Detailed Biography

Dennis Sizemore uses the language and tools of music to create sound environments wherein people and the world can peacefully transform. Spurred by immersion in the music of his ancestry, he has traveled widely across North America sharing and learning the cultural values and performance practices that form the foundation of our traditional indigenous music. Combining this rich experience with formal study of the music of many other world cultures, jazz and classical expressions, he gives presentations of broad global reference.

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Dennis Sizemore has been a featured solo performing artist and lecturer at numerous international and national conferences that focus upon music performance, music and spirituality, psychotherapy, creativity, performance enhancement, improvisation, music education and Native American issues. He has performed as a concert soloist in 49 states, throughout Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, has been featured on television programs that have been simulcast on 6 continents, was the first Native American flutist to perform at the Olympics and has been a featured performer for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Cultural Outreach programs.

Dennis has been a workshop co-presenter and performer with Grammy and Native American Music Award winner R. Carlos Nakai, and served as Mr. Nakai’s first Teaching Assistant at the popular “Renaissance of the Native American Flute” workshops at Feathered Pipe Ranch, Montana. Dennis has also shared the concert and lecture stage with Robert Gass and fellow Native American artists such as Kevin Locke, Tom Mauchahty-Ware, Tommy Wildcat and The American Indian Dance Theatre. Additionally, he has presented instructional and entertainment programs of Native American Music for Young Audiences of Indiana, and for school children throughout the United States.

Dennis gave the premiere performances of Native American Flute as a concerto instrument with orchestra in Indiana with the Anderson Symphony Orchestra and the Carmel Symphony Orchestra . In March, 2007, he was the featured soloist with The Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra directed by Kirk Trevor in "Spirit Horses", a concerto for Native American Flute by James DeMars. Dennis was also the featured performer at the grand openings of The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art and the Indianapolis Artsgarden, has acted as program consultant and performer for the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and recorded soundtracks for television commercials for the museum as well as educational programs for WFYI, the Indianapolis affiliate station of the Public Broadcasting Service. In recognition of his many performances at the Eiteljorg Museum and close links to the same, Dennis was honored with a personal request by the Eiteljorg family and Eiteljorg Museum administration to provide the music for the funeral of museum founder, Harrison Eiteljorg.

Mr. Sizemore has given Advanced Performance Techniques classes at Indiana University, Indiana State University, and Bastyr University. An author and instructor for Native American Flute, saxophone, didgeridoo and other indigenous wind instruments, he has published several pedagogical and historical resources. His most recent works, "The Native American Flute Instructor's Guide", "The Native American Flute Performer's Toolkit", and "The Practice Log Book for the Native American Flute Player", all available for sale on this web site, are the first resources to combine indigenous perspectives with Conservatory pedagogy in the instruction of this instrument, and have taken the performance of the Native American Flute to a level comparable to that of orchestral instruments. In recognition of his contributions to the Native American community and his long history as an educator, Dennis was selected to serve on the Indiana Governor’s Commission for Native American Education.

Mr. Sizemore has extensive experience as a 'working partner' in arts productions. For instance, he was composer and Music Director for live performances and recordings of "Spring Into Summer" and "The Song of Solomon". These two recordings are of his world music ensemble, 'Safety's Off', and chorus. The recordings were featured on National Public Radio, an honor he shared with noted poet and choral director Norma Yoos. His innovative work as Music Director of the musical version of "Black Elk Speaks" was featured on P.B.S. affiliate stations. In collaboration with Edyvean Repertory Theatre Director Rose Kleiman, Dennis created a musical environment for the telling of the story of "Black Elk Speaks" as one of the season presentations at the Christian Theological Seminary. The music included historical Native American music performed by a live multi-tribal ensemble of Native American musicians and singers centrally located on stage and directed by Mr. Sizemore.

Because of his approach to the integration of musical cultures, Mr. Sizemore has been interviewed on numerous radio and television talk shows and was featured in an extensive cover article for "Arts Indiana", the primary publication representing the arts community in Indiana. His arrangements, compositions and performances appear on several albums, soundtracks and commercials. "Esiyah" and “The Gift", his first 2 solo recordings, were the product of an Individual Artist Fellowship awarded by The National Endowment for the Arts and the Indiana Arts Commission. Additionally, these two organizations and the Governor of Indiana awarded Dennis the rare “Master Artist of Indiana” designation. "The Gift" was also a rare collaboration between a recording musician and a visual artist. In this case, Mr. Sizemore worked closely with "Cherokee Artist of the Year" Toby Hughes who supplied the visual art for this recording.

Native American Flute players have found a home in Mr. Sizemore’s many Native American Flute educational gatherings. His first summer camp was taught in Ohio in 1975, with camps and workshops offered at a variety of locations in the United States every subsequent year. Mr. Sizemore decided to devote his attention in the decade of the '90's to spreading the knowledge of the Native American Flute. He began by starting a series of annual week-long camps in Indiana that were hosted by various state parks and Native American historical sites. Then he added 2 years of the Sizemore-Loomis NA Flute camps held on the property of noted NA flute-maker Scott Loomis in Rogue River, Oregon. Then he initiated and for 2 years was the lead teacher for the annual Pacific Northwest Flute Gathering in Seattle, Washington. Next, he initiated and was the lead instructor for the first Northern California Flute Camp in Napa Valley, California. Following the success of these camps and educational programs, he assigned one of his advanced private students the task of starting the Indiana Native American Flute Circle. Most recently, he was a performer and the lead instructor of Native American Flute Performance Techniques the first year of the Zion (Utah) Art and Flute Festival. For the second year of the Zion festval, he was instructor of Advanced Performance Techniques and designed and taught the first Teacher Education course in the world ever offered for Native American Flute instructors. In 2008, he was guest instructor and Flute Maker Judge at Musical Echoes, the largest festival for the Native American Flute east of the Mississippi. At Musical Echoes, he taught "Creative Expression in Your Performance and Composition", based upon his book of the same name. Graduates of his many flute camps, workshops and private teaching have gone on to become well respected teachers and to form flute circles in more than 10 states. Mr. Sizemore's performance workshops are regularly sold out.

Those who enjoy the outdoors and utilize the wonderful parks of our nation are frequent attendees of concerts and programs on Native American history by Mr. Sizemore at those parks. He has been a regular performer / presenter at the annual 'Native American Days' held at Angel Mounds State Historic Site and was the featured concert artist for the Grand Opening of Prophetstown State Park. In Indiana he has given frequent programs at Raccoon Lake State Recreation Area, Wyandotte Caves, and the following Indiana State Parks: Brown County, Clifty Falls, Falls of the Ohio, Fort Harrison, Hardy Lake, McCormick’s Creek, Mounds, Prophetstown, Shades, Shakamak, Spring Mill, and Turkey Run. His Native American Flute camps and lectures at Angel Mounds and McCormick's Creek were extremely popular. Mr. Sizemore was also the first Native American artist to record an entire CD at an Indiana State Historic Site when he recorded "The Gift" underground in Wyandotte Caves.

Mr. Sizemore’s background is equally accomplished in non-Native American music, and his diverse performance history ranges from performances with Tony Bennett to serving as music director at world conferences of international church organizations featuring presentations by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu. Mr. Sizemore founded, directed, and was the central performer of 'Safety's Off', a tremendously popular multi-media world music improvisational arts group based in the Midwest. As a performer on saxophone, flute and clarinet, he has also performed in the Milt Jackson Quartet, as well as with Eddie Fisher, Al Martino, Tito Puente, the Four Tops, the Temptations, and has toured with the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Stars of Lawrence Welk, and Carnival Cruise Lines. He was also section clarinetist with the Dayton (Ohio) Philharmonic Orchestra and saxophonist with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic.

Mr. Sizemore’s education includes the Master of Music and Doctoral work in Saxophone Performance with Minors in Jazz Studies from Indiana University, where he was Assistant Instructor of Saxophone, private student of Dr. Eugene Rousseau and David Baker, and substitute instructor for Woodwind Performance Techniques classes for Music Education majors. He also received post-graduate saxophone performance training from Daniel Deffayet, Professor of Saxophone of the Paris Conservatory. His fellowship awards include those from Young Audiences of Indiana for his continued research in historical Native American Flute construction with traditional flute makers, and from the Irish Cultural Foundation of Indianapolis to fund his research in historic celtic flute performance with Gold Album winning Irish Flutist Grey Larsen. Mr. Sizemore's Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education is from Wright State University. His other previous private instructors include Cannonball Adderly, Yusef Lateef, and Mark Colby.

Mr. Sizemore’s award winning saxophone quartet "decoupage", whose members were all graduate saxophone performance majors at Indiana University, was invited to perform at the 1985 World Saxophone Congress, with Professor Daniel Deffayet moderating that presentation. An audience of hundreds of the most prominent conservatory and college saxophone instructors in the world gave that performance a standing ovation. At the request of the Yamaha Corporation and Indiana University, Mr. Sizemore’s saxophone quartet performed along with Indiana University Distinguished Professor of Saxophone Dr. Eugene Rousseau on Yamaha’s “Steps to Excellence for Saxophone” video instruction series, which has enjoyed world wide distribution.

Dennis has been an active clinician and adjudicator for music festivals and competitions throughout the United States, and has instructed through the collegiate graduate level. He has lectured and performed at Indiana University at both the Bloomington and satellite campuses, and at Indiana State University. He has held numerous “Artist in Residence” positions in public and private schools throughout the Midwest, and has been the 'in-house' private woodwind instructor / clinician for top music programs in Indiana such as Jasper High School, Lawrence Schools, Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Carmel Clay Schools, Bloomington South High School and Sycamore School. He has also served as Assistant Instructor of Saxophone for Dr. Eugene Rousseau at the University of Wisconsin - Shell Lake Fine Arts Camp. In addition to his own pedagogical publications, Mr. Sizemore is a contributing author to “The Saxophone Journal”. An active proponent of new music, Mr. Sizemore has collaborated on the commission and premiere performances of new compositions by several notable composers, including works by Libby Larsen, Shih-Hui Chen, Howard Frazin, John MacDonald, and Marilyn Bliss.

Social evolution and public health have been constant concerns of Mr. Sizemore, and have found a wide variety of related expressions throughout his life. As a middle-school student he led his community's involvement in the nation's first "Earth Day", a successful effort at raising a huge sum of money for contributions to international environmental organizations. While a college undergraduate, his deep interest in health-related issues spurred him to complete studies in Emergency Medicine and to perform volunteer work at a local hospital emergency room and for a county-wide Emergency Response unit. He joined this passion with his enjoyment of the outdoors and subsequently trained in Wilderness Rescue and Outdoor Emergency Response with instructors in the National Park Service. Dennis, as a volunteer, was the lead musician in the Art Therapy group at Central State Mental Hospital in Indianapolis, where he worked with the long-term in-patient schizophrenia community. While living in Indiana, he and his wife were instrumental in causing their community to mandate that all waste removal contracts include recycling as a house-to-house provision and to establish a community-accessible recycling center. The Sizemore's were also co-founders and board members of Spring Hollow, their community's first holistic medical clinic. Spring Hollow offered standard allopathic medical care as well as acupuncture, massage and music therapy, and a lengthy menu of psychological services. As founding member and former Vice Chairman of the Indiana Native American Business Association (INABA), Dennis was instrumental in helping INABA create scholarship support for an Indiana-based Native American student as well as consulting on the initial organizational stages for the creation of the first residential home for at-risk Native American children in Indiana. His on-going activities in the business world include consulting to corporate entities on the integration of community, personal and business ethics such as his recent program on "Leadership Excellence in the Native American World" for the administration of State Farm Insurance.

Currently, Mr. Sizemore maintains a private teaching studio for ethnic and orchestral wind instruments, performs, records, composes, authors instructional materials, and administrates the activities of WorldWind Music and Publishing. His most recent project is directing and performing in ‘White Elk, an ensemble of accomplished orchestral musicians who explore those possibilities and who have become the inspiration for exciting new commissions. He currently is collaborating with noted composer James DeMars on recording Dr. DeMars’ chamber music for Native American Flute, an effort that will feature Mr. Sizemore’s chamber ensemble, 'White Elk', as the central performers in those recordings.

Dennis Sizemore's core belief is that Native American traditions are historical lessons taught in the present moment in order to provide for the needs of future generations. His life and work serves as a bridge between cultures that accomplishes this teaching while operating in the larger sense of global community. He gives voice to his vision of the merger of musical traditions by combining the haunting voice of the Native American Flute with the styles of jazz, classical and world music, and brings historical traditional Native American music into performances by chamber ensembles, orchestras, bands and choruses, all while maintaining his priority focus on traditional values and beliefs.