Burning Sky -Watchers of the Canyon

The lesson for these two weeks is about connecting music with history and culture.  We have been learning Native American Songs and Dances for the past two days, including "Joashila" "Zuni Sunrise Song" and "Yoshinai".  All the songs use "vocables" which are syllables that have no specific meaning.  The Native American people believe that vocables represent communication between people and animals from a time before there were real words.  It does get you closer to the emotions being expressed in the song, and you have a sense of the story that might be told if there were real words.

The assignment for this week is to take the four dances that I have taught the students, and learn them well.  After that, they take a piece of music called "Watchers of the Canyon" and they use some of the dance moves I have taught them and combine them with moves of their own to create a modern dance.  This dance will combine ideas from their own imaginations, ideas they have been taught in other places, (like the "Whip" or the "Dab" for example,) as well as the dances I have taught them. The music is a combination of modern instruments like the guitar and the bass, put together with traditional Native American instruments like the flute and the rattles and drums.

Yesterday was the first day of the choreographic work, which begins with the process of picking groups.  There have been years where this is a difficult process, but yesterday went very smoothly and everyone was completely thrilled with their groups.  Last year I had many beautiful creations from this project, and I believe there will be even more wonderful dances this year. I look forward to the entertainment that will occur on Friday.

The students came to class knowing a great deal about Native American culture and history.  Here are some of the ideas they brought.

"There are many tribes, like Penobscot, Creek, Hopi, .."  "They played Lacrosse" "They lived in teepees, long houses, wigwams, and hogans."  "They used the entire animal when they killed an animal for food.  They cooking utensils, weapons, instruments, jewelry, etc. out of the other parts of the animal.  "Some of the tribes moved around from place to place."  "They were here before we were."  Watchers of the Canyon Burning Sky