The Thunderbird - Movement 1

The Thunderbird is a piece that tells the story of a long history of suffering and perseverance. Based on a Native American legend common throughout many tribes, the Thunderbird is a mythical being said to have protected over the world above, while a horned serpent lives in the world below. These two forces are constantly at odds with each other, however in one Potawatomi tale, a hunter happened to stumble across the two deities engaged in a struggle. Not knowing which side to trust, the hunter shot a blind arrow towards both, and it struck the thunderbird, who plummeted below a mountain. However, this legend is merely the scaffolding through which I build a greater narrative about Native American genocide and forced assimilation into European culture throughout the history of the Americas. The main theme, introduced in the first minute of the piece by a solemn quartet, is based on a theme by Thomas Commuck, the first ever published Native American composer. Commuck also happened to be in the Brothertown tribe, the same tribe that I belong to. His music, however, is not what you might expect; it is written in a European-American style of shapenote writing that Commuck was likely constrained into doing. I wanted to use this idea to shape how Native American culture was gradually repressed over time: The first time we hear the Commuck theme, it is wild and free, in a pentatonic mode that could resemble the singing or playing of a traditional Native American 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 an entire group of people were coerced into a culture that was not theirs, they fought back, and continue to do so until this day.