- Chee’s set of twelve Navajo Vocables for Piano first appeared in his 2014 album The Navajo Piano. The compositions are based on traditional Navajo chants.
- A vocable is a word or utterance which does not have a specific meaning; its sound is more important. Native American music and scat singing are two genres that employ vocables.
“The first collection, titled ‘Navajo Vocables for Piano,’ gets its name from the word used to describe the vocal sounds used when singing the chants. ‘Vocables’ are sounds that have no meaning, but are rather syllables used to express the melodies and rhythms of the music. In this album, the vocables have been transferred to the piano, bringing what was once a strictly oral tradition to a new outlet.”
From the notes to The Navajo Piano
- The notes to The Navajo Piano explain that Chee’s Navajo Vocables Nos. 1-4 and 9-12 are based on Navajo corn grinding songs, and that Nos. 5-8 are based on Navajo Squaw Dance Songs.1
Read the full notes to The Navajo Piano
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