Indian Story Time
“Indian Story Time” musically portrays two stories that readers can find in many sources, but here are two good publications:
[For the Dakota story]
“Tokaheya Dakota Iapi Kin: Beginning Dakota,” by Nicolette Knudson, Judy Snow and Clifford Canku. Published by the MHS Press [Minnesota Historical Society, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906]. ISBN 978-0-87351-780-5. Read “The Great Race” story in the chapter “Woonspe Ake Sahdogan: Animal Tales” [pages 67-68].
[For the Ojibwe story]
“Mikinaako-minis: Turtle Island,” by Wesley Ballinger. Published by the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission [GLIFWC, 72682 Maple Street, Odanah, WI 54861]. Their web address is http://www.glifwc.org and the full story and color posters are available online at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150348156938072
Both stories feature animated animal characters on an adventure of creating something through various ways of sharing. By sharing, bartering and exchanging gifts, Dakota and Ojibwe people maintain a strong commitment to family ties and extended kinship relations that include the earth as a cherished relative. The giving and receiving of gifts is almost a fundamental way of life for all American Indian people, including the Dakota and Ojibwe. These stories show how an important agreement was first made between the humans and the animals [Dakota], and how the animals worked together to create the entire land [Ojibwe]. The band music follows the emotional plot of both stories, eventually reaching the “turning point” or climax of each tale. As a tiny and worn-out Magpie [Dakota] races onward, and as a lone Muskrat [Ojibwe] dives deeper under the water, the anticipation builds within each story — and the music — eventually reaching a successful conclusion where everyone is in agreement and something amazing has occurred.
[For the Dakota story]
“Tokaheya Dakota Iapi Kin: Beginning Dakota,” by Nicolette Knudson, Judy Snow and Clifford Canku. Published by the MHS Press [Minnesota Historical Society, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906]. ISBN 978-0-87351-780-5. Read “The Great Race” story in the chapter “Woonspe Ake Sahdogan: Animal Tales” [pages 67-68].
[For the Ojibwe story]
“Mikinaako-minis: Turtle Island,” by Wesley Ballinger. Published by the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission [GLIFWC, 72682 Maple Street, Odanah, WI 54861]. Their web address is http://www.glifwc.org and the full story and color posters are available online at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150348156938072
Both stories feature animated animal characters on an adventure of creating something through various ways of sharing. By sharing, bartering and exchanging gifts, Dakota and Ojibwe people maintain a strong commitment to family ties and extended kinship relations that include the earth as a cherished relative. The giving and receiving of gifts is almost a fundamental way of life for all American Indian people, including the Dakota and Ojibwe. These stories show how an important agreement was first made between the humans and the animals [Dakota], and how the animals worked together to create the entire land [Ojibwe]. The band music follows the emotional plot of both stories, eventually reaching the “turning point” or climax of each tale. As a tiny and worn-out Magpie [Dakota] races onward, and as a lone Muskrat [Ojibwe] dives deeper under the water, the anticipation builds within each story — and the music — eventually reaching a successful conclusion where everyone is in agreement and something amazing has occurred.
Indian Treaty Time
“Indian Treaty Time” is all about Indian treaties in Minnesota, and is really about the history of the American Indian land in Minnesota. For information about Dakota and Ojibwe treaties in Minnesota, please refer to these websites as a place to start:
http://www.treatiesmatter.org/
"Ojibwe and Dakota people in what is now Minnesota signed dozens of treaties with the United States. Among these treaties are famous land cession agreements in which sovereign American Indian groups "retained ownership or use of natural resources – land, water, timber, minerals – or transferred these rights to the U.S."
http://www.minnesotahumanities.org/treaties
"In August 2010, a resolution creating a unique partnership of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. was approved by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and made it possible for this exhibition to be developed as an educational tool for Minnesota audiences."
http://www.treatiesmatter.org/about - VIDEO: "WhyTreaties Matter"
http://www.startribune.com/local/138264074.html
"Minnesota is divided on how best to commemorate the U.S.-Dakota War, which left hundreds dead and ended in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. A 150-year-old loop of rope, knotted into a hangman's noose, sits in a climate-controlled case in the underground archives of the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul... 'There's so much division in the Dakota community,' Brown said. 'It's not about blaming or shaming or guilting. Right now, it's about allowing the truth through history to be acknowledged and recognized'."
http://www.treatiesmatter.org/
"Ojibwe and Dakota people in what is now Minnesota signed dozens of treaties with the United States. Among these treaties are famous land cession agreements in which sovereign American Indian groups "retained ownership or use of natural resources – land, water, timber, minerals – or transferred these rights to the U.S."
http://www.minnesotahumanities.org/treaties
"In August 2010, a resolution creating a unique partnership of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. was approved by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and made it possible for this exhibition to be developed as an educational tool for Minnesota audiences."
http://www.treatiesmatter.org/about - VIDEO: "WhyTreaties Matter"
http://www.startribune.com/local/138264074.html
"Minnesota is divided on how best to commemorate the U.S.-Dakota War, which left hundreds dead and ended in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. A 150-year-old loop of rope, knotted into a hangman's noose, sits in a climate-controlled case in the underground archives of the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul... 'There's so much division in the Dakota community,' Brown said. 'It's not about blaming or shaming or guilting. Right now, it's about allowing the truth through history to be acknowledged and recognized'."
Note from the Composer
As you plan your season and syllabus, I urge you to directly contact the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations in your area and invite the Indigenous People to participate in your classes, rehearsals and concerts. Your students, parents and audiences will be “all the richer” for your efforts to include Native People in your activities! Indians have many stories to tell, songs to sing, musical instruments to play, and your educational and musical activities will benefit greatly! So please include them in your plans, inviting those same living treasures who inspired this very composition; contact them right away!
Contact Minnesota’s Tribal Offices, directly, to seek Dakota and Ojibwe educational consultants, storytellers, drummers, singers, artists and dancers for your classes, rehearsals and concerts. Tell them what you wish to do, share your goals, and ask them for their kind assistance with your program. Ojibwe and Dakota contact information is provided at the front of each score, or go here: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=855
If you wish to contact me about attending rehearsals, performing with your band, or assisting in your educational programs, please feel free to contact me directly as well.
Contact Minnesota’s Tribal Offices, directly, to seek Dakota and Ojibwe educational consultants, storytellers, drummers, singers, artists and dancers for your classes, rehearsals and concerts. Tell them what you wish to do, share your goals, and ask them for their kind assistance with your program. Ojibwe and Dakota contact information is provided at the front of each score, or go here: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=855
If you wish to contact me about attending rehearsals, performing with your band, or assisting in your educational programs, please feel free to contact me directly as well.
