Sigma Alpha Iota

18 Winter 2024 • sai-national.org By Hollis Thoms N ative American history, thought, culture, and music have recently received renewed interest by many historians, writers, and musicians, and the general public has become more aware of, awakened to, and affected by it. Over the past year, I have become more aware of Native American history, thought, culture, and music, through a musicological study, a concert experience, and my own composing. ree musical works have provided a variety of perspectives on the Native American experience: Dennison Wheelock's Suite Aboriginal for band (1900), a musicological study; Jerod Tate's Victory Songs for baritone soloist and orchestra, a concert experience; and, the composing of my own one-act opera, Transfiguration at Grinder's Stand, for three singers and chamber ensemble, scheduled to premiere in summer 2024. Dennison Wheelock's Dennison Wheelock's Suite Aboriginal Suite Aboriginal for band (1900) for band (1900) Dennison Wheelock (1871-1927) was a famous Oneida band conductor, composer, and cornet soloist in the late 19 th century and early 20 th century. He was compared to John Philip Sousa and nominated to be bandmaster of the U. S. Marine Band aer Sousa. In addition to his career as a bandmaster, he became a lawyer, and was an activist and attorney, arguing for Indian Nations at the U.S. Court of Claims and the U.S. Supreme Court. Wheelock was born June 14, 1871 in the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. In 1885, he was enrolled at the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA, and in 1892 was appointed bandmaster at the school. He took his band on a tour of the eastern United States, expanded the band with the new name U.S. Indian Band, and in 1897, presented his band at William McKinley's Presidential Inauguration. While he continued his musical rise as a bandmaster and composer, he also became a lawyer in 1910, a founding member of the Society of American Indians in 1911, and in 1914, presented President Woodrow Wilson with a petition to improve legal rights of Native Americans. From then until the end of his life, he continued his accomplished musical and legal careers. He died March 10, 1927 in Washington, DC, where he had a successful law practice, and was buried in Green Bay, WI. e most significant event of Wheelock's career at the Carlisle Indian School, as bandmaster and as a composer, was the premiere of his Suite Aboriginal at Carnegie Hall on March 28, 1900. A reviewer said that the response was overwhelmingly positive and "a large and genuinely enthusiastic audience greeted the reservation musicians, forcing them to respond with repeated encores." Since its premiere, the work has rarely been heard, and no recording exists. Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA has only an incomplete set of parts in a 1900 arrangement for winds, strings, and percussion by Edward Beyer and published by Harry Coleman. I was, however, able to locate the original band arrangement that resulted from the premiere at Carnegie Hall, hidden away in the archives of Marshall's Civic Band in Topeka, KS, also edited by Beyer and published by Coleman. ey were kind enough to send me the complete set of parts, but no complete score existed. I reconstructed the entire piece by putting the set of parts into Finale, and was able to listen to the piece aer 122 years. e wonderful 11-minute work is scored for large band with three movements to the "Symphony." Movement 1 entitled "Morning on the Plains"; movement 2, "e Lover's Song"; and, movement 3, "e Dance of the Red Men." In this work, Wheelock sought to bring together Native American music and European musical traditions. He attempted to assimilate and MORE COMPOSER DISCOVERIES Three Perspectives on Native American History, Thought, Culture, and Music Cposers Dennison Wheelock Dennison Wheelock

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