# American Composer Corner: Chief Kennekuk



## BuddhaBandit

CHIEF KENNEKUK
















Chief Kennekuk was a composer widely celebrated during his prime in the 19th century but is sadly neglected today. As a Kickapoo (Native American) medicine man, Kennekuk was known for his virtuosity on the rattle and his exuberant dancing. His people spoke reverentially of his rattle improvisations.

Kennekuk was unique among early 19th century composers in that he eschewed the late classical/early romantic style and focused on rhythmic motifs with little or no pitch. While his driving accompaniment figures were clearly indebted to the allegros of Haydn and Mozart, he completely rejected both composers' phrasing and harmonies. He was far ahead of his time and influenced such groundbreaking pieces as John Cage's First Construction and Steve Reich's Drumming.

Kennekuk was also highly prolific. His compositions include the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Rattle, the Toccata and Fugue for Rattle, the Kickapoo Rhapsodies, and his masterpiece, the six Rattle Quartets.

Unfortunately, there are no recordings of this immensely talented musician available today. I hope that this shameful gap in recorded music will soon be remedied.


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## Mirror Image

I never heard of this composer, so kudos for that. That's a shame no recordings are available. Does he have any formal training as a composer? Did he actually write his music?


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## andruini

LOOOOLololoololol..
Best thread ever!
Seriously though, MI, how could you buy this? Buddha is obviously "Kickin-a-poo" (ok, bad pun).


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## Mirror Image

andruini said:


> LOOOOLololoololol..
> Best thread ever!
> Seriously though, MI, how could you buy this? Buddha is obviously "Kickin-a-poo" (ok, bad pun).


Well I didn't know, I thought Buddha was being serious. Oh well, that's a shame I did think it was strange that a Native American would be composing classical music.


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## BuddhaBandit

Mirror Image said:


> Does he have any formal training as a composer? Did he actually write his music?


Yes, he did (for both questions). He studied at the Little Big Horn conservatory, a music school established by the U.S. government in an attempt to "civilize" the Native Americans. He studied under Merry and Wether Lewis, two brothers well-versed in European classical techniques (Merry and Wether also taught Pocahontas, until her marriage with John Rolfe). However, Kennekuk soon split off and invented his own style of notation, which assigned words to each note of the scale: kicka-do, kicka-re, kicka-mi, kicka-fa, kicka-sol, kicka-la, kicka-ti, and back to kicka-do.


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## BuddhaBandit

Mirror Image said:


> Well I didn't know, I thought Buddha was being serious. Oh well, that's a shame I did think it was strange that a Native American would be composing classical music.


I _was_ being serious. In fact, MI, Kennekuk even inspired your beloved Ravel- his "Gaspard de la Kickapoo" was the basis for Ravel's similarly-titled, but more famous, piano composition.


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## Mirror Image

BuddhaBandit said:


> Yes, he did (for both questions). He studied at the Little Big Horn conservatory, a music school established by the U.S. government in an attempt to "civilize" the Native Americans. He studied under Merry and Wether Lewis, two brothers well-versed in European classical techniques (Merry and Wether also taught Pocahontas, until her marriage with John Rolfe). However, Kennekuk soon split off and invented his own style of notation, which assigned words to each note of the scale: kicka-do, kicka-re, kicka-mi, kicka-fa, kicka-sol, kicka-la, kicka-ti, and back to kicka-do.


That's a good one! Hahahahaha...


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## Mirror Image

Here's what Wikipedia said about Kennekuk:

Kennekuk (c. 1790-1852) was a Kickapoo medicine man and leader known as the "Kickapoo Prophet." He encouraged a community based on peacefulness, abstinence from alcohol, and meditation.[1] He favored moderate accommodation to US policy, for example a settled agricultural life, and this caused his followers to face derision from some of the other Kickapoo bands. He also sought US aid when raided by other Kickapoo further causing a rift. His community's religious outlook also meant evangelism and a group of Potawatomi converts joined his group.[


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## BuddhaBandit

Mirror Image said:


> Here's what Wikipedia said about Kennekuk:
> 
> Kennekuk (c. 1790-1852) was a Kickapoo medicine man and leader known as the "Kickapoo Prophet." He encouraged a community based on peacefulness, abstinence from alcohol, and meditation.[1] He favored moderate accommodation to US policy, for example a settled agricultural life, and this caused his followers to face derision from some of the other Kickapoo bands. He also sought US aid when raided by other Kickapoo further causing a rift. His community's religious outlook also meant evangelism and a group of Potawatomi converts joined his group.[


Yes. In all seriousness, Kennekuk was an important native leader due to the counterexample he set. When most Americans think of Native American medicine men, they think of Wovoka, the Ghost Dance, and Wounded Knee (i.e. ultra-spiritual, "protesting" natives). Kennekuk was the Martin Luther King of the Native Americans- a pacifist who believed the gradual improvement of Indian life instead of a mass demonstration. His leadership was not the spiritual leadership of a Sitting Bull, but the practical, everyday leadership of an FDR. His musical talents aside, that is why he should be respected.


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## Mirror Image

BuddhaBandit said:


> Yes. In all seriousness, Kennekuk was an important native leader due to the counterexample he set. When most Americans think of Native American medicine men, they think of Wovoka, the Ghost Dance, and Wounded Knee (i.e. ultra-spiritual, "protesting" natives). Kennekuk was the Martin Luther King of the Native Americans- a pacifist who believed the gradual improvement of Indian life instead of a mass demonstration. His leadership was not the spiritual leadership of a Sitting Bull, but the practical, everyday leadership of an FDR. His musical talents aside, that is why he should be respected.


Okay that's nice let's get back to discussing music.


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## andruini

The world would be a better place if there was in fact a piece called Gaspard de la Kickapoo..


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## Guest

And yet C19th music in general - including American works - is notable for its rhythmic banality. Outside 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8, very few time-signatures were employed. The idea of music based on rhythm rather than pitch was almost unknown. Similarly the range of percussion instruments deployed in C19th orchestral works is puny compared to those written in the C20th. Very often symphonists like Brahms employed no percussion instruments at all, except for timpani. 

While it might be "amusing" to laugh at the idea of someone outside the euro-american musical continuum writing music for pitchless instruments that has rhythmic complexity as its impetus, in fact this is exactly what happened in the C20th... as composers from the "traditional" continuum abandoned their conservative prejudices and absorbed greater rhythmic variety from non-european cultures. Similarly composers from outside that traditional continuum became more accepted and wrote music that was independent of it.

The C19th obsession with pitch and tonality has become a creative cul-de-sac, and rhythmic subtleties offer the greatest area of possible new developments for music. Music written in non-square time-signatures, in variable time-signatures, without time-signatures, and in additive rhythm structures has barely been explored in the "classical" sphere... despite such music enjoying great popularity in non-eurocentric cultures.


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## david johnson

didn't simon rattle record all those rattle works mentioned in the o/p?
i think i've got that box set here somewere...

dj


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## Sid James

Seriously, the native people of the American continent have a considerable musical heritage. Unfortunately, much of it has been lost due to colonisation. I suppose the pan pipes are one of the instruments that some of the native peoples of that continent used.

A few months back, I saw some street musicians in Sydney who were visiting from Europe. They looked like native Americans & wore traditional dress & played instruments such as the pan pipes (of a huge array of sizes), a mini gong like instrument & drums. This was done to a backing track, but it still sounded quite authentic. One of the songs they played was the title track from the movie _The last of the Mohicans_. I bought one of their cd's & it's pretty interesting. I'm not sure, but I think they were Columbian, since that flag is on the album.


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## Mirror Image

Andre said:


> Seriously, the native people of the American continent have a considerable musical heritage. Unfortunately, much of it has been lost due to colonisation. I suppose the pan pipes are one of the instruments that some of the native peoples of that continent used.
> 
> A few months back, I saw some street musicians in Sydney who were visiting from Europe. They looked like native Americans & wore traditional dress & played instruments such as the pan pipes (of a huge array of sizes), a mini gong like instrument & drums. This was done to a backing track, but it still sounded quite authentic. One of the songs they played was the title track from the movie _The last of the Mohicans_. I bought one of their cd's & it's pretty interesting. I'm not sure, but I think they were Columbian, since that flag is on the album.


You should look into George Frederick McKay. He composed a piece called "Moonlit Ceremony" that uses many Native American melodies. The music doesn't employ Native American instruments, but it's still a beautiful piece of music.

The Naxos "American Classics" series has several recordings of McKay's music available.


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## Bach

I'm genuinely disappointed that this is a hoax. Enlightened humour though!


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## Mirror Image

I'm surprised this thread even continues to get responses.


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## Sid James

Well, I think that there should be a thread dedicated to how native/indigenous music has influenced classical (including Native American).

& I will buy some McKay in the near future. I've really enjoyed the few Naxos 'American Classics' that I have acquired. There hasn't been a bad recording among them, they are artistically & technically excellent, and a great way to discover some good non-European classical for a change...


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## BuddhaBandit

andruini said:


> The world would be a better place if there was in fact a piece called Gaspard de la Kickapoo..


I'm rather inspired to write it myself...



Bach said:


> I'm genuinely disappointed that this is a hoax. Enlightened humour though!


*bows* I was aiming for the line between "believable" and "ridiculous", so I'm glad you and MI found this to be somewhat plausible.


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