Myrtle Tree Arts Journal

Paul Godwin & Miguel Noya (Dogon) Music for FIRE/LAND: Knowing the Territory has been a huge part of the creation process for this "Art Rock Opera for the Forest." We began with a gorgeous and somewhat somber composition that came about in 2018 when Miguel Noya, the Venezuelan electronic composer attended our artist residency at Talking Tree Ranch in Placerville. The composition is routed in a repeating piano pattern nested rhythmically in the key of C# minor. There is an interwoven melody taken up by piano, then violin and finally a synthesizer enters with a counter theme -  swirling, gorgeously rising with an inherent longing and perhaps, sadness. The piece was not released until now, when it found a home in the opening FIRE/LAND  Overture – recast as “Whichever Way the Wind Blows.” The piano ostinato will return again as a foundation for “A Moral Dilemma” and then “We All Play a Part” as our Finale.  How does one create music for an “art rock opera for the forest”...

  Dry Days , composed by Aron Faria , and being performed live by Paul Godwin, Miguel Noya, Dustin Koupal and Aron Faria on April 23rd, 2022, as part of the event, Earth Dayta , is inspired by data that shows the average yearly temperature slowly increasing through the year 2099.  The foundation of the piece uses two identical musical loops playing simultaneously, with one slowly increasing in tempo to represent the increasing temperature. The simultaneous video sequences similarly shift in tempo and duration, allowing new imagery to appear. The piece shows how change is not always noticeable right away, but over time one can see the effects and feel the impact of small changes on larger systems. Dry Days also makes visual use of popular climate change graphics that have been shared with the public over the last several year, known as the warming stripes . Warming stripes (sometimes referred to as climate stripes or climate timelines) are data vis...