{"id":81133,"date":"2021-11-11T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allclassical.org\/?p=81133"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:36:35","slug":"exploring-music-by-indigenous-composers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allclassical.org\/exploring-music-by-indigenous-composers\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Music by Indigenous Composers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November is <\/span><\/span>National Native American Heritage Month<\/span><\/span><\/a>, which presents classical music with a challenging topic. The classical tradition has a long record of cultural appropriation when it comes to indigenous <\/span>musics<\/span> from North America and around the globe. <\/span>In the late Victorian era, n<\/span>on-native composers attempted to explore Native American influences in efforts like the late Victorian <\/span><\/span>Indianist Movement<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u2014<\/span><\/span>much of this music is criticized for othering and caricaturing its sources. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

T<\/span>he twentieth and twenty-first centuries brought us an increasing number of <\/span>Indigenous <\/span>classical composers who present their own musical tradition from within. <\/span>To help you explore the rich world of Native American music<\/span>, we\u2019d like to share six composers and musical works, all of which<\/span> explore traditional music in nontraditional ways.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photograph of Louis Ballard courtesy of Cincinnati Public Radio <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Louis W. Ballard
Katcina Dances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Louis Ballard (1931-2007) was among the first composers of Native American heritage to exert a profound influence on the culture of classical music. Ballard was of Cherokee and Quawpaw descent, and was born on the Quawpaw Reservation in Oklahoma. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Ballard\u2019s career as a composer and educator included appointments with the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, and with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1997, Ballard received a Lifetime Musical Achievement Award from First Americans in the Arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ballard\u2019s compositions fuse modernist classical techniques with influences from his Native heritage. This recording features a wonderful bassoon rendition of the fourth movement, \u201cBees,\u201d from Ballard\u2019s Katcina Dances, a 1969 suite which Ballard originally composed for cello and piano. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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