Coming from the sprawling Sonoran desert of Southern Arizona, my environment has always been a core part of my identity. Leaving home for me often meant noticing extreme changes in surrounding weather, flora, and fauna. While I did not recognize it then, spending my entire life in one place made me incredibly observant of my environment, regardless of where I was. After a visit to the Sonoran Desert Museum one week before I left to study in the Hague, I learned about a highway proposition intended to cut through the sanctuary, potentially destroying habitats for hundreds of different species of creatures- an unsettling thought as I was about to leave, unable to do anything about it.
There is also the stress we share when hearing or talking about climate change, the failure of governments to curtail this issue effectively, or noticing weather patterns unusual to us, like a surprisingly short winter, or a very long drought. And unfortunately, a single person acting alone cannot make a noticeable change on a global scale.
However, this dilemma made me reconsider my options as a musician and human being. To connect people into action, how can I connect myself to my environment, and work as an activist that promotes our environment, without dropping music? How might music play a part in solving our climate issues?
Focusing on my own realms, I began to explore how percussion could be - and is being - utilized as a tool to demonstrate environmental issues. Percussion is a vast school of instruments, which more recently regularly includes found objects in chamber and solo repertoire. Using percussion's versatility, I wondered what the limits of this instrument group are to demonstrate or at least get people talking about issues that otherwise are difficult to perceive or talk about, and how I could program music that allowed me an opportunity to raise my voice in a variety of settings.