Marcia Watson Bendo
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Citizen Potawatomi Nation

6/11/2018

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Repost From Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Direct Link to article.

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“I play with emotion, and I do sense the person who is supposedly speaking through this song, their pain or their emotion, and it is very touching,” said Native American flutist and professional musician Marcia Bendo.

In addition to her doctorate in psychology and a law degree, she performed as a violinist with the Tulsa Philharmonic for a decade beginning at age 19. She shared the stage with Doc Severinsen, Sammy Davis Jr., Roy Clark, Chet Atkins, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones and Tammy Wynette through the symphony’s Pops Series of concerts and her work as a freelance violinist.

Despite those experiences, the flute holds a special place in her heart, both musically and as a part of a bigger culture. Bendo is a Citizen Potawatomi Nation member and a descendent of the Bertrand family. Her grandfather enrolled her when she was 10 years old.

“As these memories and emotions come out in the music, you’ll think about your heritage. You’ll think about your ancestors,” she said. “It may make it more alive for some people. It’s just the emotional connection.”

Marcia Watson Bendo
Violin to flute
Bendo attended Tulsa International Mayfest in 1987, where she discovered musical duo Coyote Oldman. She purchased a flute and a cassette tape of their recordings from Michael Graham Allen, a member of the group who played an influential role in introducing Native American flute music into pop culture.

“I was just quite enthralled with the sound. Back in those days, you didn’t hear them very often, and it was a very haunting, melodic, beautiful sound,” Bendo said. “I didn’t know much about it, and it sat on my coffee table the whole time I was working on my Ph.D. in psychology.”

Finally, in 2011, she learned to play. Shortly after beginning private lessons and attending workshops, it became natural for her. She also researched the history of the instrument and attempted to find traditional Potawatomi flute pieces with little luck.

“Even though you’re playing an instrument, a rattle or a drum, or a song with your voice, it’s an oral tradition,” she explained. “There’s nothing written down and most likely nothing recorded either.”

Playing as a Potawatomi
Bendo performed at the 2016 Gathering of Potawatomi Nations and 2013 National Congress of American Indian Annual Convention & Marketplace. She has also exhibited her skills at every CPN Family Reunion Festival since 2012. During the annual event, she demonstrates her techniques.

“What I’ve done for my presentations at the Cultural Heritage Center is to make a collection of songs from many different tribes; a diverse collection that I usually play and explain, ‘This is from this tribe or nation,’” she said. “Many of them are very emotional songs. They’re women’s songs about their warriors going off to war, or they are songs about losing a love or finding a love, or songs about their children, lullabies.”

She now composes, too, and the writing process strengthens her connection with her Potawatomi culture and ancestors.

“Someone said to me once, ‘Well, Marcia, don’t worry about not being able to find any Potawatomi flute songs. You are Potawatomi. Anything you play is a Potawatomi song,’” she said. “That’s how I’m looking at it now. It may not be a traditional song that was sung or played 100 years ago, but they are songs from my heart.”

New album
Over the last two years, Bendo compiled an album of originals titled Woodland Moons. The 12 tracks represent each full moon throughout the year, and she utilized the traditional Potawatomi moon names for titles.

In Potawatomi culture, the moons signify the time of year through agriculture, animals, weather patterns and more. For example, June’s moon is De’mengises, or Strawberry Moon, named for the time of the bountiful berry harvest. November is Bnakwigises, or Fallen Leaves Moon, for the autumnal changing of foliage.

Attending a women’s full moon ceremony a couple of years ago inspired Bendo to research them. The spiritual experience piqued her interest about how Potawatomi of the past lived.

Marcia Bendo’s album Woodland Moons features 12 tracks inspired by each full moon and their significance in Potawatomi culture.

“I learned a lot about of the work activities and how hard they had to work. The sugarbush — they worked so hard getting sugar, the things that we take for granted,” she said. “It made it more real to me what my ancestors may have gone through.
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“I often write pieces of music when I’m feeling emotional about something.”
While moved by subject matter hundreds of years in the making, Bendo’s album puts a twist on the characteristics associated with Native American music, fusing her musical background as an orchestra violinist with her skills as a flutist.
“If I was going to describe my music, this album, it’s not traditional in the sense that it’s not ceremonial music,” she said.
“It’s contemporary, and I would describe it as cinematic.“It’s just a compilation of all the styles that I know and love.”
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World Flute Society

4/1/2018

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Below is a repost from World Flute Society and taken from "Flute Paths Section of the World Flute Society's quarterly publication, Overtones!" Repost by permission. You may order a copy by clicking this link (August 2017 / Vol.3). "Thanks to Kathleen Joyce-Grendahl, Executive Director of the World Flute Society, for permission to post this article.

Flute Path - Dr. Marcia Watson Bendo
8-17-2017

Thirty years ago, in 1987, I walked along the vendor’s booths lining Main Street in Tulsa, OK, during the annual Tulsa Mayfest arts festival. One vendor caught my eyes and ears. He was showing handmade flutes, pan flutes, and cassettes of his own flute recordings. I was captivated by the ethereal sound of the instruments and finally chose a 5-hole walnut flute, a rosewood pan flute, and two cassettes, Night Forest and Tear of the Moon. The man’s name was Michael Graham Allen (Coyote Oldman). That serendipitous meeting would later shape my life in a way I could not have imagined at that time.
Back home, I listened repeatedly to the unique flute music on my cassette player and attempted to play scales and melodies without notation or finger diagrams. It was a very different musical experience than what I had known growing up learning classical music on the piano and violin.  After working as a professional violinist for over a decade, I had left music behind and followed other career choices. Like people often do, I put aside creative pursuits for other life goals. While I studied and worked to become a psychologist, it was comforting to see the flute patiently waiting for me on a table next to the piano. The flute with the little Coyote was a visible reminder that one day, I would devote more time to playing it.
Many years later, my interest in the flute was renewed. Life had slowed down a bit for me, so the time was right to turn my attention to flute playing and research. After attending several Potawatomi festivals in Oklahoma, I wondered what role the flute might have had in my ancestral traditions and culture. In January of 2011, the next step on my flute path began with Cornell Kinderknecht in Richardson, TX. That was the beginning of many classes, workshops, and private lessons with Cornell, Scott August, Clint Goss, and Peter Phippen. Everyday, I looked forward to practicing, learning different flutes, and trying new scales. I enjoyed discovering a world of flutes playing historic replicas (like Coyote Oldman’s Tohono O’odham and Hopi flutes), a quena, sulings, and recorders. A lot of patience was necessary for rim-blown flutes and the ney which took some time to produce a sound. It helped to have great teachers who demonstrated their patience and interest in world flutes. I was on a path toward greater cultural awareness, unexpected challenges, social activities, and new friends.
The first challenge I encountered was to play solo in class or at a flute gathering. Performance anxiety is a heart-thumping experience that musicians try to hide and don’t like to discuss, but it can be obvious to others if your hands tremble and the flute sounds breathless. With repeated opportunities to play, tolerance of the discomfort, and supportive friends, I was able to discover the joy of playing solo and making spontaneous music with others. After playing for a year, I presented my first programs at the Citizen Potawatomi Cultural Heritage Center during our annual festival. Since 2012, I’ve performed and presented a musical history of the native flute for that annual event, the 2016 Potawatomi Gathering of Nations, and the 2013 National Congress of the American Indian. At these events, people have shared their stories with me about the healing or transformative nature of flute playing in their lives.
Another challenge appeared early on my flute path… “playing from the heart.” Having been a music reader all my life, playing with backing tracks and other musicians helped me to let go, listen more, and think less. I experimented with playing my own songs and improvised melodies which often became a written song. Gradually, I realized that there are many ways to play the flutes we love and that all are good. Every player finds a unique flute voice with their own skills and styles. I found satisfaction and comfort with my style by respecting improvisation and notated songs. That realization allowed me to grow with the flute in a new personal direction — composing my own music with hand-written notation and Sibelius notation software which prints my composition as sheet music. A song-writing workshop and private lessons with Scott August helped me to develop writing and arranging skills. During the past year, I composed and arranged a collection of songs that culminated in a CD project to be released this fall. I often wonder, how do I write this music and where does it originate? I could say it comes from my heart or my imagination, but I believe it’s a gift from the Creator.
Exploring the historical traditions of American Indian flutes has been a rewarding aspect of my flute path. As a native Oklahoman and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation,  I have a deep respect for the preservation of native heritage through music, art, narrative, language, and spiritual practices. Websites and CDs have made it possible to hear recorded oral narratives and flute songs of Belo Cozad (Kiowa), Woodrow Haney (Seminole), Woodrow “Woody” Crumbo (Potawatomi), Doc Tate Nevaquaya (Comanche), and Kevin Locke (Lakota and Anishnabe). Their stories inspired my curiosity about old flutes, construction, and the sacred nature of the flute for indigenous people. I’m also grateful for the contribution of scholars who have shared their passionate work with the flute world — Dr. Richard Payne, Michael Graham Allen, Robert Gatliff, and Clint Goss, to name a few.
The work of historical and modern-day contributors helped shape my presentations and sparked my desire to make a flute. After working with bamboo, I crafted a cedar flute with the tools and help of a nearby flute maker, Steve Petermann. That was another challenging flute experience which heightened my appreciation for the effort and skill required to craft a flute. The stories and historical knowledge have deepened my respect for flute makers who have been guided by spiritual traditions and their cultural influences as well as those who craft flutes for enjoyment.
Although it was many years before I could focus my attention on my first flute, and others that followed, the flute has impacted my life mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It has connected me to history, world cultures, people across the country, and brought me full circle back to my love of music. My flute path continues, but I’d like to end my story here with words by Minisa Crumbo Halsey, a Potawatomi artist and daughter of flute-maker Woody Crumbo. She spoke about the importance of the flute to native people, “The flute is a caller of beauty and a speaker of beauty. And a caller of love and a massive manifestation of that beauty. The flute appears all over the world…. It’s breath — made manifest in song and breath is life.”

Halsey, M.C. (2015, March 23). Minisa Crumbo Halsey Native American Artist (J. Erling, Interviewer). Retrieved from
http://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/interview/crumbo-halsey-minisa/

Photo credit of MGA flutes: Steve Petermann
Walnut flute, 5 holes, marked “1987” with Coyote logo F#, A, B, C#, E, F#, G#, A, A#
Rosewood Pan Flute, 8 holes, marked “1987” with Coyote logo G, Bb, C, D, F, G, Bb, C
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Potawatomi Cornerstone

3/1/2018

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By Charles Clark, Director Tribal Rolls
Bozho,
I know it’s been a while since my last article and I apologize. But now that the hiatus is over I will be bringing back the Cornerstone on a regular basis. In the past I have brought you insights to our history as a people and culture, and everything that goes on in our lives today is a result of that history. And what better way to honor that history than by writing about our current tribal citizens? For that reason, I have changed the venue of the Cornerstone toreflect our contemporary history.
To start this new format I would like to introduce Marcia Bendo, a member of the Bertrand family. It was a couple of years ago, early on a Sunday morning the last day of the Family Festivalnext to a pond that I gave my firstcousin her Potawatomi name Kaukima, which means “reads repeatedly.” Kaukima, sister of Chief Topenebe, was an avid reader of the Bible.
The name was carefully chosen to connect her to our ancestral family that would in turn start her on a journey to connect with present-day family. As family, a lot of us live far away from each other and rarely see one another. I saw the naming ceremony as an opportunity to not only connect with our ancestors, but to form a new relationship between living relatives. And since that morning, the journey has been an immense realization.
Marcia Watson Bendo
Marcia has always had an ear for music and found it to be the perfect platform to getting back
to her roots. She picked up theNative American flute and hascome a long way since. When asked what inspired her to playthe flute, she said “two years ago,I became interested in the historyand cultural significance of the flute among North Americanindigenous people. Traditionsvary, with the flute havingsacred, spiritual, healing or social purposes. I was curious about therole flutes might have played inPotawatomi culture and music.

“Having played piano and violin since childhood, I was also inspired by the beauty and unique quality of sounds created when it’s played, often described as breathy, buzzy, haunting, or sweet. Through the voice of theflute, the player can express ideas,emotions, ceremony, spirituality, or relationships with the natural world. I’ve learned to play theseflutes from teachers and fluteplayers who embrace traditional as well as contemporary styles.”
With inspiration comes knowledge. It is not enough to simply learn how to playthe flute. One must go out andseek others that share that same passion and explore the richness in the variation of sounds produced by other instruments. To keep that inspiration alive, Marcia looks for any opportunity to view collections, old and new, to converse with traditional players about their perspectives, and to explore the versatility of these instruments at cultural and educational gatherings.
For Marcia, her inspiration comes from “listening to a variety of musical styles by contemporary performers who respect the history and traditionof the native flute, such as BryanAkipa, Joseph Firecrow, Kevin Locke, Mary Youngblood, R. Carlos Nakai and Hawk Henries.”
Marcia Watson Bendo
According to her, “every flute isunique and has its own musical spirit which inspires what and how I play.”

During this time she has also researched the spiritual and
ceremonial aspects of the fluteof the Potawatomies, but has found very little except that the music is usually passed down within a family much like the oral tradition of family stories. And because of that, the music is very personal within those family circles and not heard by the outside world. Though the task may be daunting it doesn’t deter Marcia from searching for these musical roots.

Some teachers or artists have published song books and there are websites which post transcribed songs in a variety of styles and traditions. Like mostflute players, she enjoys usingthese resources as well as relying on her own musical talents to improvise with other musicians or pre-recorded tracks and to write her own music.
Last year at the 2012 CPN Family Festival, Marcia made several appearances at the Cultural Heritage Center playingher flute that included traditionalsongs, improvisations and some contemporary songs written by Mary Youngblood and R.C. Nakai.
What’s next for Marcia?
She would like to help people get some introductory skillsto start their own flute journeyby conducting workshops at a Potawatomi gathering or event. Perhaps in Marcia, we have a future cultural music teacher for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
I asked Marcia what it means to be a Potawatomi and a Bertrand. She was quick to respond “... to be strong as a community with a common history. The strength of the Nation to survive migrations and adversity across North America is a remarkable legacy. Thirty years ago, I began to research my family history and became aware of how my Bertrand ancestors joined the Potawatomi people. When I attend the annual Family Reunion Festival, I sense that every family, every attendee is somehow connected to my Bertrand family. We are relations and share a bond.”
I want to thank Marcia Bendo for her time in sharing with me her personal story of what it means to be Potawatomi and the music she plays. Anyone interested in more information about Native American Flutes, including history and songs can log onto www.flutetree.com and www.flutopedia.com
If you or another tribal member you know has a unique story to tell, e-mail me, Charles Clark, Director Tribal Rolls at cclark@ potawatomi.org.

Reposted by permission. Direct Link To Article
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Website Launch

1/1/2018

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We are excited to announce the launch of my website. This "news" section will contain news relating to my recordings, performances, articles and more. Thank you and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so I can keep you up-to-date.
Marcia Watson Bendo
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