Begun 20 years ago as a musical exchange program with students in the public schools of Toppenish and Harrah, Washington, Music Alive! In the Yakima Valley (MAYV) is an active collaboration with the Yakama Nation Tribal School (YNTS), intended to support the expressive-creative musical voice of indigenous youth.
MAYV student teams have been engaging with children, youth, and teachers of the Yakama Valley since 1999—performing for and performing with them, teaching them, and learning from them. For the past four years, the program’s emphasis is in the facilitation of collective songwriting at the Yakama Nation Tribal School. Yakama youth enrolled in the tribal high school collaborate to document their own stories, in their own voice through their creative and collective contributions to the making of original songs. These young students strengthen their personal, musical, and cultural identities as they develop their experiences and perspectives in a shared songwriting process. Over the course of the workshops, Yakama students will generate a song that can be shared with the tribal community to bring attention to important issues such as tribal identity, life in a remote and rural community, and the challenges of adolescence. These students may also incorporate indigenous Yakama musical expressions and Ichiskíin (Sahaptin) language into their song.
“The kids are capable of both lives . . . they need to realize they have something to contribute,” says culture teacher and Yakama elder Ezilda Winnier. As the project continues, the team is striving to foster connections with the Yakama community at large and partner with additional cultural revitalization efforts in the Toppenish and White Swan areas. In the words of the chorus from the students’ 2019 collective song, “For a good vibe, rep your tribe / Gotta keep your culture up to stay alive / Let’s stand together, rep my tribe forever”.
“MAYV is important to the UW mission of developing responsible global citizens who are also community-conscious leaders”—Professor Patricia Shehan Campbell, founder.
Led by Patricia Shehan Campbell, professor of Music Education and Ethnomusicology, the 2021 facilitators include Skuli Gestsson (PhD candidate in Music Education), Jack Flesher (PhD student in Ethnomusicology), and others (in partnership with YNTS staff Ezilda Tinnier, Tony Washines, and Dawn Depoe-Ike).