Ouch! Once upon a time, while traveling to perform at Indiana University, I departed my flight, grabbed my flute case from the overhead compartment, and heard some rattling noises. Was it a flute case or a rain stick! Oh no! My signature one-of-a-kind hand-made, quartz crystal flute was shattered in its case.

Of course, I was scheduled to perform in Indiana in another day or so, to be followed by a trip to Washington D.C. to perform a solo concert of my own works. The D.C. concert was presented by the Library of Congress, at the National Museum of Natural History's Baird Auditorium. With the help of some Indiana University faculty, I found Don Garvin, a scientific glass blower on campus, who graciously came to my rescue. After a couple of days labor, I was off performing on a new quartz flute, without missing a single gig. 

​I should say that I am still performing on this particular flute. And what’s not mentioned in the video above, is that I also have a backup quartz flute as well — that I hope I never have to use! Don fashioned me a second flute, just in case the first one ever breaks (which it hasn’t). Deep thanks to my glass blowing savior, and best wishes on all your continued success. I also fashioned a sturdy, overly engineered, protective, padded case for both flutes, so the quartz instruments are safe while traveling (crossing fingers and toes). 

Please check out this video feature (above) by Producer Jason Pear of The Weekly Special, about the exceptional Don Garvin, and a bit about my quartz flute. Between markers 2:45 and 4:00 (min:sec), Jason added a bit of my quartz flute music in the background as well. Thank you Jason, and thank you Don!

On November 6, several student composers will attend the premiere performance of their newly composed works by the Civic Symphony of Green Bay! The composers took part in the Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor (CANOE) that was created as a follow-up program to the popular Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP) that I founded in 2000 with the Grand Canyon Music Festival (GCMF).

Program History

The idea came for the NACAP program while I was a Composer-In-Residence at the Grand Canyon Music Festival as part of the “Continental Harmony” series of the American Composers Forum (ACF). I had been commissioned to compose a new work celebrating the location, and decided the best way to do that was to collaborate with the indigenous people of the canyon itself, the Havasupai. So, I hiked down into the canyon and met them, later collaborating with a Havasupai leader, Matthew Putesoy, on a new work that was featured as part of the ACF series. The work was titled “Guardians of the Grand Canyon,” honoring the Havasupai dancers of the same name. The musical work prompted high praise from a US Park Service administrator, who never imagined he’d get to see the Havasupai perform the ceremonial “ram dance” that was enacted within my musical composition.

As part of the GCMF activities, professional musicians would visit the elementary and middle schools around AZ, and perform for the students. I realized the students might be engaged further by participating in those presentations as originators rather than spectators. As a Native myself, I had started composing written works in high school—giving me the idea! So I approached the GCMF about visiting area high schools, engaging the older students, and recruiting would-be composers to create music to be performed by the professional musicians at the festival. With GCMF director Clare Hoffman agreeing to support the effort, the first NACAP was born. Today, the NACAP program has been going 15 years strong, and was recently featured by Performance Today (below). One of the students I taught at the first NACAP season was Michael Begay, who is now himself teaching in the program with Senior composer Raven Chacon.  I’m very proud of Michael and his dedication!

Green Bay

This year in Wisconsin, several students completed the CANOE program, and are headed to their first rehearsals with the orchestra on Oct. 29 in Green Bay. Each composer will hear their work rehearsed by the Civic Symphony, with the added benefit of talking with conductor Seong-Kyung Graham and the orchestra musicians about their works. Once rehearsed, their compositions will receive world premiere performances by the orchestra at the historic Meyer Theater. 

A preview published by Frankly Green Bay describes the exciting upcoming Civic Symphony concert, but misses the world premieres by the local student composers. The family concert will feature orchestra works that highlight animals in various ways, including a work about whales, about cats, and about a wolf. As it’s not an everyday occurrence to have world premieres by local student composers performed by an orchestra, I've listed their works below as well. Please note: an official press release from Civic Symphony is in-the-works that does include the CANOE program! If you can make it out, please support the Civic Symphony of Green Bay and our local composers. Come celebrate CANOE’s world premieres this November 4!

CONCERT II (Family Concert) — Nov 6, 2015
Meyer Theater — 7 PM
          Civic Symphony of Green Bay
​          Seong-Kyung Graham, Conductor

Wisdom RD (CANOE world premiere)
     by Lyndsey Agar

Volero (CANOE world premiere)
     by Tatelyn Ferguson

The Journey of a Lifetime (CANOE world premiere)
     by Rayna Kupsky

From Home (CANOE world premiere)
     by Drew Payne

Chrysalis (CANOE world premiere)
     by Shawn Stevens

Overture to Die Fledermaus
     by Johan Strauss II

The Carnival of the Animals (selections)
     by Camille Saint-Saens

CATcerto
    by Mindaugas Piecaitis

And God Created Great Whales
    by Alan Hovhaness

Peter and Wolf
     by Sergei Prokofiev

​The Dorothy “Dot” Davids collection of old reel-to-reel recordings and cassettes is now digitized and available at the Arvid E Miller Library Museum! After completing this collection, that is, after listening to each recording from start to finish, I can say there are really interesting recordings in this collection. There are tribal council recordings, songs, organ music, a radio show created by tribal citizen, and lots of talk by people who are now gone from us, including my own grandmother, Minerva (Miller) Davids. It took an entire month of constant attention to simply play all these recordings, so you could enjoy many hours  “listening in” on conversations and experiences recorded many years ago. 

It appears that Dot first acquired a reel-to-reel recording machine in the 1960s, and used it to record important meetings, lectures presented to conferences, and moments of musical enjoyment with performances by anyone within earshot of her trusted recorder machine. She switched to a cassette machine in the 1970s, and recorded nature and birds, sometimes leaving the machine running outdoors. One recording was a collection of birds that sang their hearts out, for posterity and for our enjoyment today. 

Once I recall a “Rambling Through History With Dot Davids” column, in the Mohican News, lamenting the seeming loss of the whippoorwill on the rez. It was in the 1990s to my recollection, when Dot wrote about hearing these songbirds every day as a young girl, and wondering where they’ve all gone in recent times. I, myself, heard whippoorwills in the 1970s, while visiting my grandparents on the allotment that now houses the new Doodlebug Music Studio. 

In those days I often slept on the upper floor of the original white house that my grandpa built, in the peak of the house where the summer heat rose up and amassed. It was sometimes hot up there, so the windows were kept open while I slept. As forested moonlight drifted in through a small window, whippoorwills performed entire recitals of sublime birdsongs from nearby trees. The effect was enchanting.

Amazingly, from one of Dot’s old reels, came that familiar song (above) that I can share with you now! Here is a small sample from the Dot Davids collection, a whippoorwill singing to us from the Stockbridge-Munsee rez of yesteryear. If you visit the Museum Library, be sure to check out Dot’s recordings and experience a bit of Mohican history, brought to life through Dot’s investigative spirit and her tried-and-true, take-it-wherever-you-go, personal tape recording machine!