The new Rick Anderson film, recently aired on TPT-TV and at a Mille Lacs local cinema, was just reviewed in the tribal newspaper Ojibwe Inaajimowin. Check out page 3 of the publication, available HERE as a pdf link. And thanks to Rick for the nice shout out in the interview for my "brilliant musical score." From the review, it appears the "Jingle Dress Tradition” film is rockin’ it!

Sat, March 5, 7pm--The Iroquois Creation Story

I’m proud to announce the Wisconsin premiere of this gorgeous live action and animated film, The Iroquois Creation Story. I was honored to receive an award for the orchestral musical score (Native American Indian Film Festival of the Southeast), featuring Native American wood flute and a song at the end performed by Grammy Award-winning Joanne Shenandoah. The multiple award winning film follows the Turtle Island story of the Haudenosaunee people. This 17-minute film combines animation and dance to tell the story of Sky Woman and her Grandsons Flint and Sky Holder. It was produced by Peter Jemison of Ganodagan Historic Site, featuring Iroquois music and dance and the choreography and dancers of Garth Fagan (Lion King). It screens at the Walter Theatre (inside Abbot Pennings Hall of Fine Arts) on St. Norbert College Campus, DePere WI. Click the link above for tickets!

Sun, March 6, 11am--Film Scoring For Film Makers

This year, I’m facilitating a seminar for those wishing to learn more about film music and how it works (musical abilities not required). "Film Scoring for Film Makers" is an intensive workshop designed especially for producers, directors and editors—rather than musicians. Instruction includes decoding the basic film music vocabulary and film composer jargon, and a detailed examination of the four basic types of film scoring: Scoring the Action, Scoring the Cuts, Underscoring the Mood, and Underscoring Against the Action.

The 2.5-hour workshop covers the four basic types of film scoring by screening both good and poor examples of film clips, for a comparison-contrast type of examination. This method provides a comprehensive overview that producers, directors and editors can truly benefit from, by seeing actual music scoring examples, back-to-back with commentary provided for each. Near the end of the workshop, a “spotting session” is conducted with the workshop participants themselves by screening a film clip with the music removed; then together, the participants take a detailed look at the clip for scoring purposes. It is the intention of the workshop, that participants will learn the basics of spotting a film for music, and learn how to identify the musical shifts and changes within a film scene to accommodate the on-screen subject matter. The workshop takes place in Webb Theater (inside Abbot Pennings Hall of Fine Arts) on St. Norbert College Campus, DePere WI. Click the link above for more details.

Want more information? You can also download the entire Green Bay Film Festival program schedule (pdf), available HERE. If you are in the area, come out to the film festival!

In 2009, I wrote a composition for the Porcupine Singers and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO), called Black Hills Olowan ('Olowan' means /song/ in Lakota). This particular composition has had good staying power, with repeat performances by several orchestras, such as Mankato Symphony Orchestra in MN, and Grand Rapids Symphony in MI.

Well it's exciting news that the 15-minute work Black Hills Olowan is being performed again by the originating orchestra, South Dakota Symphony! If you are in the Sioux Falls SD area—or anywhere nearby—I invite you to go hear this engrossing work! The how-to-attend information is on the SDSO website, HERE.

Here is a description of the work Black Hills Olowan:

One added note regarding orchestral concert advertising—It is perhaps an unfortunate hiccup to not list the individual programmed works on the SDSO website, limiting the announcement to Dvorak's beloved Symphony no. 9, "From the New World." Dvorak doesn't need the shout out, but American Indian composers of new music absolutely do need it, speaking both as a professional composer and as part of a living culture that is routinely rendered invisible by the mainstream. Despite the website slight (hey that rhymed), the music is wonderful, and the upcoming performances on March 5th and 6th—featuring the Creekside Singers—will be absolutely amazing!

My deepest thank you to conductor Delta David Gier and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, and to Lakota singer Dr. Ronnie Theisz and the exceptional Creekside Singers.

​Go see this stirring CONCERT if you can!