Jodie Blackshaw (b. 1971) is an Australian composer, educator, and thinker. She has spent her career intertwining composition and education as closely as possible through the music she has written and the extensive resources she produces for each piece. She calls this intersection “Classtrumental music.” She arrived at this practice through close work with all kinds of students in remote areas, and their ensembles that often demanded a flexible approach to instrumentation and ability level. She credits Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory and the Orff-Schulwerk approach to music education as other major influences. The Australian Music Centre offers a colorful take on her and her music:

Have you ever played a ‘Blackshaw’ with your school band or wind ensemble? If you have, then you know that a work by this Australian composer-educator is different from the norm. You will also know that it takes you, the Director, on an alternate educational pathway that, for some, is a little uncomfortable at first. That said, you would also know that it is a surprise package, an audience favourite, and presents you with interesting conducting challenges. After performing it you realise that your students have ‘got a lot out of it’ and that it was one of the most engaging music making experiences of your academic year.

Read even more about her at the Australian Music Centre, GIA Music, C. Alan Publications, and her outstanding website.

Blackshaw wrote Peace Dancer in 2017 for the University of British Columbia Conducting Symposium consortium. The piece is based on a children’s book of the same name by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd. Blackshaw describes the connection in her program notes:

Peace Dancer is inspired by the First Nations text of the same name by Roy Henry Vickers (Squamish Nation). In the words of the author:

“The story Peace Dancer is about a song and dance that is thousands of years old originating from the time of the flood. Songs have been composed for different Chiefs up and down the Pacific northwest coast. The Chief who is chosen to do this sacred dance is recognized as a healer in each community and the songs and dances are a reminder of the great flood and how the people lost their way and their love for all things in creation. During the dance there is a time when the dancer shakes eagle down from their headdress to remind people of the flood.”

Whilst this text afforded many music making opportunities, the composer chose to focus on one moment:

“We have really lost our way, we have not taught out children love and respect”.

This is achieved by dividing this short piece into ‘moments’: meditation – awakening – realization – humility. It takes you, the audience on an emotional journey, similar to realizing you have been in the wrong; maybe you have been unkind or acted in a way that does not become you? Once you realize the consequence of your actions, remorse and the understanding that there is a need to move forward with humility and grace follows. Thus is the lesson of Peace Dancer.

Here is Peace Dancer in a live performance:

See more about the piece at Blackshaw’s website, the Wind Repertory Project, and Murphy Music Press. Blackshaw also recommends watching Roy Henry Vickers talk about the story on this video:

Vicker reads the story in a live performance with Theater Inconnu: