Longleaf Leader Magazine

Longleaf-Leader-Spring2025.qxp_Layout 1 3/18/25 12:53 PM Page 2

XVIII — ISSUE 1

SPRING 2025

Longleaf-Leader-Spring2025.qxp_Layout 1 3/18/25 12:54 PM Page 35

ARTS & LITERATURE

Longleaf: A Multimedia Musical Composition about Longleaf Pine Loop38, conducted by Craig Hauschildt, performs Longleaf at Midtown Arts and Theater Center in Houston, Texas.

[Ben Morris]

The Longleaf score includes movements organized by longleaf pine life stages with descriptive titles recounting the ecology and history of longleaf pine ecosystems.

This project is generously funded by the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state ar ts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas, with additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts, The Nature Conservancy in Texas, Stephen F. Austin State University Cole Fine Ar ts Faculty Excellence and School of Music Professional Development Grants, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the City of Houston.

Listen to the Longleaf composition and watch the performance recording at https://longleaf.info/BenMorris

Longleaf is a new multimedia work created by composer Ben Morris in collaboration with the Houston-based new music ensemble Loop38. The piece tells the story of the native longleaf pine forests of East Texas. It traces the history of longleaf and the timber industry in East Texas with video projections, historical photographs, field recordings of natural soundscapes, and music that evokes the sounds of prescribed fire, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, and logging machinery. The work, which raises awareness about the ecological importance of native forests and encourages forest preservation and appreciation, premiered in Nacogdoches in March 2024 and had a subsequent performance in Houston at the Midtown Ar ts and Theatre Center in May 2024. Loop38 is currently planning to take the piece on tour.

To create the piece, Morris traveled to longleaf forests with a surround-sound recorder and camera to capture native bird and plant species and the sounds and sights of prescribed burns. He transcribed the sounds of bird calls, fire sounds, winds blowing, trees falling, and sawmills operating into musical notation for instrumentalists to perform and improvise around the recorded sounds and projected video. The music is inspired by documentary film scores, jazz, and contemporary classical music. The performances in Nacogdoches and Houston were accompanied by a tour of the Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary, guided by The Nature Conservancy’s Shawn Benedict. Morris also presented the piece at Big Thicket National Preserve’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in Kountze, Texas in October 2024.

THE LONGLEAF LEADER | SPRING 2025

About the artist: Dr. Ben Morris is a composer and jazz pianist whose eclectic projects include multimedia works, operas, concert pieces, jazz, and film scores. His music, which is often inspired by our relationship with the natural world, has garnered awards, grants, and commissions from ASCAP, Downbeat, Fulbright, Mid-America Ar ts Alliance, Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, and the American-Scandinavian Foundation. He studied music composition at Rice University, University of Miami, and the University of Colorado Boulder, and he is currently assistant professor of composition at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. www.benmorrismusic.com/longleaf [ 32 ]

VOLUME XVIII – ISSUE 1