitious task. The finished compositions will be performed in concert by the Civic Symphony of Green Bay in the orchestra's fall season. We should all be there with bells on! The Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor (CANOE) is off the ground. There are five 2015 participants, and we’ll have our first orientation meeting next week. I’ll be facilitating the sessions throughout the semester, in the various participant’s locations. It would be great to support and encourage our first round of participants, who are on the road to composing their first works for string quartet. Each participant will write their music by hand on paper (without a computer program) resulting in their more meticulous and thorough understanding of music notation. So, if you would, encourage, support and applaud our CANOE participants!
On an additional note, my visit to Lori Mueller’s 4th grade class last week was educational and entertaining. Her students sent me the most lovely letters of appreciation, many of them with hand drawn portrayals of flute playing and the spinning of bird roars in class (whistles attached to the end of a string). Here’s one such illustration of me playing flute with the spinning of bird roars by two students: March 7-8, the Phoenix Chorale will perform my "Native American Suite" on a program of choral works entitled "Desert Songs." The concert features the exemplary flutist R. Carlos Nakai on my work, and several other compositions including his own. Tickets are available, so if you are in the area, definitely go check it out! Here's a link to the concert:
http://www.phoenixchorale.org/whats-new/plan-your-visit/program-notes/desert-song-march-7-8-2015/ CANOE 2015 will be officially underway next week! The Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor, also known by its acronym CANOE, will begin the student composer orientation sessions during the week of March 9th, followed by weekly private lessons thereafter.
Several hopeful composers are joining the ranks of our CANOE program, coming from Bowler High School, Gresham High School, and the Stockbridge-Munsee community. Participants are high school students and adults who will undergo rigorous training in composing written music, training occurring over several weeks, and culminating in a live performance of their finished compositions. Special thanks go to our Bowler and Gresham high school faculty, who are assisting this new program: Alan Marquardt (Bowler H.S. Band), Amanda Hein (Bowler H.S. Chorus), Amy Doefer (Gresham H. S. Band), and Lee Clasen (Gresham H. S. Chorus). And, special thanks to Seong-Kyung Graham, conductor of the Civic Symphony of Green Bay. If all goes to plan, the finished compositions will be performed by the symphony at a future date (to be determined). Advice to participants — find a ruler, sharpen those pencils, and get ready to immerse yourselves in the power of composing your own music! One wintery night in DeKalb IL, flutist Peg Cornils premiered my concerto "Fluting Around" with the NIU Philharmonic. Audience attendance on an icy cold evening was good despite the challenging weather. However, for those who wished to experience the new work but couldn't (or those perhaps wanting to see it again), there's now a link with the full video. You can also download a pdf copy of the printed program of that evening, plus download a few sample pages of the conductor score. My thanks go to NIU Music School and Rich Holly, conductor Lucia Matos, the NIU Philharmonic, and of course flutist extraordinaire Peg Cornils. Check out the new link to hear the new work, or experience the magic again!
Fluting Around — Concerto for Flute & Orchestra: http://www.brentmichaeldavids.com/flutingaround.html The Feb 15 issue of Mohican News, the reservation-based newspaper, just featured the new Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor (CANOE) program (see PDF download below). The program will commence once we have the first selection of student composers identified (high school age and adult) from within the Bowler H.S., Gresham H.S. and Stockbridge-Munsee reservation communities. I'm in talks with the Civic Symphony of Green Bay to rehearse and publicly perform your compositions, should you participate in the composer program. As the program is free, and I'm running the program for no compensation, I'm very pleased the Symphony is also willing to generously consider performing our new compositions, once composed. If you are interested, I hope to see you in the coming weeks so we can get this fun program off the ground. I'm starting a list of participants, so if you would, please contact me soon!
Thank you Mohican News! Check out the recent front-page (pdf) Mohican News article about CANOE here (continued on p.6): http://www.mohican-nsn.gov/Departments/Mohican_News/issues/02-15-15.pdf Read more about the program specifics here! This is the first announcement of the composer education project "Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor" (CANOE), designed especially for high school aged students and adults. For the first time, this award-winning program will be offered in Wisconsin, so interested participants from the Stockbridge-Munsee community and Bowler High School can contact me about learning to compose written music, leading to a live performance of your work by professional musicians.
CANOE is basically an educational seminar, on a pass-fail system of grading; if you finish your composition on time, it will be performed. If not, it won't — simple grading system! However, I will make every effort to help you succeed if you join the program. There are many benefits to learning written composition, such as (1) composing music for many many musicians to play all at once in very large groups, (2) sending your music to other countries anywhere on the planet where it can be performed, and (3) writing music far beyond the limits of your own musical ability—there are always great musicians who can play what you compose, even if you cannot. If you are interested in this unique opportunity, please contact me, Brent Michael Davids, as I contemplate our beginning schedule for CANOE's initiation into Wisconsin. Thank you! I would absolutely love to invite you to the concert Saturday night at the Peter Martin Wege Theater, but I hear it's already sold out! There's talk of adding extra seats for walk-ins, but the exciting program has facilitated a full house!
The program "Native Sounds" is a concert of the Grand Rapids Symphony, but is a show curated according to my personal tastes, influences and music. I was first inspired to compose after hearing a work by George Crumb in 1967, and this concert will feature Crumb's A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979 with the characteristic and striking Crumb harmonies and rhythms. A mentor for me as an undergrad was Dr. Louis W. Ballard, a Quapaw/Cherokee composer living in Santa Fe, NM. As a fledgling student I wrote him a letter in 1979, and afterwards we became longtime friends. Saturday's concert will feature Dr. Ballard's orchestral work Scenes from Indian Life, a series of vignettes depicting American Indians in everyday life. Closing the first half, the Robin Rupe film By Our Nature will be screened, with my orchestral film score performed live-to-picture by the orchestra. It's an 11-minute evocative film about our animals and our world, seen through the camera lens and with music. The GRS performance will be the film score's world premiere! Honoring Kwa'apoge, my composition for Native American wood flute and orchestra, will open the second half. It's the first movement of the larger "Santa Fe 400th Symphony" commissioned by the City of Santa Fe, NM, to celebrate their 400th anniversary. The work premiered at the famous Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, and I'm proud to be performing the work with the distinguished Grand Rapids Symphony this Saturday! I've been the honored guest of the symphony this week, but also of the local American Indians, visiting their school children and performing with the local drum group. Now, when we refer to a "drum group," we are actually referring to a group of Native American singers who also sing around, and play upon, the drum. The local singers in Grand Rapids are called the "Circle of Life" drum, and were so named by a Native elder, George Martin. The Circle of Life singers are a youth drum, with many adults in teaching and supportive roles, and they will perform several songs, with dancers too, at this point in the concert! Ending the evening, will be my Black Hills Olowan composition for drum group and orchestra. "Olowan" (oh-LOHW-wahn) means /song/ in Lakota, and this work is a song for the Black Hills of SD, a place of significant meaning for the Lakota people. I'm honored that the Circle of Life drum will sing with the orchestra for this performance, along with Lakota music educator Dr. Ronnie Theisz. Dr. Theisz is one of the original Porcupine Singers from Pine Ridge, and himself drummed on the world premiere with the South Dakota Symphony several years ago. It's an immense privilege to have Dr. Theisz singing with us for the MI premiere of this pivotal work. Thanks professor! My special thanks go out to conductor and friend, David Lockington, for his warm invitation to curate this Grand Rapids Symphony concert! It's not common knowledge, but maestro Lockington heard one of my choral works and thereafter commissioned my first symphony! Under his baton, the New Mexico Symphony gave the world premiere of my Powwow Symphony, which in turn opened many orchestral doors for this composer. I wish I could see you all at this sold-out performance, but word has spread and tickets have become scarce. If the symphony keeps a working relationship with the local American Indian community here (and I hope they do!), they may have to consider a larger venue, or start giving multiple night performances! Aho! Recently, on Nov 24, 2014, the fantastic flutist Peg Cornils stepped in front of the NIU orchestra, under the baton of Lucia Matos, to premiere the new three-movement concerto Fluting Around. It was a rousing success, and both Peg and I hope to introduce the work to other orchestras and venues this coming year. In addition to her metal orchestral flute, Peg also performs on a Native American wooden flute for the concerto's second movement. The rich sound of the wood flute, combined with the orchestra, was entrancing. Special thanks again to Peg, Lucia, Rich Holly and the NIU Philharmonic for the wonderful world premiere on that very, very snowy night in DeKalb IL! Please enjoy a couple photos from the dress rehearsal.
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June 2023
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