Native American Composers with Penny Lazarus on the Morning Show August
August 23, 2023This Week’s “Morning Show” Features:
Native American Composers with Penny Lazarus — Featuring Performances by Her Piano Students
This week I have the pleasure of talking with Newburyport’s distinguished music educator and piano teacher Penny Lazarus, whose students incorporate a thematic project into their studies each year. Penny will discuss their most recent study and performance of music by American Indigenous composers.
Penny will talk about the tremendous diversity of Native American composers, and the many traditions they draw upon in their compositions. She will identify common misconceptions about the styles of music and instruments utilized by the composers, clarifying that it ranges far beyond “flutes and drums.”
Piano student Henry Grady will accompany Penny, and will discuss the impact the project had on his own and other students’ learning.
Penny and her students performed a recital of Native American composers in June at St. Paul’s Church. She will play video clips of their renditions of works by some of the composers they studied, including Charles Shadle, Connor Chee, Jerod Tate, and Arielle Hines-Lunn.
Student performers include Grady as well as Paz Rivas, Sam Lemoine, and Levi Irose.
Penny will also discuss the common ethos shared by the diverse compositions that she and her students studied, defining it as one of “respect for the earth and nature,” and musically representing the “idea that time can stand still long enough to be fully present in the moment.”
