Healing Through Music and Collaboration: Potlatch Symphony 2020

By Laurel Sercombe

Musical collaborations between Indigenous North American tradition bearers and non-indigenous musicians are no longer rare events, but each encounter involves navigating the dynamics of two very different ways of musical thinking. One such encounter, the Potlatch Symphony project, is the result of a collaborative effort between local western Washington tribes, Seattle area composer Janice Giteck and the Seattle Symphony.  

The public performances of Potlatch by the Seattle Symphony occur, appropriately, in Benaroya Hall, reflecting not only the significance of cross-cultural music-making but cognizance of the concert hall’s location near the site of a pre-contact Duwamish village, which the Symphony recognizes with a land acknowledgement before each concert.  

The project was initiated by the Seattle Symphony’s Education & Community Engagement team in 2012 as part of its Native Lands Community Composition Project, an effort to further connect with local Native communities. A prolific composer with an international reputation and, at the time, a Cornish College of the Arts faculty member, Janice Giteck was invited to join the project as Composer in Residence. Giteck had some prior experience working with Indigenous artists, including composing the music for the soundtrack of Teachings of the Tree People: The Work of Bruce Miller, a 2006 documentary about Skokomish artist and teacher Gerald Bruce súbiyay Miller. 

A series of meetings and two “cultural exchanges,” hosted by the Squaxin Island and Duwamish tribes, brought together Symphony musicians and Coast Salish youth and adult singers and drummers to get to know each other and share their music traditions. As these meetings proceeded, the participants gradually moved away from an “exchange” interaction and closer to a shared collaborative experience. As one participant at Squaxin described it, “We moved as one voice. We became a new form: together. We became new music: together. Most importantly, the hearts and minds of all our youth who participated tonight were heard: together.” 

Unlike the Western concept of composed musical works, where authorship is formalized in copyright law, Coast Salish songs and western Washington Indigenous songs (there is no strictly instrumental music) generally come from the spirit and are owned by individuals, families or communities. Songs may only be shared with the permission of the owner; they may also be gifted to an individual or a group. These rules of ownership must be respected. 

Two Indigenous songs became essential to the collaborative composition of Potlatch Symphony: “The Changer” and “Coast Salish Anthem (Chief Dan George Prayer Song).” “The Changer,” with words in Chinook Jargon (Chinook Wawa), came to Skokomish elder Gerald Bruce súbiyay Miller and is named for a myth-era being called dukʷibəɬ (or The Changer), who transformed the world into the form it is today. Miller gifted this song to a Chinook tribal member as well as offering it to others, and it is now considered by many to be “public” in the sense that tribal members, following protocol, can sing it in the context of a performance.  

Dan George (1899–1981), a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Coast Salish Nation in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, became a well-known actor in his 60s and, at 71, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Little Big Man. He was also an author and orator who influenced First Nations activism in the 1960s. Duwamish cultural leader Lakʷ  ̓əla̓s explained: “The song, known today as the ‘Coast Salish Anthem,’ was a gift to the International Tribal Canoe Journeys community from Chief Dan George.” Ownership of this anthem is shared by the Canoe Families who gather each summer for the Tribal Canoe Journeys, and it is considered “public” in the same sense as “The Changer.” Both songs were introduced at the Duwamish exchange event. 

At the time, Giteck’s approach to the collaboration was, she said, “to walk gently and leave a huge amount of openness and space for an exchange.” The amount of composed material for potential inclusion changed over the course of the project. In the end, the 2013 performance of Potlatch Symphony was made up of elements of both musical exchange and collaboration, including Indigenous songs sung by tribal members, composed music and improvisation. Indigenous flute player Paul Chiyokten Wagner (Wsaanich / W̱SÁNEĆ) and violinist Swil Kanim were featured along with Symphony players that included Laura DeLuca (clarinet and bass clarinet) and Wes Dyring (viola) as well as late local musician Paul Taub (flute and bass flute), also on the Cornish faculty and a friend of the Symphony. Potlatch Symphony was performed twice as part of the Symphony’s Day of Music event in Benaroya Hall on September 22, 2013, to enthusiastic, appreciative crowds. Then-Associate Conductor Stilian Kirov presided over both performances. 

The latest version of Potlatch Symphony is an outgrowth of the original work and was supposed to premiere in 2020. In fact, according to Chiyokten, “It’s been an ongoing project.” Jeremy Jolley, the Symphony’s Senior Director of Education & Community Engagement, was working with the orchestra and local tribes to stage the 2020 performance when it was postponed due to the COVID pandemic. Some four years later, Potlatch Symphony 2020 has evolved again, in both content and spirit. Originally envisioned as a musical exchange to further inter-cultural appreciation and understanding, its vision now encompasses both bridge-building and a message of healing.  

The power of healing inspired another work performed by the orchestra in 2006, The Healing Heart of Lushootseed, a symphony commissioned by Upper Skagit elder Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert that was composed by Bruce Ruddell and conducted by then-Music Director Gerard Schwarz. Hilbert was motivated by the attacks of 9/11 to invoke the healing power of her people’s songs to heal a troubled world. Potlatch Symphony 2020 also aims to help heal and change the world through Indigenous wisdom.  

The symphony opens with a “Processional” that finds tribal members in full regalia singing a traditional song (in 2013, it was the “Coast Salish Anthem (Chief Dan George Prayer Song)”) and playing rhythmic accompaniment on hand drums as they make their way through the doors of the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, down the aisles and to the stage before the orchestra launches into the first movement, “Meeting,” composed for 20 players. 

The biggest element of Potlatch Symphony 2020 is an expansive storytelling section delivered by Chiyokten, who will accompany himself on the flute, joined in parts by Swil Kanim on violin, as he tells the tale of “Two Sisters.” These two young Indigenous sisters are unknown to each other and represent two worlds, one where the ancient teachings have been lost. They are separated, and each becomes an elder, one governing her people in arrogance and the other following the traditional ways. They are reunited and ultimately work together to bring the ancient wisdom and knowledge back to their people.  

As with all his stories and songs, “Two Sisters” came to Chiyokten early in the morning, in a dream, as did the idea to include an oral and traditional storytelling aspect to the work, to bring those two worlds together. The two sisters would metaphorically represent the path of the two worlds. “One path is the world of tradition here… [and the other is] the settler colonial world.” Essential to the understanding of the old ways is the concept of x̌əč, the intellect of the heart, where wisdom lies. This is the basis of Indigenous teachings passed on by the elders over many generations. 

Like its predecessor, after Potlatch Symphony 2020 comes to a close, the tribal members will make their way off the stage in a recessional, singing another traditional song (where “The Changer” appeared in the original) as they file out of the hall. 

When describing his vision for Potlatch Symphony, Chiyokten explained: “Music is such a universal thing. We already have these bridges, these amazing bridges that are just beyond ourselves — the magic of music and its ability to reach into worlds that are beyond ourselves. We have a bridge there of commonality. Something to stand on — a foundation. Something to build upon.” 

Being a storyteller and educator, Chiyokten says his aim is always to create that bridge and provide perspective, “a way to see the world through ancient Indigenous eyes, and to feel the world through an Indigenous heart, so that we may begin to re-Indigenize ourselves. In other words, begin to heal ourselves holistically, and then from there, a healed human can turn around and heal the world wholistically, in an Indigenous way, in a holistic way.” He continued, “Those are my reasons for doing this, because that’s the work I do. I see this as a bridge, as an opportunity, to bring that medicine to this world. A healing medicine. An upward lifting medicine.” 

Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert was certain about music’s power to contribute to the healing of our world: “If you have listened with an open heart and an open mind, the music has done its work …”  


Laura DeLuca’s position is generously underwritten as the Dr. Robert Wallace Clarinet. 

The Arakawa Foundation proudly supports the Seattle Symphony's Community Partnerships for Youth and Education. Additional support is provided by Delta Air Lines. 

The Seattle Symphony’s Family, School & Community programs are supported by 4Culture, Marco Argenti, ArtsFund, the Merriman-Ross Family, and individual contributions to the Seattle Symphony Annual Fund.