Oot-kwa-tah (wind ensemble version)

MortaM45 is the Messier catalog number for an open star cluster better known as the Pleiades. Oot-kwa-tah is dedicated to SUNY Schenectady County Community College on the forty-fifth anniversary of the college’s establishment as part of the State University of New York. This arrangement for wind ensemble was created for the 50th anniversary of SUNY Schenectady. The college sits on land that was once part of the Mohawk nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. Oot-kwa-tah is inspired by the Iroquois legend of M45, the Pleiades star cluster.

The Iroquois tell a story about seven children who met each day and danced for hours at a time instead of doing chores.

An old man appeared to them one day as they danced. He shone magnificently like silver and was clad from head to toe in brilliant white feathers. The old man warned them to stop dancing lest something terrible happen to them.

Ignoring the old man’s warning and growing more and more hungry and lightheaded the children began to rise into the air. “If only they had listened to me,” the old man thought. As the children’s parents gathered, one little boy heard his father’s voice below. The little boy looked down and saw his father. At that instant he fell back to earth. The other children continued to float higher and higher into the sky to become the Pleiades star cluster.

The Iroquois call them Oot-kwa-tah and are reminded of these reckless children each time they see a falling star.

Instrumentation

Piccolo
Flute 1-2
Oboe 1-2
E♭ Clar.
B♭ Clar. 1-3
Alto Clar.
Bass Clar.
Bassoon 1-2
Alto Sax 1-2
Tenor Sax
Bari. Sax
B♭ Trum. 1-3
Horn in F 1-4
Trbn. 1-3
Euph. B.C.
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Mallets I
Mallets II
Perc. 1-3