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The Music Within Jennifer Stevens was provided by Billie Kress; First Nations Composer Initiative; Oneida Nation Arts Program; Wisconsin Arts Board; Oneida Nation; Marianne VanDrisse; The Byron L. Walter Family Trust; Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Green Bay; Miriam Erickson; and Richard and Karen Blahnik. >> I am Wakohsiyo. My name means a bird with beautiful tail feathers. I am Jennifer Marie Stevens, my English name. I'm an Oneida potter. I'm a Classical singer. I'm a part-time opera singer. Come on, baby girl... I'm actually a part time everything!

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>> Oneida classical singer Jennifer Stevens has been fusing two worlds in her art, her music and her life. Now culminating in a dream come true, with a Common Ground concert before the Green Bay and Oneida communities. >> My theme for the concert was dare to dream, dare to inspire. I was hoping that our big-time performers could also play a part in inspiration for our community and also for our youth. I also wanted to incorporate Owe-la in the concert, Common Ground, because that is an example of fusion. Because it's fusing both the English language with the Oneida language, but it's also fusing the classical music with the Native American theme about the wind, about finding my wind song, that's the translation, primarily. So with that in mind, I thought that was important. Also, I think the song is inspirational. Because in the song, I'm talking about how I'm finding my song in my life. To me, I think everybody has a song, if you sing or not. You're really finding your soul, finding your soul throughout your life. It's also beautiful that we are resilient. We are here today. We're surviving. And for myself, I'm very much a contemporary woman, a Native American woman, that is able to take my artwork and extract the traditions, and show that I can exist in a modern day world through my art. Out of all the music in the world, opera has been the one genre that has spoke to my soul. When I sing it, I feel like my soul is soaring into the rafters. It's an amazing feeling. It's a very spiritual feeling. I love Italian opera. Puccini and Pavarotti were the beginning of my love for opera. People have asked me, you know, "You're Native American, what are you doing singing opera?" And I laugh and I say, "I know that may seem kind of strange to you, but it's actually quite awesome for me, because I love it in spite of what my nationality is. I think classical music is something that you can utilize to touch all different cultures, and honor all cultures, and honor the languages, and stuff. It's fun. "Vissi d'arte" is one of favorite arias. I like the translations. She's talking about her love for her art. She was an opera singer in the opera. It's so beautiful, and it's so passionate.

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>> And breathe. Okay! When we get to that held note, we really want to concentrate on not holding the back of the tongue. >> Okay. >> Okay? Yeah, yeah. It's going to feel deeper to you. I want you to just concentrate on your air column. >> Okay. >> Don't feel like you have to rush... >> Opera is a very precise art form, because it is definitely a discipline. Sometimes people think that breathing is so easy, and for singers it's supposed to be. But it's a challenge for us sometimes, because opera singers are different in a sense, compared to pop singers and jazz singers, because we're holding our voice and we're doing dynamics. We're doing extensions. We're holding our voice a lot longer. Not only are we just holding our voice out, we're doing things with it. We're coloring our phrasing with it. We're expressing through it. >> You want to make sure you singing an "EEEE." >> Cosi... >> Co-zeee... Okay? Just remember, you can hold the syllable here, because they have to wait for you. >> Okay. Because I want to hold it. >> Yes, absolutely. That's what people pay to hear, these high notes... >> It's a discipline. You definitely have to be dedicated. You're working hard. It's time consuming. It's a miracle that I'm able to sing opera as much as I do. I classify myself as a concert recitalist, because I do recitals more than I sing in actual full productions. I haven't done a lot of that. I hope to do a little bit before I get too old to sing, but I'm definitely a concert recitalist. Singing at the Heard Museum, a nationally known prestigious Native American museum, was quite an honor. I was floored to be invited to sing there. I also sang my first song cycle. It's called "Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire & Water." I wrote that prior to the concert. I wrote it for that concert. That was kind of the start of me writing songs for my recitals. Now I think I'm on a roll. I felt that Lawrence Harris was a wonderful addition to the concert, because one of the goals I wanted to strive for, for the concerts, because we're talking about common grounds. One way to have common ground for people is to start breaking down the generalizations and the stereotypes. I thought that he was an excellent addition to the concert, because he's breaking stereotypes left and right. He's Native American. He's half Irish. He's a former football player, and he's singing opera. I mean, if anyone's breaking stereotypes, he's a walking stereotype breaker. >> The Common Grounds concert is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It's also a very historical moment, and I'm very honored and proud to be part of it. These are the kinds of things that as a child, when you hear briefly of your ancestry, for it to come to this kind of celebration, it's very fulfilling, and it means a lot to my heart. And sometime as a child, I began to listen to the Metropolitan Opera Texaco broadcast on the radio. I would go into my closet, and listen to my radio. And during the intermissions, they always spoke of the story, and you now, it was a very interesting story for me. Then how the music expressed that story was very interesting for me. No one really knew I was doing that, I don't think. So, that was my first exposure to opera. I'm able to sing those beautiful Tosti songs, which were music of the common man, the common people of that region of Italy.

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>> I was happy that Kevin Lock added his own fusion to the concert. We talked briefly about it. He fused the traditional flute with jazz. >> I started to amass this repertoire of these traditional songs on the flute. Even the expressions are from the pre-Reservation days. They give a real snapshot of the way, you know, the people, their lifestyle. As far as I know, I'm the only person on the planet who has these traditional songs now. But I love to share them, you know? It's almost like opera. It's a tradition that developed in Italy over many, many generations. I guess you'd call them folk arts or folk traditions. It's something that really it's a platform or a vehicle for the expression of very universal themes, notably the universality of the human spirit to express itself in ways that are beautiful, harmonious, and balanced, and just really convey or portray the nobility of the human spirit. >> I fuse my music. I fuse classical music with contemporary music, with Native American language, with Native American theme. I fuse my art. I'm a traditional Iroquois potter, and yet I am fusing it with contemporary themes. I think it's just my nature. With my mother passing away in 2001, I took about a five-year break. I wasn't singing. What ended up happening, I'd get this invitation to be an apprentice with this potter. Through the pottery, I believe it helped heal me and helped me get through. The Iroquois tradition is what potters call a hand building technique, or the coil method. There's two different ways of explaining it. The coil method or hand building technique has been a technique for all cultures throughout the world. And what it is, is that you're literally rolling out coils and you're taking the coils and you're stacking them. You're applying them, you're welding them or blending them together to form your pot. So the Iroquois, that's what they did. They also used paddles to shape it. You can tell the difference between Iroquois pottery from any pottery in the world. It's quite distinctive, because they have these prints on it. That's the tradition. But I'm definitely doing fusion, because I'm using these contemporary designs, but still utilizing the old technique of the Iroquois pottery. I also do that in my music, as well. I ended up wanting to incorporate the Iroquois designs in my paintings, because I already was getting the linear designs, the geometric designs of the Iroquois pottery down pat. So I thought, you know what'd be really neat, is to somehow figure out how I can put the designs and the texture into the painting, and then paint on top of it in a contemporary way. I enjoy fusing both the old and the new, infusing things together. It's actually kind of intellectual, too, to a certain degree, because you have to think about it. You have to assess it, and see how you can make it happen. "Amazing Grace," in my eyes, is one of those songs that can be sung in any language, and any culture will be able to relate to it and connect with it. Also, "Amazing Grace" is something that has been sung in Oneida and English all my life. I think it's probably one of the most universal songs that is most inspirational. Also, I selected it, because growing up, I grew up hearing the Oneida Hymnal Singers singing it. It's just been a tradition that's been passed on from one generation to the next. They sing a cappella. They sing how they did 100 years ago. I have my whole life Don't be holding back There's so much I want to do In my life I have so many dreams... If I'm going to write for children, what can I write that's going to be something they can relate to, or maybe something that can affect them in a positive way? So I thought, what about dreams. It's not opera. It's not necessarily classical. But it's definitely contemporary. It even sounds, sometimes when I'm singing it, it even sounds like, it almost sounds like pop.

singing "Dreams in Your Life"

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The lullaby, "Gah-sluh-dah," was my first song that I wrote in Oneida language by myself. I used my grandmother's Oneida dictionary. I wanted to write a song for Oneida youth, and I thought what better type of a song to write for them than a lullaby. So that's how it came to be. I love it, because I still can have the Oneida language in it, but it still has a contemporary, classical, even operatic feel to it. It's one of my favorite songs. That was the start of me singing more songs in the Oneida language, or writing more songs. I also discovered from a singer's perspective though, Oneida language is singer-friendly. It's quite lovely to sing in. I've had people say it's very open sounding.

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My grandmother was preserving the language through writing and assisting with the Oneida dictionary. And in a sense, I guess I'm taking a modern approach, and showing how you can utilize the Oneida language in your music, in your art today. So it's definitely, it's preserving it. I'm hoping that it'll inspire individuals, including myself, because I'm learning a lot singing it, and translating it, and working with the elders to be able to pronounce it right and also the translations. The song, "Muse," again, it was the second song that I wrote. I have sung baroque music. I'm definitely inspired by the style. So again, it's that thing, bringing in the old with the new. I was asked to write a song in honor of my grandmother. That was my first official song that I wrote in Oneida language. It's a song of gratitude. In fact, I called it "A Song of Gratitude" originally and then I changed it Ol-Na'. The words are translated, I'm singing a song that I made for you and I thank you very much. I think that's very appropriate. I love singing it at the end of my concerts because in a sense, I'm also not only honoring my grandmother, because I originally wrote it for her, but honoring my parents for raising me, and loving me, and inspiring me. So I also dedicate it to them, as well, but also for my audience and thanking them.

rhythmic drumming

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There was an energy going on there. There was a sense of community. Isn't wasn't just a physical thing. It was a spiritual thing. There were definitely-- The Creator was on that stage. I could feel it so strong. >> Funding for Owe"-la': The Music Within Jennifer Stevens" was provided by Billie Kress; First Nations Composer Initiative; Oneida Nation Arts Program; Wisconsin Arts Board; Oneida Nation; Marianne VanDrisse; The Byron L. Walter Family Trust; Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Green Bay; Miriam Erickson; and Richard and Karen Blahnik.