MUIRPIPES - BAGPIPES in NATIONAL PARKS

MUIRPIPES is a new project in which I create bagpipe improvisations in response to the lands that John Muir’s feet walked and words touched. The music of MUIRPIPES is inspired by the fervor and ecstasy within the writings of the Scots-American naturalist and Father of US National Parks, not to mention the breathtaking beauty of nature. The difficulty of the pipes reflect the arduous trails of Muir and bring attention to the fleetingly delicate tableaux of our diminishing natural world.

Pipes are THE iconic outdoor instrument, often depicted sounding from mountain top, reverberating across a landscape. Nothing better captures the raw and open antiquity of nature’s architecture than the sound and musical possibilities of the bagpipes. The bagpipe best captures the wild passion of this Scots outdoorsman!

The emotional impact of the instrument’s sound parallels the ecstatic revelation of immersion in the awe, splendor and wonder of nature. The bagpipe’s resonance and new music discoveries within these (natural) structures aims to connect an audience to the uniqueness of various lands and their conservation needs. Also, NOW is a good time to make some noise in support of the National Parks System!

The site-specific nature of the project is designed to elicit a a musical dialogue with the environment, further illustrating landscapes as a moment in time worth documenting. The sounds of nature intertwine with the performances, blurring lines between field-recording and performance document.

Too loud for nature?? The solo bagpipe is far from the volume of an amplified instrument. At most, it sounds as a quartet of reeds, made from organic substances. Through its natural tuning and resonances, its sound floats across open spaces like a down feather  in the breeze. When playing their broken-down components, the pipes are quite capable of quiet and delicate expressions.

The one-of-a-kind video responses are intended to be concise and spontaneous musical reactions to primarily the geological formations and surrounding flora (also captured in video), with minimal disturbance to fauna and fans of the parks. I limit the video clips to 90 seconds and two takes only, both to minimize the ecological impact and to focus the content of the improvisations. Where possible, I clear it Park Rangers in each park.

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