SoundCheckEarth: A Desert Symphony at Joshua Tree
On a recent April weekend at Joshua Tree National Park, the desert weather displayed the wide range of moods and movements it is known for in springtime: a storm-borne wind howled through creosote and cold rain at sunrise on Friday morning then yielded to calm, 75 degree-sunshine Saturday afternoon offering up a gentle breeze that shifted and tickled itself through the massive granite boulders at Cap Rock, bringing along with it the scent of wildflowers and Joshua tree blossoms.
It was all the perfect accompaniment and backdrop to SoundCheckEarth, a site-specific immersive acoustic concert composed by innovative composer and music educator Kennedy Verrett specifically for the Cap Rock site, a stunning location situated in a natural valley in the heart of the Park.
Starting at 6:06 AM on April 22 and culminating at 6:06 PM on April 23, and in five distinct movements, music played by 17 local and visiting musicians tucked away in their own space among the rocks, mostly out of sight but within hearing range from each other emanated throughout the Cap Rock site as rock climbers, tourists and SoundCheckEarth attendees wandered along a ¼-mile circular interpretive path, stopping to listen, look and smile in wonderment.
One man was overheard comparing this experience to hearing concerts in European cathedrals.
At one point on Saturday afternoon, members of a large wedding party disembarked from a bus and wandered and wondered through this panoply of sound on their way to take celebratory photos, their laughter and joy mingling with the musical notes that included "a bassoon player sheltered by a Joshua Tree, percussionists perched on boulders, strings, woodwinds and brass resonating with the rocks," as described by SoundCheckEarth’s producer and director Eva Soltes, who is also producing a film about the event.
And it all came together, at Cap Rock, in five musical movements, each dedicated to one of the five elements earth, air, water, fire and the spirit, according to Verrett. His piece is based on the Japanese nature-inspired tanka poetry form: 17 musicians, one for each sound of the 17-syllable tanka structure. Verrett also borrowed inspiration from composer Lou Harrison, who championed the Japanese poetry forms as inspiration in his own musical composition.
In Movement One, "Gratitude," "The music is central, with an expansive feel that matches the landscape at Cap Rock," says Verrett. Movement Two, "The Earth Shaketh," is inspired by the tectonic plate movement that form the geologic features of Joshua Tree National Park. Movement Three, "Affirmations of the Spirit" is meant to be a lot like the Gratitude movement, especially, notes Verrett, as humanity has negotiated through the difficult pandemic era.
Movement Four, "Testify" takes inspiration from the church. "In my church, we have something called a Speak Meeting, where we gather and share stories and bear witness to each other’s experiences," Verrett says. "This gives us that ability to adapt, improvise and overcome whatever it is that we might be trying to overcome." Movement Five is the "Final Movement."
And there, suddenly appearing amidst the rocks and tuning in with a huge smile on his face as he leant in to listen intently during one of Saturday’s movements was Verrett himself, delighted by the momentous sounds of his musicians’ instruments calling and echoing to one another across the rocks.
Deeply at home in the midst of absorbing his stunning composition come to life, his passion for this music and the relationships he's created between music and landscape emanated from his entire presence as Soltes approached him and gave him a giant hug, the beauty of musical sounds, Joshua trees and giant rocks washing over them.
The overall impact of SoundCheckEarth was not unlike the experience of watching a colorful sand mandala be meticulously crafted, briefly displayed and then scattered to the wind: an ephemeral, but lasting impression of beauty and transformation in this particular place in the Mojave Desert that will endure in the memory of rock and wind and Joshua trees.
Inspired by the Mojave Desert landscape and drawn here by his deep interest in the musical compositions of Mojave Desert-affiliated musicians Harrison and Harry Partch, along with Julius Eastman, Verrett reached out to Soltes in early 2020.
Currently living in Portland, Oregon, Verrett began working on the composition for SoundCheckEarth while staying at Harrison House Music, Arts & Ecology Center in Joshua Tree as a Composing Fellow from January 2021- April 2022. The Harrison House has a distinguished history supporting a residency program for gifted artists and thinkers.
Together with Soltes, Harrison House founder and director, in partnership with Joshua Tree National Park and the enthusiastic support of Park Superintendent David Smith, Verrett — who performs on piano and intriguing instruments such as didjeridu and duduk and has performed with many ensembles and as a conductor for orchestras as well as writing music for film and teaching music — birthed the vision and put heart, time and soul into SoundCheckEarth, the first event of its kind in the Park, to fruition.
Verrett says that one of his goals in SoundCheckEarth was to invite the public to enjoy a soundwalk that could compel them to stop, listen and be moved to experience by a unique sonic interaction with this special place in the desert via wind, percussion and string instruments vibrating along with the natural sounds of the desert environment.
In addition to enjoying a site-specific, in-the-desert "sound bath" for its aesthetic purities, one impact for those who shared the magical experience of SoundCheckEarth was the opportunity to help everyone who participated develop a meaningful relationship with the Mojave Desert.
"I am motivated to help people become inspired to become stewards of this place," Verrett says. "And music is one way to help people make that deep connection that enables them to care and act upon that."
Throughout his yearlong residency at Harrison House, as well during time spent visiting the Park throughout 2020, Kennedy spent countless hours at the Cap Rock site and at other desert sites — including a small piece of land that he owns, where he installed bottles on the ground to serve as instruments to capture the sonic patterns of the wind — listening to and recording the many sounds of the desert as ideas and patterns began to emerge for SoundCheckEarth.
I am motivated to help people become inspired to become stewards of this place.Kennedy Verrett, SoundCheckEarth composer
"I'm so pleased that people were deeply moved by SoundCheckEarth," says Soltes. "For me, part of the success of SoundCheckEarth was to open people's ears to the sounds of nature and also to recognize how much sound space humans take up in the environment. Kennedy's score was designed to highlight that."
"Each performance was unique and filled with spirit," adds Verrett. "Much love to the musicians and crew who were patient and also mostly down to make music together."
