By Molly Miron, Bemidji Pioneer Editor

Editor’s note: Jon Romer was born at Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea, is a 1958 graduate of Albert Lea High School and taught music at Lea College for three years before moving away. His mother, Genevieve Romer, as well as many other relatives, still live in the area.

CASS LAKE &045; Caribou herds fan across the tundra and beluga whales crowd the inlets of Hudson Bay as a pair of bush planes circle above.

The scenes are from the Wilderness Airplane Adventures movie &uot;Flying to Churchill on Hudson Bay,&uot; a travel and wildlife documentary produced by two Brainerd couples, Jim and Diane Whiting and Jerry and Verla Engelbrecht. They flew and filmed through rain and clouds and over icebergs and open water. The cameras attached to their planes captured spectacular views for their movie.

When it came time to edit the footage, they tapped A.J. Fossen of Lakeland Public Television for assistance and advice on the music to accompany the wild scenery.

&uot;We knew we needed some original music. They suggested some flute music,&uot; said Fossen.

They contacted Leech Lake Community College in Cass Lake, and staff there referred them to Jon Romer, who taught Native American Flute at the college and at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School for many years.

&uot;I’m happy it came from the community,&uot; Romer said of the recommendation that he take the commission. From there, he wrote a score of flute music, accompanied by synthesizer. Dale Blatter of Bemidji Music Center provided additional music. Blatter and Kirk Christman recorded the soundtrack in the Bemidji Music Center sound studio.

&uot;Flying to Churchill&uot; will air at 7 p.m. on Tuesday on Lakeland Public Television during the spring fund drive. The station will also offer the DVD as a thank-you gift to donors.

Romer, formerly a choral music professor at colleges including Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter and University of Missouri, decided to move to northern Minnesota about 15 years ago. He took an appointment teaching choral music at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig. One day, Bradley &uot;Windy&uot; Downwind gave a Native American Flute demonstration for Romer’s class and the music touch him deeply.

&uot;I really felt a strong attachment,&uot; Romer said. &uot;I said, ‘I feel like that’s my music, too.’&uot;

He asked Downwind and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe elders if it was acceptable for &uot;someone who looks like me,&uot; a non-Indian person, to play the instrument. They told him to go ahead if the music is in his heart. They also told him he could play music other than traditional Indian songs.

&uot;They said, ‘If the notes weren’t in the flutes, you wouldn’t be able to play those notes,’&uot; Romer recalled.

The music Romer composed for &uot;Flying to Churchill&uot; includes tunes in the style of traditional Indian songs and other original compositions and arrangements.

The flutes are tuned to a pentatonic scale &045; like the five black notes on a piano. The scale is a universal indigenous sound in Indian cultures and other indigenous music around the world.

&uot;If we go back far enough, we all come from an indigenous culture, all of us in our past. The music our ancestors heard was based on this scale,&uot; Romer said.

The modern European scale came into use about 1600 and was first described in major and minor keys by Italian music theorist Gioseffo Zarbino in 1725.

Romer said the flute brought him into a wonderful new world of music and the ability to connect with young people and others in the Leech Lake community. He plays for weddings, funerals, graduations and other events and is a member of the Leech Lake Reservation Honor Guard, playing at Native Military Services.

&uot;It’s taken me many places I wouldn’t have had a chance to go in my life,&uot; Romer said of the flute.

And one of those places is the sound track of &uot;Flying to Churchill.&uot;

&uot;I went back and forth on the raw footage and listened to the music that started to emerge,&uot; Romer said of the compositions.

The melodies include a traveling theme for the times the Whitings and Engelbrechts are flying from place to place, as well as more reflective tunes for their commentary and thoughts on the territory and wildlife they see.

Fossen said he was happy with the project, especially because a wide variety of people and talents came together to produce a beautiful whole piece of art.

mmiron@bemidjipioneer.com