Welcome
November is Native American Heritage Month! Explore these resources for Native American music and musicians at Curtis and on the web.
Native American alumni
Fred Cardin (Composition, 1927)
Learn more about Fred Cardin:
https://www.curtis.edu/news/celebrating-native-american-heritage-fred-cardin-pejawah-composition-27/
Books
An American Sunrise : Poems by Call Number: PS3558.A62423 A64 2019ISBN: 9781324003861Publication Date: 2019
Poet Warrior : A memoir by Call Number: PS3558.A62423 Z46 2021ISBN: 9780393248524Publication Date: 2021
Braiding Sweetgrass : Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by ISBN: 9781571311771Publication Date: 2020
New Poets of Native Nations by Call Number: PS591 .I55 N46 2018ISBN: 9781555978099Publication Date: 2018
Sending My Heart Back Across the Years: Tradition and Innovation in Native American Autobiography by Call Number: E89.5 .W66 1992ISBN: 0195069129Publication Date: 1992- The Indians' book : an offering by the American Indians of Indian lore, musical and narrative, to form a record of the songs and legends of their race byCall Number: E98.F6 B961 1923Publication Date: 1923
Scores
- Cree war dance : on an Indian melody recorded by Thurlow Lieurance for violin and piano byCall Number: M221.C267 C7Publication Date: 1924
- Writing American Indian Music : historic transcriptions, notations, and arrangements byCall Number: ML3557 .W75 2002ISBN: 0895794942Publication Date: 2002Includes information on Native notations and transcriptions.
Web resources
- Native Sounds by Rita PyrillisArticle from Symphony magazine, spring 2021 issue, on orchestral music by Native composers.
- Native American Composer Apprentice ProjectAn outreach program of the Grand Canyon Music Festival that is dedicated to teaching Native American young people to compose concert music
- Indian Melodies (1845) by Thomas CommuckA collection of songs. One of the earliest books to be authored by a Native American regarding Native American culture.
- American Indigenous Music guideA selection of resources for appreciating and researching Native American music of North America. Created by Joseph Sioui (Wendat) in 2023.
More information
Curtis sits on land that is the ancestral home of the Lenape (Lenni-Lenape, Delaware) people, many of whom were displaced after the arrival of Europeans to the Delaware River Valley. While several of these groups have been recognized by the U.S. government, the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania remains unrecognized as of this writing.
Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania website: https://www.lenape-nation.org/
Article in Philadelphia Magazine: https://www.phillymag.com/news/2021/11/06/lenape-nation-pennsylvania/
Hidden City Philadelphia article on erasing Lenape from Philadelphia history: https://hiddencityphila.org/2019/08/philadelphias-forgotten-forebears-how-pennsylvania-erased-the-lenape-from-local-history/
WHYY story: https://whyy.org/articles/we-just-want-to-be-welcomed-back-the-lenape-seek-a-return-home/
More resources and Information at Native Land Digital: https://native-land.ca/maps/territories/lenape/
Recordings
- Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa byCall Number: CD-14116Publication Date: 2018Modern rearrangements of traditional Walastoq songs represent a fusion of different styles: classical, pop, jazz, which Jeremy Dutcher combines with the ancestral voices singing forgotten songs and stories, originally recorded on wax cylinders between 1907 and 1911 and compiled by an anthropologist William Mechling. Performed in Wolastoqey (also known as Maliseet-Passamaquoddy), language of an Indigenous community traditionally found along the Saint John River.