At Sequoyah Caverns: A Song History

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"At Sequoyah Caverns" is one of sixteen original duets for mountain dulcimer and Native American flute in DulciFlute, a book by John and Karen Keane published by Fingers Of Steel; it gives the flute part in notation and the dulcimer part as chords, with recordings by the authors.[1] The listing does not say which of the two composed this tune.[1] The Keanes, from Shreveport, Louisiana, are music educators who compose for the dulcimer and Native American flute.[2][3]

Painting looking out from a tall sea cave toward the sky and a sailing boat, with small figures on the rocks

Hubert Robert, The Mouth of a Cave, oil on canvas, 1784. A sea cave, not Sequoyah Caverns, shown for its subject; it has no connection to the tune.

The title names Sequoyah Caverns at Valley Head, in northeastern DeKalb County, Alabama; the caverns honor the Cherokee syllabary's creator, who lived around Valley Head while working on it.[4] Sequoyah had devised 86 symbols to represent Cherokee's syllables by 1821.[5] The sources consulted here say nothing of what inspired the tune.[1][2][3]

Our book that contains the song "At Sequoyah Caverns"

Sources

  1. Fingers Of Steel: "John Keane And Karen Keane, DulciFlute".
  2. DulcimerDownloads: "John Keane".
  3. DulcimerDownloads: "Karen Keane".
  4. Encyclopedia of Alabama: "Valley Head".
  5. Britannica: "Sequoyah".
  6. Image: Hubert Robert, The Mouth of a Cave, oil on canvas, 1784. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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