From Longleaf
Lightning Burn (from Longleaf) for C trumpet, F horn, trombone, harp, percussion, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, contrabass, and audiovisual media
Duration: ca. 60’00.” Excerpt duration: 4’19.”
Movements of Longleaf:
GRASS STAGE:
1. Ninety Million Acres pg. 1
2. What East Texas Used to Sound Like pg. 9
3. Lightning Burn ............................................................................................................................ pg. 11
4. Regrowth ....................................................................................................................................... pg. 28
5. Ten Thousand Years of Manmade Fire .................................................................................... pg. 39
ROCKET STAGE:
6 Turpentine Blues pg. 48
7 The Sawmills pg. 58
8. Clear Cut ....................................................................................................................................... pg. 77
9. The Terrible, Empty Sky ............................................................................................................ pg. 83
10. Old Field pg. 87
MATURE STAGE:
11 Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires pg. 88
12 Lines of Pines pg. 89
13. Prescribed Burn .......................................................................................................................... pg. 110
14. Dawn Chorus ............................................................................................................................. pg. 118
15. Trees as Old as Earth pg. 112
Percussion Instruments:
Vibraphone, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended sizzle cymbal, China cymbal, splash cymbal, wood blocks (5), assorted shells, longleaf pine bark and needles, leaves, frog guiro, sandpaper blocks, plastic bag, claves, triangle, wood shaker, bongos (2), medium frame drum, hi-hat, tambourine, brake drum, assorted metal items, rachet, whistle, and concert bass drum.
Technical Requirements:
The audio, single-channel video, and FX channels are all self-contained within a Logic Session and synced to a click track contained as an audio file within the session. The trumpet, horn, and trombone have clearly labeled tracks with different effects presets that are indicated in the score as “on” or “off.” The audio is formatted for 5.1 surround.
Program Notes:
This is an excerpt from my multimedia work, "Longleaf," that evokes a natural lightning burn of a longleaf pine forest. The longleaf pine forest is an ecosystem that was once spread throughout ninety million acres of the American Southeast including rural East Texas. Now, only five million acres remain, with under fifty thousand in Texas. It is a delicate ecosystem that must be maintained with frequent fires that clear out other species and create an open, majestic savannah habitat home to endangered species including the red cockaded woodpecker. This piece tells the story of this unparalleled tree: its flourishing through natural and indigenous manmade fires, its use to make turpentine during the early settlement days, its widespread destruction at the hands of the lumber barons and sawmills of the early 20th century, and its rebirth with the advent of responsible forestry and prescribed fires. The piece weaves together a tapestry of virtuosic brass features, ambisonic field recordings captured in longleaf forests, videos of longleaf habitats, found sounds, and historical photographs and videos from the East Texas Digital Archive, the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, and The National Archives.
C Tr um p e t
F H o r n Tro m bo ne
P e rc us s i o n H a r p
Vi o l i n I
Vi o l i n I I Vi o l a
Vi o l o nc e l l o
& a i r s o und s hh " o o h"