UNC senior spends summer composing in Alaska

This summer, Stewart Engart learned that the birds and the bees really can give the best advice.

Engart, a UNC senior composition major, attended “Composing in the Wilderness,” a field seminar through the U.S. National Park Service and Alaska Geographic that takes nine participants to draw musical inspiration from Alaska’s famous wilderness.

Trained by professionals in Denali National Park and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, the group learned to channel different sounds and sights into a musical piece for assigned ensembles. Engart, who was assigned a string quartet plus oboe, said he drew most of his inspiration from the parks’ tranquility.

“I tried to convey the sense of peace I felt when I was there,” he said. “I’ve spent every summer working and being very busy — this was peace.”

Other program participants ranged in age and skill level — from undergraduate students to professors with their doctorates in composition. Although Engart had less experience than others, he held his own and produced a very worthwhile piece, said workshop leader and adventure-composer Stephen Lias.

“Of all our participants, I would include Stewart’s among the strong pieces,” he said. “He has the ability to take an experience and create something musical — that’s not something everyone can do. It requires a special sensitivity and intellect, and I think he did a great job with that.”

Stewart’s potential, said composition professor Allen Anderson, might stem from his eccentricities.

“Ideas will occur to him that won’t occur to others,” Anderson said. “(His eccentric streak) has made him infuse his compositions with devices and ideas that grow to be provocative and musical.”

A central idea to his composition came from a mother bear and her cub.

“You see it in TV and in movies all the time, but it’s different when you actually see it,” he said. “The section starts out as something very scary, but then you see the cubs and they cascade over each other. What you first think is scary is actually very nurturing.”

Park geologists and soundscape scientists taught the group how to analyze and use the nature in their pieces similar to how one would use nature in the visual arts. These professionals, including Denali National Park soundscape scientist Davyd Betchkal, said they hope to see inspiration through nature expand past the visual arts on a broader level.

“Visitors to national parks are consistently keen to appreciate the solitude, tranquility and scenic beauty that a natural soundscape can offer,” he said. “I’d love for Denali to embrace listening through art as thoroughly as it has embraced listening through science.”

The final compositions were performed in Fairbanks, and according to both Engart and Lias, they received positive reception from the audience.

“I wanted to be able to play it for them and hopefully, have them understand,” Engart said. “Instead of telling people about Alaska, I just wanted to play the piece.”

The National Park Service shares this hope with Engart, aiming for a symbiotic relationship with programs like “Composing in the Wilderness.”

“The course itself is a chance to reflect on one’s own life in the present tense and a chance for these composers to improve their craft and livelihood, which is such an integral part of their own dreams for the future,” Betchkal said.

“Composers, as artists, can help use their skill with music to inspire feelings and sensations in a wide variety of people. Those feelings and sensations can lead to reflection and thought about nature, which is absolutely essential to the conservation of these places.”

arts@dailytarheel.com