Connor Chee and Renata Yazzie edited and compiled this fantastic new repertoire book for elementary piano players. The book features compositions from Jessica McMann / Sparvier-Wells, Sonny-Ray Day-Rider, and Beverley McKiver.
Weaving Sounds is a collection of piano repertoire written by the vibrant and diverse voices of Native and Indigenous composers from the Dine, Mohawk, Anishinaabe, Cree, Blackfeet, Jicarilla Apache, Choctaw, and Mohican communities. Each piece is a unique expression of the composers’ cultural roots and personal artistry, offering a tapestry of sounds that are both accessible to beginners and deeply meaningful. The pieces are presented in order of progressive difficulty and include information about the composers and their communities.
Editor Connor Chee writes on Jessica McMann / V. Jessica Sparvier-Wells (Cree):
“Jessica McMann, who is in the process of reclaiming her birth name and will soon be known as Virginia Jessica Sparvier-Wells, is a composer and flutist whose work artfully merges classical music with Indigenous traditions. Her compositions and performances are deeply connected to land, Indigenous identity, history, and language, reflecting a rich engagement with her Cree heritage. She often weaves Cree language and cultural elements into her music, enriching her classical training with a distinct cultural voice. McMann’s creative practice ectends beyond traditional composition, focusing on land-based creation, where the themes of connection, disconnection, and home emerge as central to her work. This approach emphasizes the powerful ties between music, place, and identity, as shge exploires the intersection between personal and cultural, gorunding her soundscapes in both the physical and spirtual aspects of Indigenous life.
Her work is a reminder that Indigenous composers are not bound by one medium, or cultural tradition. McMann’s compositions break away from the stereotype that Indigenous music exists in a vacuum, disconnected from Western classical music or contemporary soundscapes. Instead, sher skillfully weaves her cultural heritage into her music, making it clear that these two worlds can coexist and enrich one another”.