Voices of the Everglades

duo for E♭ clarinet and percussion

Florida’s Everglades National Park is a 1.5-million-acre wetland known for its astounding biodiversity. It provides a sanctuary for many endangered species that have all but disappeared from other environments. This includes a large population of endangered birds.

As an environmental policy lawyer for the US government, my father has spent three decades working to protect these birds. In doing so, he has helped me appreciate their beauty as well as their struggle. This piece draws on that inspiration and incorporates the calls of six endangered species found in the park: Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, Piping Plover, Red Knot, Kirtland’s Warbler, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and Everglade Snail Kite. The calls are layered and transformed with increasing intensity to bring the listener into the birds’ habitat and convey the need for action. An additional melodic motif for the beauty of the landscape unites this material. The pensive ending uses the calls of three extinct birds that once lived in the Everglades – Bachman’s Warbler, Dusky Seaside Sparrow, and Ivory-billed Woodpecker – providing a wary reminder of what indifference to endangered species can cause.

I composed this piece as part of Oberlin’s 2023 Explorations Project and worked from the beginning with clarinetist Alex Swers and percussionist Jonathan Lucke. We began the process by meeting in the Oberlin percussion studio. Alex brought his clarinet, and I brought a piano keyboard for myself as well as a page of musical fragments for each player. We spent an hour improvising from that material, exploring the potential soundscapes of the piece and getting to know one another as a band. I was in contact with them throughout composition, sending Alex my bird call transcriptions to record and probing Jonathan’s expertiese on multi-percussion setup. They premiered the piece together in Oberlin’s Stull Recital Hall on March 15, 2023.

This work is dedicated to my father and all others who work to protect the Everglades and the immensity of life that calls it home.

For more music inspired by the beauty of the American National Parks, see “All Safe. Home Gone.” for orchestra.