In the summer of 2014, I walked the 2600 mile Pacific Crest Trail (which runs from Mexico to Canada) as a musical residency in a project called The Tortoise. Since that time I have made a series of ecology-based projects such as Coyoteways, and a new work I am developing called Flyover Country.
For The Tortoise, along the way I made hundreds of field recordings, and sent memory cards filled with these recordings to a series of eight composers living nearby wherever I was making the recordings. Each composer then chose a recording or two and wrote music to layer atop the natural sounds captured nearby them, and posted these recordings online so that people could hear how the sound of the trail changed as I moved north, and how different people relate to the landscapes they inhabit. Additionally, I wrote music along the way to serve as a sort of sonic travelogue. That music is being recorded in the fall of 2014, and my music and the music of the eight West Coast composers will be collected and released in 2015 on Quakebasket Records.
Besides that album, I am also presenting a series of works relating to The Tortoise project - your donation will go to making these happen! By donating you are supporting work that strengthens our connection to the natural world, creates a greater sense of place and community, and inspires people to be more in the moment. Some of the projects I am working on for presenting this material include:
-A new 40-minute theatrical work for Tenor Jeremiah Cawley - we will be presenting this work at Omaha Under the Radar in July of 2015
-An event where audience members are invited to come sleep and listen to a field recording I made on the trail that lasts all night - occasional musical gestures layered atop that respond to the recording.
-A new piece for pianist Andy Lee that includes field recordings from the Pacific Crest Trail of power lines in the desert, to be debuted in April of 2015.
-Presenting an overview of The Tortoise project at the New Music Gathering in San Francisco in January 2015
-A 30-40 minute performative lecture about The Tortoise. The lecture would incorporate field recordings made during the walk, storytelling, musical performances of excerpts of pieces written for this project by myself and other composers from the project. The sounds, talks and music would all be woven together to give the audience a clear idea as to the sonic vision of the project, of the experience, and of the diversity of music being written on the west coast.
-Music for Chicago-based choreographer Kate Corby using field recordings I made while walking and notes on the corporeal I sent back from the trail.
-A series of intimate food and tea-based events in private residences that feature field recordings and musical gestures incorporated with the foods or tea.
-A headphone listening event incorporating work from The Tortoise made for contemplative walking.
-Presenting concerts around the country of music from myself and collaborators from the album released in conjunction with this project.
-A new work for LA bassist Scott Worthington
-A new work for keyboard-based duet Hocket (Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff)
-Programs for elementary school children with performances of the work and opportunities for them to write music to accompany field recordings made here in the Pacific Northwest.
-In 2017 I released Coyoteways, a new album of work based around my many experiences on the PCT, and around the American West.
-In 2018 I am presenting a new work called Flyover Country that explores how humans, including my family, have impacted the ecology and indigenous people of the United States, like many of the places I walked on the PCT.
Learn More: http://natevansmusic.com