Shadle_Store_A Little Choctaw Music.jpg
Shadle_Store_A Little Choctaw Music.jpg

Charles Shadle: A Little Choctaw Music for Sax Quartet (PDFs)

$50.00

Stories about Native Americans are often tragic, but within Indigenous communities, humor and vitality thrive—qualities I sought to capture in A Little Choctaw Music, written for the Jamaica Plain Saxophone Quartet. The piece condenses a classical four-movement form into a single, spirited span that moves from hymn-inspired lyricism to lively dance rhythms and exuberant sonata energy. Though harmonically consonant, the music is filled with playful surprises and transformations—echoing the wit and mischief of Chukfi, the Choctaw trickster rabbit.

Stories about Native Americans are often tragic, but within Indigenous communities, humor and vitality thrive—qualities I sought to capture in A Little Choctaw Music, written for the Jamaica Plain Saxophone Quartet. The piece condenses a classical four-movement form into a single, spirited span that moves from hymn-inspired lyricism to lively dance rhythms and exuberant sonata energy. Though harmonically consonant, the music is filled with playful surprises and transformations—echoing the wit and mischief of Chukfi, the Choctaw trickster rabbit.

A Little Choctaw Music was commissioned and premiered by the Jamaica Plain Saxophone Quartet on January 20, 2024 at the College Church Free Concert Series in Lancaster, MA.

Charles Shadle (b.1960, Ardmore OK), an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, teaches composition, music theory, and music history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he serves as Senior Lecturer in Music, and as Theory Coordinator. He was educated at the University of Colorado, Tulane University, and Brandeis University, where he received his Ph.D. in Composition and Theory. Dr. Shadle’s catalogue includes chamber music, four operas, four symphonies, six film scores for the National Film Preservation Foundation, and numerous choral pieces and songs.

Charles Shadle Catalog