A Statement about Devotion - Michael Stirling

by Ed Drury

To write about Michael, I have to go back to a day in the summer of last year when I drove out to Michael's home and studio to interview him. I have to back past the collaboration on four pieces we would eventually perform together at his school, Marylhurst University. Back before he helped me badger the local media about the White Cockatoo's Portland tour stop and before we played the Breath Deep Concert at St. David's church. I need to travel back that far to remember the word which kept coming into my mind as I began to know him better. The word was devotion. Devotion to family, devotion to music, devotion to his students and devotion to his teachers. With every question I asked, the response could be best summed up in one word. Devotion. In the weeks and months that followed, Michael and I became collaborators and friends. Friendship is a role that comes naturally for Michael, and as you might expect, he is devoted to his friends as well.

Michael Stirling is a composer, recording artist, performer and musical educator who lives in the countryside around Oregon City. He has released two CD's on the Tim Kerr Records label, Flying Snake Brain ('95) and Cobra Smoke Dancing (with his ensemble in 1997 featuring Rik Masterson, Kip Richardson and Hollis Taylor). It was shortly after the release of Flying Snake Brain that I happened to meet Michael for the first time. But it would be several years later until I learned the name "Flying Snake Brain" was given to him by his teacher, Pandit Pran Nath. Nathji's teachings seem to still guide Michael even today after his passing in 1996. Through the discipline of Northern Indian classical music, Michael has developed a rich appreciation of the value of devotion. This style of singing is featured on the CD "Cobra Smoke Dancing"(sung by Rik Masterson) and Michael's voice was featured in our 1999 concert together as I accompanied him on Didjeridu and jaw harp while he played tambura. These collaborations were a natural extension and fusion of our previously separate musical journeys and formed the basis of our common ground on which to improvise.

My first visit Michael's studio was brightened by unexpected surprises. The first was the warm greeting by Michael's son. Carter is a natural gentleman, considerate warm and immediately friendly he advised me on the best place to park and provided curbside baggage handling for my didjeridus. The second was the little known fact that Michael Stirling is one of the best Chai makers in all the world. I was provided with Chai and tangerines before I could even pull out my notebook and ask the first important question - Is it Stirling spelled with a E or an I? I also met someone else who was to become a good friend. Regrettably, he has since passed on. Louie the family Golden Retriever and much like my Golden, unconditionally loved all he met.

Michael took up the didjeridu in 1980, inspired by trombonist Stuart Dempster. It was through the didjeridu that he learned more about the struggle of the Australian Aboriginal culture for civil and land rights in Australia. Through studying their music, Michael found further inspiration and influence into his own, already established, musical journey. This journey already included diverse projects such as the experimental music group, Concentration City which produced concerts, live radio shows and "sound installations" of not only original works but works by John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, Karlhienz Stockhausen and Sete Reich. Since then, Michael has collaborated with father in law, Lee Kelly on sound/sculpture installations for gallery exhibitions and outdoor festivals.

Michael is on the music faculty at Marylhurst University where he teaches classes in raga singing, didjeridu and music appreciation.. His teaching path also includes in-school arts programming through Young Audiences of Oregon in a program called "Didjeridu: The Sound of Aboriginal Australia". His teaching path and mine have crossed many times and I've been honored that he has used my instructional booklet Learn to Play the Didjeridu for several years now.