Photo (above) by Lyndsey Brollini, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute.
Rationale
When designing a unit for elementary music that demonstrates an understanding of place-based and culture-based instruction, the following guided my thinking:
- There are roughly 60 fluent Lingít speakers left in Alaska (AK Public Media, 2019).
- Alaska Native Elders are respected culture-bearers and educators in the community.
- Information set to music is among the easiest to remember (Mitchell, H., 2013).
- Many Lingít songs are owned by clans and cannot be taught in school without permission. Often what is available are Western/European songs sung in Lingít, which is not culturally responsive.
- The Lingít language is a tonal language comprised of low and high tones: it is a musical language.
- Southeast Traditional Tribal Values posted in JSD classrooms are often overlooked.
- Sealaska Heritage Institute and Goldbelt Heritage Foundation have free educational resources integrating Lingít oral narratives, language and songs published on their websites.
- A cultural specialist explained to me that songs in Lingít donʼt always help teach the language because the melody does not align with the high and low tones of the language.
- Telling stories, not reading them, is a traditional way of acquiring and passing on the traditions and history of the Lingít people.
The Spark
Why not use the musicality of the Lingít language to create a new song that reinforces the high and low tones of the language, while helping bring the Southeast Traditional Tribal Values to life for students and teachers. These values, along with those identified by Sealaska Heritage Institute, form the content of the Haa Kusteeyí: Our Way of Life song, which is not a traditional Lingít song, but rather one created from the sounds and rhythm of the language. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate how the musicality of the Lingít language can serve as the basis for creating new music that directly supports Lingít language learning. Through story and song, this unit strives to bring these values alive for all children by singing them in Lingít and exploring their meanings through traditional oral narratives.
The five overarching values form the chorus:
The tribal values detailed under Haa Kusteeyí will serve as the verses, which will be taught two or three at a time each year of an elementary childʼs life. Language learning demands long-term practice and repetition, so the Haa Ḵusteeyí song is a cumulative song in which verses sung in the earlier grades are constantly reviewed. Where possible, I placed values where they might be most developmentally supportive (i.e. Patience in Kindergarten, Courage in 5th grade). In doing so, 5th graders can sing all of the verses they learned throughout their elementary school career as part of their promotion ceremony, symbolizing how these values and the wisdom of our elders will carry them throughout school and life.
The five overarching values form the chorus:
- Haa Shuká (Our Past, Present, Future)
- Haa Ḵusteeyí (Our Way of Life)
- Haa Latseen (Our Strength, Leadership)
- Haa Aaní (Our Land): Honoring & Utilizing our Land
- Wooch Yax̱ (Balance, Reciprocity and Respect)
The tribal values detailed under Haa Kusteeyí will serve as the verses, which will be taught two or three at a time each year of an elementary childʼs life. Language learning demands long-term practice and repetition, so the Haa Ḵusteeyí song is a cumulative song in which verses sung in the earlier grades are constantly reviewed. Where possible, I placed values where they might be most developmentally supportive (i.e. Patience in Kindergarten, Courage in 5th grade). In doing so, 5th graders can sing all of the verses they learned throughout their elementary school career as part of their promotion ceremony, symbolizing how these values and the wisdom of our elders will carry them throughout school and life.
