On Friday, November 8 from 6-8pm, percussionist Terry Longshore will premiere his new work for gong orchestra, Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom at the ScienceWorks Museum in Ashland. Tickets are $10 and available online at https://scienceworksmuseum.org and will also be available for purchase at the door the evening of the event.
ScienceWorks Members and all SOU Faculty, staff, and students can get complimentary tickets by emailing: info@scienceworksmuseum.org, and you will get a coupon code to receive your free ticket.
The new work will be performed at two times during the evening – 6:30pm and 7:30pm by the SOU Percussion Ensemble and students of Longshore’s Honors Course – “Making Music”.
The inspiration for the work is Betty LaDuke’s Turtle Wisdom – a series of works that features more than 20 colorful turtles as part of the musical score. LaDuke’s artworks will also be on display.
ABOUT THE MUSIC AND ART:
Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom by Oregon composer and percussionist Terry Longshore draws its inspiration from his 2021 hour-long composition for large solo gong, This Moment In Time, and renowned artist Betty LaDuke’s series, Turtle Wisdom. It is performed by a gong orchestra, in which at least six and up to an unlimited number of members, each with their own gong, interpret one of Betty LaDuke’s Turtle Wisdom series of artworks, guided by a text- and time-based score composed by Longshore.
LaDuke’s Turtles explore themes of personal, political, and playful nature. Emerging from the pandemic in 2021, LaDuke states that “TURTLES became my symbolic storytellers, commenting on the events currently reshaping our lives.”
The performers utilize a plethora of implements and techniques to produce a seemingly endless array of sounds from their instruments. Spatialized throughout the performance space, the audience is encircled by sounds of nature, by the gongs’ captivating voices, and by LaDuke’s dynamic artworks. The composition is composed in a way that allows anyone to participate, regardless of musical or percussive experience. A pre-performance workshop provides participants with instruction on performance practice and score interpretation.
The compositional structure of Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom is inspired by the lunar calendar and numerous Indigenous peoples’ belief that turtles’ shells symbolize the 13 lunar cycles. The central area of the upper shell (carapace) displays 13 larger scutes, each representing a lunar month. Additionally, the encircling smaller scutes total 28, corresponding to the days in a lunar cycle. The numbers 13 and 28 are used in rhythmic sections of the composition, alternating with more lyrical and textural sections highlighted by the playing techniques.
