The Thunderbird - Movement 1: East - "Save the Man"

The core musical material in this work, introduced in the first minute of the piece by a wind quartet, is based on a theme by Thomas Commuck, the first published Native American composer. Commuck was a member of the Brothertown tribe, the same tribe that I belong to. His music, however, is different from what you might first expect; it's written in a European-American style of shape-note writing that Commuck was likely constrained into using. I wanted to use this idea to shape how American Indigenous culture was gradually repressed over time: The first time the Commuck theme is introduced, it is wild and free, in a pentatonic mode that could resemble the singing or playing of a traditional native song. The theme comes back in this quartet style two other times throughout the piece, each time getting closer to the original writing by Commuck, and thus more homogenized into a European sound. However, as this process happens, the musical texture underneath this melody grows more passionate and enraged. This represents how although entire groups of people were coerced into a culture that was not theirs, they fought back, and continue to do so until this day.