I completed a one week residency on the Navajo Reservation last week with the music students of Many Farms High School. They have a fantastic piano lab up there with an enthusiastic teacher, Carol Ridley.

With the piano students, we worked on the basics of composing a melody, question and answer phrases, AABA form, using motifs, and writing harmonies for our melodies.

With the 13 member choir, we took the poetry of one of the students and set it to music. Here's the poem:

Last Day
by Jovonna Sandoval

The sweet scent of oaks and pines
in the morning after
A rainy night.  The air is fresh,
the sun is barely peeking
over the mountains.  She feels
the damp soil underneath
her moccasins as she runs.

She feel free, breathing
and filling her lungs with
cool, crisp, fresh air.
She runs back into the
hogan and catches her breath.

This is her last day as a
child.  Now begins the rest
of her life as a mature
woman.  Some think it's the
best feeling in the world,
to accept more responsibility
and challenges, and more freedom.


I really enjoyed my time with the students. They were very kind and engaged during the whole residency. I hope to visit there again next year!