Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 11, 2006 17:48:50 GMT -5
Music offers means to bridge cultures
Professor brings American Indian music to students, who will perform in D.C.
BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 8, 2006
FREDERICKSBURG Craig Naylor missed the everyday contact with American Indians, as well as their influences, when he moved to Virginia from the West five years ago.
"The tribes out here in Virginia have dealt with 400 years of colonial rule and colonial influence, and it's been much more difficult for them to maintain their traditions than ones out in the West who have had to deal with 100 or 120 years of contact with the whites," he said.
Naylor, a music professor at the University of Mary Washington, set about bringing American Indian music to his students and, at the same time, curing a little bit of his homesickness.
The students were scheduled to perform at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington yesterday. The university's wind and percussion ensemble will perform works from the "Native Voices" program again on Nov. 18 at the museum and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A concert at the university is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Naylor, who grew up in California and spent many years in the Midwest, turned to the Minnesota-based First Nations Composers Initiative to find two composers to create original pieces. He found two enthusiastic ones: Raven Chacon, part of the Navajo nation, and Barbara Croall, who has an Odawa tribal affiliation.
Chacon's work is "very similar to the wide-open spaces" of Navajo reservations in Arizona and New Mexico, Naylor said. "It's sounds that swirl against each other, very much like sitting on a cliff and just looking at the scenery as the wind rushes by you."
Croall, who studied in Germany, composed a more classical piece but one "still very firmly grounded" in American Indian traditions, Naylor said.
Naylor, whose project was funded by a $9,000 grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, said his goal is to bring people with different backgrounds together. Chacon and Croall will spend nine days in Fredericksburg in November, sharing their techniques with local schoolteachers and visiting area schools.
"To me, the main purpose behind studying the music of other people is that if you study the art of other cultures, you get an insight into their soul," Naylor said. "And if you see somebody's heart and see their soul, they become your friend. And if they're your friend, it's not possible to fight against them and have wars. And I think if more people learned more about the music and arts of other cultures, the world would be a much better place."
Jeffrey Zeiders, a Mary Washington junior from Woodbridge, said the experience is valuable. "It's kind of reaching out. Going outside of what is normal not only is fun, it makes us stretch," said the 19-year-old percussionist.
Naylor said the push of time didn't allow him to try to find American Indian composers from Virginia. But he hopes the project might open some of those paths.
"It may be a catalyst for closer contact with local tribes," he said, adding that he envisions foreign exchanges between the university and tribes across the country, some of which are actually sovereign nations. "That's part of the exploration."
Professor brings American Indian music to students, who will perform in D.C.
BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 8, 2006
FREDERICKSBURG Craig Naylor missed the everyday contact with American Indians, as well as their influences, when he moved to Virginia from the West five years ago.
"The tribes out here in Virginia have dealt with 400 years of colonial rule and colonial influence, and it's been much more difficult for them to maintain their traditions than ones out in the West who have had to deal with 100 or 120 years of contact with the whites," he said.
Naylor, a music professor at the University of Mary Washington, set about bringing American Indian music to his students and, at the same time, curing a little bit of his homesickness.
The students were scheduled to perform at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington yesterday. The university's wind and percussion ensemble will perform works from the "Native Voices" program again on Nov. 18 at the museum and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A concert at the university is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Naylor, who grew up in California and spent many years in the Midwest, turned to the Minnesota-based First Nations Composers Initiative to find two composers to create original pieces. He found two enthusiastic ones: Raven Chacon, part of the Navajo nation, and Barbara Croall, who has an Odawa tribal affiliation.
Chacon's work is "very similar to the wide-open spaces" of Navajo reservations in Arizona and New Mexico, Naylor said. "It's sounds that swirl against each other, very much like sitting on a cliff and just looking at the scenery as the wind rushes by you."
Croall, who studied in Germany, composed a more classical piece but one "still very firmly grounded" in American Indian traditions, Naylor said.
Naylor, whose project was funded by a $9,000 grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, said his goal is to bring people with different backgrounds together. Chacon and Croall will spend nine days in Fredericksburg in November, sharing their techniques with local schoolteachers and visiting area schools.
"To me, the main purpose behind studying the music of other people is that if you study the art of other cultures, you get an insight into their soul," Naylor said. "And if you see somebody's heart and see their soul, they become your friend. And if they're your friend, it's not possible to fight against them and have wars. And I think if more people learned more about the music and arts of other cultures, the world would be a much better place."
Jeffrey Zeiders, a Mary Washington junior from Woodbridge, said the experience is valuable. "It's kind of reaching out. Going outside of what is normal not only is fun, it makes us stretch," said the 19-year-old percussionist.
Naylor said the push of time didn't allow him to try to find American Indian composers from Virginia. But he hopes the project might open some of those paths.
"It may be a catalyst for closer contact with local tribes," he said, adding that he envisions foreign exchanges between the university and tribes across the country, some of which are actually sovereign nations. "That's part of the exploration."