Cowboys and Indians
COWBOYS AND INDIANS (2026)
for piano solo · ca. 3 minutes
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
PROGRAM NOTE
Cowboys and Indians, for solo piano, is inspired by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s painting Cowboys and Indians, Made in America. What I find really interesting in this particular painting, beyond the general theme of her collaging together cowboys, tepees, maps, mascots, and souvenir-shop imagery to poke fun at the whole mythologized idea of the American West, is how, despite the painting being called Cowboys and Indians, the two figures look nearly identical, so we're unable to separate who is the cowboy and who is the Indian.
I think in many cases we have the tendency to label people and ignore what's beneath that categorization, and it would serve us all well to see the people underneath those labels, the same way Smith's collage asks what "American" is actually made of, and whose version of the story we've decided to remember.
I wanted to see if I could represent that painting musically: the left-hand rhythm, which resembles a Native American drum pattern, is set against quotations of the William Tell Overture, the almost cartoonish, ready-made sound of the "cowboy." This results in a kind of bitonality, two keys layered against each other.
PREMIERE & PERFORMERS
World Premiere: August 15, 2026 at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (St. Louis, MO)
Performer: Daniel Anastasio (piano)
