If the idea of being in the midst of wolves, eagles, ravens and Taku Winds in early November seems unsettling, it may be comforting (or perhaps not) to know they’ll all be confined with you in a room at Thunder Mountain Middle School.
The Taku Winds ensemble of about 40 musicians is scheduled to perform an “Eagles, Ravens and Wolf” concert at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. While the orchestra will look familiar, the music will reach far past traditional classical roots by featuring works by Indigenous composers throughout North America.
“It’s actually quite interesting that one of them is Canadian, and three or four of them are of American Indian descent from different tribes,” said Sarah McNair-Grove, president of Juneau Community Bands and a clarinetist in the ensemble. “One is Chickasaw, one is Mohican. A piece that was written for us is by one of our players. Of course, he’s Tlingit. And then we have one Mexican piece and he does have Indian ancestry.”
Two of the songs will highlight Tlingit performers with long ties to Southeast Alaska. Artemio Ka-too-neh Sandoval, the ensemble’s principal bassoon player, will debut his composition “Raven and the Box of Daylight.” The finale — “Thunder Song,” composed by Jared Tate, Chikasaw — will feature a timpani solo by percussionist Ed Littlefield, who has performed in a wide range of shows in Juneau for many years.
The concept for the concert originated with William Todd Hunt, who is conducting the performance, McNair-Grove said.
“It’s sort of been percolating for a year or two — you know, looking for pieces of music,” she said. “And he found a couple and I found a couple, and he looked at the various pieces and picked the ones he liked.”
“Thunder Song” was one of the two compositions being performed Saturday selected by McNair-Grove.
“It’s an unusual, unique piece,” she said. “And I thought ‘Oh, if we just had a great percussion player.’ And it just happened that Ed Littlefield is in town doing a residency at one of the schools, and he said ‘I would love to stay over and play this for you.’ So we ended up with a great percussionist to do it.”
The other composition selected by McNair-Grove is “Grandmother Song” by Brent Michael Davids, a Mohican.
“I thought the ‘Grandmother song’ was interesting because it has the players singing as well as playing and, I thought, kind of a unique, different concept,” she said. “I also thought it just sounded really nice.”
While the compositions are written with traditional ensembles in mind, there are a few unique sounds and challenges, McNair-Grove said. There is, for instance, “lots and lots of percussion,” including one song featuring an ocean drum (which, as its name suggests, is meant to imitate the sounds of the ocean).
Presenting a challenge for the performers is “Sinfonia India” by Carlos Chávez, a 20th century Mexican composer and conductor, due to an unusual cadence, McNair-Grove said.
“The thing that’s really difficult about that one is that there are frequent meter changes and they are unusual meters,” she said. So in addition to the musicians trying to shift between 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, etc. time, “it’s also challenging for our conductor because he’s got to be sure that he gets all those beats to keep us together with him. So that’s kind of fun.”
Also featured in the program are three compositions by Bob Baker, a Squamish First Nation composer: “Raven (The Trickster),” “The Gathering of Eagles” and “Wolf Song.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
Percussionist Ed Littlefield prepares to strike a timpani during rehearsals for Juneau Symphony’s Holiday Cheer concert in December of 2022. He will perform in a Taku Winds concert on Saturday at Thunder Mountain Middle School. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)
