“Conserve Bloomington began as a modest response to the overwhelming sense of climate doom that many of us face on a daily basis. This grant will help maximize the local impact of the initiative, and will help me ensure that all participants are fairly compensated for their efforts. I feel so honored to have been given the opportunity to bring this project to fruition, and I sincerely hope it will encourage people to engage with their natural and musical surroundings.” 
Aislin Carpenter is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying trumpet performance with John Rommel. Here at IU, she has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and her beloved quintet, the Limestone Brass. She has received orchestral fellowships at the Music Academy of the West and the Round Top Festival Institute, and was named a semifinalist in last year’s National Trumpet Competition. Aislin is also a passionate administrator – she serves as the Communications Specialist for the OECD, performs engagement work for IU’s Classical Connections, and pursues additional studies in arts management through the O’Neill School.
Designing a classical music concert to spark conversations in the Bloomington community about the environment, Carpenter uniquely combines music and science in a creative and innovative way. Initially hiking through local trails with four composers and an ecologist, the group collected field recordings to be included in and to inspire new compositions. Aislin’s project is partnered with Classical Connections, the JSoM OECD, Artists for Climate Awareness, and the IU Research and Teaching Preserve.
The Conserve Bloomington Concert took place on May 12, 2023 at the Bloomington Arts Alliance Center in College Mall, featuring works by three student composers- Erin Blake, Sam Parnin, and Courage Barda. Five student musicians performed the works: bassist Alexis Schulte-Albert, harpist Ari Schwartz, violinist Irene Castillo, percussionist Jaxson Rives, and horn player Graves Smiley. Carpenter described the uniqueness of the evening’s program: “Each piece uses a distinct combination of instruments and embodies a different element of the natural world.”
Undergraduate composition student Erin Blake wrote Waterworks, inspired by sounds experienced on the February walk through Griffy Nature Preserve: “I sought to represent different sounds and experiences found in the forest, such as crunching footsteps, running and still water, trees shaking in the wind, and sunlight shining through the branches. This expands into an abstract representation of the calming yet powerful aspects of nature.”
Expansive Stillness, written by Fort Wayne native jazz pianist and composition student Sam Parnin took note of the presence of civilization deep within the nature preserve, choosing to highlight the sounds of a distant highway:
“My piece… combines two different elements that I saw in the nature preserve which were the sunlight reflecting off of the water, and the ambient sound of the highway. The light reflecting off of the water (even though it doesn’t produce any sound) had a striking effect on me where it reminded me of an electronic multimedia piece by Iannis Xenakis. The ambient highway sound is something that I find interesting because of the reminder that even though we were in the middle of the woods, the effects of humanity was still present. This is something that I’m thinking I’d investigate through a quasi soundwalk, where the noticeable presence of the highway drone becomes more and more obvious.”
Undergraduate composition student Courage Barda, runner-up in this year’s Innovation Competitionwith his project TUTTI, wrote Sheldon Sleeps in the Sun, a musical depiction of a turtle he met during the February hike.
“Sheldon is a Midland painted turtle (Chrysemys pitta marginata) who resides in Lake Griffy, Bloomington, IN. These turtles are found all across the United States and Canada, living mostly in shallow freshwater habitats such as ponds, lakes, and streams. They are recognized by their colorful shells, which are yellow or green with red or orange markings. Midland painted turtles are also commonly kept as pets.”
“I composed Sheldon Sleeps in the Sun after my visit to Lake Griffy in February 2023 as my involvement with the environmental education and music initiative Conserve Bloomington. My job was simple: I was to compose something inspired by or related to what I witnessed during my visit. During my visit, I was mesmerized by this turtle who, even in cold Indiana, couldn’t be more at peace than he was sitting on a log. It made me so happy to see this turtle so content in his outdoor home. I thought more about this fella. I named him Sheldon and made up details about his life… personalizing a turtle may be a more subtle form of environmental activism, but my intention is to encourage people to see value in animals beyond ourselves.”
Learn more about the project on Conserve Bloomington’s Facebook and Instagram pages.