Prescribed Fire, from “The Land Shifts” - String Orchestra

Duration: 4.5 Minutes

Difficulty: Grade 5 (grading system details)

Written: 2024

Instrumentation:
-Violin I
-Violin II
-Viola
-Violoncello
-Double Bass

Link to the full four-movement work:
-The Land Shifts

Other movements published as standalone concert works:
-Kudzu Pull

Program Note:

Prescribed Fire is the raucous finale of The Land Shifts, a four-movement suite that explores the transformative process of reconnecting with the natural world. The finale’s energetic rhythms and bold textures evoke the power and purpose of fire in land management, celebrating its transformative role in sustaining ecosystems.

Prescribed Fire is inspired by controlled burns, a technique cultivated and practiced by Indigenous peoples for centuries. Controlled burns reduce flammable ground cover, prevent wildfires, and enrich the soil with ash to support future growth. This piece challenges the common narrative that wildfires are solely caused by global warming. It reflects a deeper understanding of land stewardship, highlighting how the displacement of Indigenous peoples disrupted this careful ecological balance, leading to increased wildfire risks. Prescribed Fire honors the wisdom of Indigenous fire practices, urging us to center and from those who have long cared for the land.

Further Reading: (excerpted from the larger work)

Movement IV. Prescribed Fire—the raucous finale—nods to the ancient land management technique of burning portions of land during the cold and wet season, which reduces the amount of flammable ground cover. This prevents larger wildfires during the summer, while feeding the existing the seed bank underneath with nutritious ash.

Growing up, I thought global warming was to blame for summer wildfires. In adulthood, I learned that Indigenous people routinely introduced fire to the landscape for its benefit. When millions of them were taken from these lands, the ground-cover was not routinely burned, and the flammable material on the forest floor was not maintained. Today, Indigenous people make up only 5% of the world's population, but protect approximately 85% of the world's biodiversity.

On the final drive back from the string academy, things clicked for me. That ground cover was an invasive species––either Knotweed or Kudzu. Rather than being pulled or burned to make room for native species, the state government sprayed it with chemicals before it reached the highway. The climate was not drying the plant out; the land was being mismanaged. This heartbreaking shift in perspective on the highway is what inspired this piece of music, which I hurriedly sketched on a friend's keyboard later that afternoon.

If we are to love the land how it deserves to be loved, sovereignty movements like Land Back must guide our thinking, actions, and refusals. Singeing the edges of our problems will never be enough. We have to love pulling them up by the roots.

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