HOISINGTON — Students at Hoisington’s USD 431 schools, as well as students at Otis-Bison, had the rare opportunity this past week to meet and learn from an award winning Native American musician, flute maker and storyteller Keith Bear. And Bear has had the opportunity to visit with family and friends, and to finally meet his youngest grandchild for the first time.
The Hoisington Elementary Parents Association, of which his daughter, Stephanie Kaiser is an active member, teamed up with Rosewood Services to bring Bear to Hoisington. The connections were made when Tammy and Eric Hammond visited the reservation and were introduced to Bear, he said. Through that meeting, he learned that the Hammonds’ non-profit was located down the road from where his daughter’s family lives.
A member of the Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of Sioux, Bear lives at Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. During an interview with the Great Bend Tribune Wednesday at the memorial garden at Rosewood Services, Great Bend, he recited his lineage with pride. Among his people’s ancestors were Sacajawea, who traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Sitting Bull, who led the Sioux against Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Bear’s two grandchildren, Taylor and Kamdyn Kaiser, attend school in Hoisington. This week marked his first time meeting Kamdyn, a preschooler at Roosevelt Elementary.
Each day, he visited a different school. On Monday and Tuesday, he visited Lincoln and then Roosevelt elementary. Wednesday afternoon, he visited Otis-Bison. On Thursday he met students at Hoisington Middle School, and that evening held a public performance at the Hoisington High School Auditorium. Friday, he finished his visit with a performance for the high schoolers. From here, he travels to Denver next week, and will continue to make his way back home to North Dakota.
A self-taught musician, Bear does not read music. Still, this has not kept him from sharing his Native American flute music with 36 orchestras around the world. When he visited with the morning preschool class at Roosevelt Elementary School Tuesday, he played for the children the first song he taught himself, “Itsy-bitsy spider.” He continued to learn and practice, and has since produced eight cd’s, been nominated for a Grammy, won a Nammi - the Native American Music Award for best traditional album, and he travels around the country and the world sharing his message and his culture. He’s been to Europe 14 times, and entertained and educated those audiences about his native people, he said.
The stories
When Bear travels and performs, he wears traditional Native American regalia. He shares stories that evoke the richness of his culture and the natural world, each punctuated with music from his many flutes, which he crafted himself. Nature is an intrinsic part of Native American stories, and the lessons that can be observed from wildlife provide clues to how humans can face the world, he said.
“Stories are used to help our children look at one another and the world to find the good things,” he said. “Animals are in our names, in our work and in our art and in daily life.”
From bison, with their strength, speed and ability to face adversity head-on, to the helpful nature of small insects, all are worthy of consideration, he said. The themes of his stories include perspectives on immigration, race, and the importance of education and respect for teachers and elders.
The flutes
Bear’s grandfather taught him how to make a flute. He made several, he said. Some sounded exactly the way his grandfather’s had sounded. Others did not, and he cast them aside. Once, his grandfather asked to see his flutes, and Bear showed him the ones he felt were made correctly. His grandfather, however, noticed the others in a pile, and asked about them. When Bear told him they weren’t any good because they didn’t sound right, his grandfather taught him another important life lesson. Each of the flutes had a different “song” to sing, and therefore all were good.
Later, when he performed with the National Symphony, one of the head flutists inquired about his flutes. At the time, Bear owned 44 flutes. He had brought 19 with him. She asked what key they were in. He explained that Native American flutes did not have keys like A,B,C. Instead, they had high, medium and low. Each, he had tuned to sound the way he envisioned it would sound, starting with small holes, and altering the holes to create the right notes.
One of his flutes, made from a fence post, he uses often. His four-year-old grandson brought the fence post to him one day,
“Grandpa, there’s a flute in here for you” He said. He didn’t look at the dirtiness on the outside. Inside was where the flute lie.
“I asked my grandson what did he see when he looked into that fence post? He said “Remember that bird, down by the river, with the long neck and they fish there by themselves,” he said. It was a heron. Bear turned the fence post into a flute that resembles a heron.
Bear’s message was clear. Flutes, like people, may start from fine blocks of wood or mere scraps or pieces of lumber or sticks. It is up to people to see past that exterior, and find the potential. At the heart of his message is the hope that people will look at one another, and see past flaws to what is good inside, and help to bring forth that good for all to see.
