In the key of tree
By Chelsea Yarnell
For the TODAY
A long-held debate asks whether a tree falling in the forest makes a sound if there’s no one there to hear it.
A silent concert flips the question: Can a forest host a symphony that exists only in the ears of its audience?
Seek the answer for yourself at the “IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild” concert held at the Smith Homestead in the Tillamook State Forest on Monday, July 27.
IN A LANDSCAPE is a concert series that reimagines the classical music experience by taking performances out of concert halls and into natural settings.
Founder and featured pianist Hunter Noack is an Oregonian who has topped the classical music Billboard charts and is a graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Noack travels with and performs on a nine-foot, 1912 Steinway Model D piano. A microphone is placed inside the piano, enabling audience members to listen through wireless headphones, while wandering afield with Noack’s performance as the soundtrack to their experience.
“I wanted to bring together the two things I love the most: playing classical piano music and being outdoors, and present a concert using silent disco technology,” he said. “Most concert or recital halls put so much effort into [acoustics]. When you’re playing outside, the sound just evaporates. So, the best thing about the headphones is higher quality sound for the listeners and the music can be a soundtrack as people wander, connect, feel and observe the natural world.”
Audience members are free to gather near the piano or move quietly along the edge of the Wilson River, sit on stones or wade in the shallow water with their feet in the current as the music unfolds.
Noack has prepared a musical program with pieces that he describes as “spacious and beautiful” with influences from Fresh impressionist water music.
“I’ll change up what I’m playing based on the area,” he said, noting the water-inspired music connects with the nearby river. “People use words like spiritual or healing and I attribute that to the time spent in nature. The point of the show is to slow down and observe. Sometimes that’s observing your own senses or making space for your emotions to well up or process something. I’m not the focus of the experience; it’s internal and more about connecting with the landscape. I’m a part of it as the performer and guide, and the music is a big part of it, but the landscape is the star.”
The Smith Homestead concert is one of 50 this year. The series has received multiple awards and has been featured on CBS Mornings, in the New York Times, Forbes and TEDxPortland.
“What I hope happens with these concerts is that we put people in places where there are not usually concerts; places that are rich in stories,” Noack said. “We’re connecting people with nature, but also with people whose lives are dedicated to working with those landscapes.”
The State Forests Trust of Oregon helped facilitate the location for the Smith Homestead concert.
“[We] are a supporting nonprofit for the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Recreation, Education and Interpretation program,” said State Forests Trust of Oregon Executive Director Virginia Ohler. “We support REI activities in state forests in Oregon. ODF has an incredibly beautiful facility at Jones Creek called the Smith Homestead. You have a really nice building and then down a little trail there’s a meadow that sits right next to the river. This concert is a way of highlighting and inviting people to experience the forest in a different way. It’s a wonderful opportunity to have a very unique experience and become more aware of the State Forest Trust and the REI program.”
Spanning more than 364,000 acres, the Tillamook State Forest is shaped by river corridors, dense forest and long-term stewardship of the Clatsop, Nehalem, Tillamook and Clatskanie peoples. Its history and stories are highlighted at the Tillamook Forest Center which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
“The Tillamook Forest is pretty incredible,” Ohler said. “It’s right in our backyard and I think it’s so easy to not think about it and take it for granted. But, tens of thousands of Oregonians including 45,000 schoolchildren came together to hand plant more than 72 million seedlings to resurrect the forest after it burned three times.”
Information about the State Forests Trust of Oregon’s programs and work will be available at the concert.
“Our public lands are our most democratic spaces,” Noack said. “These concerts have blossomed into recognizing the multitudes…who are dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources and the landscapes around us. What surprises me at every concert are the moments of serendipity – when the leaves blow or the birds dance perfectly in time with the music, as if choreographed by a divine hand. In those moments of magic, I feel such gratitude for classical music and the parks and wild lands in which we play.”
Monday’s concert begins at 5 pm at Smith Homestead, located less than a mile east of the Tillamook Forest Center on Highway 6. Tickets are $45. Concert capacity is limited to 250 people. For more information, go to inalandscape.org.