Season 1
1. Artist in Residence, Lia Pikus
Transcript
Tom: So what are, What are your guys's favorite instrument?
Neal: I'm going to tell you, Tom. It might just be the cello.
Tom: The cello.
Neal: This is coming from a guitar player and a former trombone player. The cello has a timber. A dark, rich timber that is just magical to me. and it lives in the bass clef. And, except for some occasional forays into the treble clef on the higher passages. I was comfortable there as a trombone player, but I love the cello.
Neal: I think it's just a mysterious, beautiful instrument.
Karl: Living in the bass clef. That's pretty deep. Pretty deep.
Tom: That’s really deep. I used to play trumpet in middle school. And. Oh, I was bad. I was bad.
Karl: But you blew it.
Neal: Oh, we all were at the beginning.
Tom: I had dreams of becoming the next great trumpeter. And it all, it all fell apart. But I don't know, it might not. I love a string instrument. I really do. Just maybe a classic guitar. You could do a lot on a guitar. And it takes a lot of, like, skill to get there. So I respect anybody that could master the guitar.
Neal: The cello has its amazing range of tones to me. It has this, as I said before, a deep, dark timber. But at higher registers you can almost get to where a violin is, or certainly a viola. So there's this big range there, but when it's dark, it's just beautiful.
Karl: It's very it's a versatile instrument.
Neal: Very.
Karl: Yeah. Mine. well, I wouldn't say it's necessarily my favorite for its musicality, but, the anything within the accordion family. I love the accordion, the concertina. the fact that whoever came up with it, whoever invented polka music, the fact that you're, it's a wind instrument, but it plays off of the keys or the button box. It's incredibly just fun.
Karl: It's whimsical. I like a good whimsical instrument, even if it's not the prettiest voice like a cello would be. Neal: And there's no worries because there's no frets. I had to get you back.
Karl: No frets, I’m back.
Tom: The accordion is a wild instrument, I love it. It is beautiful. I think of Weird Al every time when I look at an accordion.
Karl: I got a concertina years ago, and I have learned half of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in the past seven years when I first bought my concertina. But it is, it's just really fun to to plink around on it. And yeah, you think of like, big band poker, Weird Al, just those fun. I don't know, just hype music.
Neal: You think about these stringed instruments like the violin and the cello. I mean, the cello. I believe it's been around since the mid 1500s. So it's just an old, old instrument. And so much music has been written on it. It also complements other instruments really well. You can play anything with a cello. Conversely, you can pair it with almost anything and it works.
Neal: So like you said versatile cool instrument. Wow.
Tom: Well we need to introduce ourselves I think here. We're getting into it. We're getting into the weeds. What are we doing? Why are we here today?
Karl: Well, hello. My name is Karl. I am a park ranger here at Shenandoah National Park.
Tom: Yeah, and I'm Tom. you'll hear me later in the podcast, but I am also a park ranger here at Shenandoah National Park.
Neal: And I'm Neil. I'm also a park ranger. I'm a visual information specialist here in Shenandoah National Park.
Karl: And the the big thing. So, you know, speaking on the three of us, as Neal said, of course visual information specialist, we all kind of work in interpretation, education and media. And, both emotional and cultural resources and natural resources of the park. And I think that's kind of what brings us to starting up a podcast.
Tom: Which is named after a great landmark in Shenandoah National Park.
Neal: Milepost 51.
Tom: Yes. What can you tell us about milepost 51, Neal?
Neal: Well, milepost 51 is where the Big Meadows area is, which is the most developed area of the park, and also where the Big Meadows is: the cleared space that everybody loves to come to to observe wildlife and flora. Fauna. it's also almost exactly in the middle of our park. A park is 105 miles long, so just about the middle portion of it.
Neal: Carl is pretty familiar with the Big Meadows area.
Karl: I've heard of it once or twice. of course, that's where I've worked for the past several years. And yeah, going into, of course, starting up this, podcast and this journey that we're taking, I'm choosing milepost 51 as the title and kind of the, the iconic part of the park to, basis off of is really because being the central hub of the park, it's it's really a place of connectivity.
Karl: Everybody passes through Big meadows. that's where a lot of the Ranger programs, a lot of our EMS and rescue programs are based out of. We have a hotel there. Of course, a lot of our wildlife viewing. If you're coming into the park, that's a great place to go. So it's really a jumping off point to the rest of the park.
Karl: And, much like, this podcast and our other media, is a great jumping off point to learning more about Shenandoah as a national park. Neal: And also the milepost itself is kind of iconic on Shenandoah on Skyline Drive because there's one every mile. Yeah, on the western side of the drive, every mile you'll see a stone milepost.
Karl: And somehow I still get lost every time I drive it. I don't I don't understand.
Neal: You have to get North-South right.
Karl: I'm driving east. West. That's the problem.
Neal: And. Yeah. So I guess.
Karl: One question I have for you. You know, you were asking about, instruments and, our favorite music earlier, but, you know, we being a national park, where's the overlap with with music in nature? Where does the overlap between our national parks and music, as we'll see coming up?
Tom: I think that it's really important for music to be, kind of intertwined with our National Park Service, which is why we are doing the Artist in Residence program and which is what our next, couple of episodes in our podcast is going to be about. But I think it's crucial for music to be involved in the, park system, just being able to show the beauty of nature to the public in another format.
Tom: You know, people can go out and see, they can listen to bird sounds and that can all influence different artists in so many different ways. So I think it's important to highlight those artists and kind of show what their, what their view of the, the park and, and in this case, Shenandoah National Park is to them through their music or their art.
Neal: And how the park and nature might inspire the musician to write something. Yeah, to me there, there's a correlation there. The the nature itself and music are both universal languages, and anybody and everybody can enjoy those things. And I think that's really that's a cool thing.
Karl: Well, in in looking into the history of Shenandoah, even before it was a national park, you know, we became a national park in 1935. prior to that, there was, you know, Stonington Resort here over Skyland Resort, over at the Stoney Man Camp. And they were known for their big musical shindigs, their big bands coming in. you know, a lot of the people of the mountains, music was a big part of the culture.
Karl: Music was a part of the connection between the people and where they lived, where they recreated. And still to this day, you know, as you were saying, time with the artists and residents. Music is still a way for us, the National Park Service, to connect with people.
Tom: Truly, truly. And I think it's crucial and it's really crucial and, to keep supporting the arts and keep supporting music, especially within, our public park system, some. So I think, without further ado, let's get into the rest of the podcast and you can hear Leah, our first artist in residence, talk about her experience in Shenandoah National Park.
Tom: So thank you for listening today and enjoy.
Karl: This you.
Neal: That.
Karl: Yeah.
Ally: Leah Pinkus is a cellist, composer, and multidisciplinary artist whose practice centers around art's ability to cultivate experiences of connection, both within community and in dialog with the natural world. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, she researched this connective power on a global scale, exploring the role of art in fostering community, specifically in the context of collective reimagining of justice.
Ally: This research forms the foundation for her current explorations of live looping as a form of meditative ritual, and is the central focus of the songs on ritual, which released in February of 2024. Her current preferred media are cello loop, pedal voice, field recordings, and biodata sonification. Leah was selected as the May Artist in Residence in Shenandoah National Park, and will be here from May 4th through May 25th.
Ally: So welcome.
Lia: Thank you for having me and so happy to be here.
Tom: Yeah, thanks for joining us, Leah.
Ally: So before we get started, we can do some introductions. My name is Alyssa Fox, and I am a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park.
Lia: Shenandoah National Park.
Tom: My name is Tom Rees. I am also a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park. And we have...
Lia: Yeah, I'm Leah.
Ally: We picked...
Lia: Up been given an introduction already, so...
Ally: So we are sitting right now on a trail in Limberlost, which is just a short drive from Skyland where Leah is staying for her residency. And we cannot help but notice the birds.
Tom: They are not only singing, they're like putting together a chorus for Earth right now.
Ally: They're trying to show off, really.
Tom: They're really showing off.
Lia: I can tell.
Tom: So what? I don't know. I don't even know how to start. This is our first pod.
Ally: I know.
Tom: We are.
Ally: We were just really excited to do this. But we want to do it right, you know, do it justice.
Tom: It's really important for us to, like, show off, like the beauty of Shenandoah and the people that come to Shenandoah like Leah, who get to interpret the beauty of nature into something that other people can experience, like her art. So we're really excited to be here with Leah, and we're just going to do a quick little interview and ask you some questions about what she has been experiencing herself here in Shenandoah National Park.
Tom: So is there anything you want to say, Leah, about, how you're how you're feeling right now? What do you see around you? What really peaks your mind about this trail or this park in general?
Lia: That's such a lovely question. I think right now, as you said, I'm definitely noticing and experiencing the birds. I'm also really, probably because we've had a bunch of misty days, and this is one of the first days of sunshine, and I'm really noticing the dappled sunlight through the trees, and it's kind of shifting further down there on the path, which I've been turning to look at because it's so beautiful. Yeah, those are the two things I'm most noticing about our environment right now.
Ally: Tell us a little bit about your three weeks that you've spent in Shenandoah. What did you really been focusing on or given the opportunity to focus on?
Lia: My three weeks in Shenandoah have been incredibly special. I'll start with the second part of your question, which is what I've been focusing on. Was that the second part of your question, what was the second part of your question?
Ally: You can answer any part of the question, okay. What have you been able to focus on while you're here?
Lia: I have really been given the space to find silence. And I think that is really difficult to find in at least my day-to-day life, just prolonged periods of silence. And, you know, every day I've been waking up and going on a hike and noticing what I'm hearing. And it's this funny contrast of there's so much sound in nature, and by witnessing that sound and by paying attention to that, we also experience a kind of silence within ourselves. And so, in a foundational sense, I've been really given this space to experience that silence by experiencing the witnessing of nature every day. It's been so beautiful. But then that's also translated into letting me really focus on creating things and writing music and translating kind of the felt experiences that I have out in the natural world into art. And it's been just incredibly special.
Ally: I find it so interesting that you have to find silence, or you're inspired by the silence. And in order to create a sound. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, I think of it in that way. I feel like there's this...
Lia: Idea in certain sects of Buddhism that in order for us to have intentional, thoughtful, loving thoughts, we have to engage in profound periods of silence. And it's only from that silence that meaning can arise. I think it's that contrast of like existence, nothingness, space, matter. I think that really translates into my own creative practice very intensely.
Tom: So. Oh, wow. Yeah. And that is very that deep. Yeah. So you, you pretty much put your all into your music, and then you take your environment around you and put that all together and create something to output into the world. Thank you for sharing that with us here.
Lia: Thank you.
Ally: Yeah. So, we can backtrack a little bit. What's your what's your background? Speak a little bit more about that and how you ended up here today. Yeah.
Lia: Music. I have played cello since I was seven years old, grew up classically trained. That got quite intense in high school. I was traveling to Boston for orchestra every weekend and practicing like four hours a day, and I ended up going actually to school for cello performance, classical cello performance. And then I kind of, I have a mentor who says that I kind of wandered off into the woods. So I just kind of realized that for me, classical music didn't. It's so beautiful and it's still such a big part of my life, but it didn't give me the sense of authenticity and creativity that I really was reaching for. And so then I started writing my own music and started experimenting and yeah, I guess that's just been where I've been since that point.
Tom: So, Leah, where are you coming from to you've made it to Shenandoah National Park as an artist in residence. Where did you start in your journey to get here?
Lia: Yeah. So I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, and that's also that's where I started playing cello. I've been playing cello since I was about seven years old. And, so I would I grew up classically trained, but I also would spend my summers at fiddling camp in the Appalachian fiddling.
Tom: Yeah. Wow. That's so cool. You have no idea.
Ally: That feel right at home now I.
Tom: Know. shout out to Neil. If Neil here, he would say something along the lines of where you want a roof?
Lia: Very funny, Neil.
Tom: Yeah, I you did you hear that?
Lia: Yeah, yeah. So I had a lot of varied experiences, but very much, I think, especially through those experiences, felt a deep connection between cello and my art and my physical environment, specifically being the Blue Ridge Mountains. And yeah, as I've been writing my own music and as I was preparing to and I guess now have written my first album, I was really thinking, where do I want to be?
Lia: Where do I want to feel a sense of groundedness in order to be able to write and create? And I think the answer was just unequivocally back in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And so I also used to drive through Shenandoah all the time when I was younger, because my grandparents lived in DC, and so I was quite familiar.
Lia: It feels like home in many senses. and that that brought me to apply for the residency. So.
Tom: So you currently live in Virginia?
Lia: No, I live in New York City right now, but I will be moving to Boston this fall.
Ally: So have you had any memorable experiences here during your residency that you can think of, either with wildlife or visitors? Any kind of encounter?
Lia: So many. I feel like I've had every day, so many special experiences. I'm a big journalist and I have journaled more during my time here than in the past months. Being at home and I even at home. I journal every day and still there's just so. My experiences have been so full here. I'm thinking of one in particular where I went on, I think it was Upper Hawksbill and it was a really misty day.
Lia: So there was nobody else out on the trail. And I rounded the corner and this deer was standing right there, and we kind of looked at each other. And then he trotted off around a bend and I was like, okay, he's left. And then I walk around the bend and he's standing right there and he's waiting for me.
Lia: And we hike together for, I mean, you know, for a deer, that's just a deer being a deer, not a deer hiking.
Ally: But I like to say we hike together.
Lia: For truly, maybe an hour.
Tom: Wow.
Lia: Like he every time would just wait for me around the bend. And that it was so precious. It was so special. So.
Ally: So you're composing music, but also writing music. Are those synonymous? My missing something there?
Lia: No, that's a great question. And something I am figuring out myself. Oh, I'm not sure.
Ally: Because.
Lia: I actually, I came into the residency with Composition Capital C as kind of my explicit goal. and for me, that means mostly cello based and instrumental. And, and then I've ended up. That's why I say I've both been composing and writing music, because I've ended up writing a lot of almost like folk songs, which has been super unexpected.
Ally: Where that fiddler camp came. Yeah, it really is.
Lia: I do feel like some childhood self has been activated in this environment in a way that has brought up parts of myself that I not was disconnected from, but maybe lay dormant for a while. And so I think that probably is actually part of it. Is past selves being activated.
Ally: Through this physical space? Yeah. I find that when most people come into the park, hiking or like rock scrambling, playing in the water at the base of the waterfall, it's almost like it does bring up this child in you again, because you get to just be you just get to live in that moment. Yeah. And you have nothing else to think about other than wanting to feel like use all of your senses, you know, when you're outside because you're hearing things.
Ally: You're feeling things. I think that that's just really something special about being outdoors. And so to apply that to a musical sense, I think is really, really interesting.
Lia: That's such a good way of putting it. And it really does know, like it's really I'm thinking of yesterday I went swimming and in a waterfall and just felt like this acute presentness that just comes from and I think you feel that inherently as a child, because you're so new to the world and everything is new to you.
Lia: So your brain is truly being programed as you live. So you have to be very present. You can't just rely on old neural pathways, but also, I think there's just a sense of wonder that gets reactivated when you're.
Ally: Yeah, absolutely.
Lia: Back in nature. Yeah. It's really lovely.
Tom: Yeah. For sure. I mean, I remember the first time I did like a rock scramble. Have you done Bear Fence? Yeah. The trail. Yeah. Oh, you have to before you go. But the first time I did that trail, I was kind of blown away. Just like, kind of like you said, Ali, it kind of brings you back to your childhood.
Tom: Like going on a playground and jungle jam, just climbing up, like, going, like, the wrong way up a slide. Kind of feel like you're not supposed to be climbing this thing, but you're doing it anyway.
Ally: So I, was trying I attempted to do my own research on the cello last night because, admittedly, I don't know a whole lot. and my favorite game to play is typing in the beginning of a question and then letting the search engine finish to that question, because it's what I suppose it's whatever people are asking the most.
Ally: So I figured, well, I'm going to bring that to the table today. So I did a little bit of who what, when, where, why. Oh yeah. And let the search engine finish it. So some of my favorite questions. why is the cello the best instrument?
Lia: I mean, a great question with a million answers. I let's start with it's the instrument that I think you know what I'm about. I'm about to say something that I'm going to say factually, and I'm not 100% sure, 100% factual. But from what I recall, the cello is the instrument most akin to the human voice. So it's in the same range, the mode, the instrument that's most in the same range as the human voice.
Lia: So it activates something almost primordial within us. So I think that's reason number one.
Tom: No, no, no.
Ally: That's I mean that honestly, I don't know how you could top that answer. That reason.
Tom: I've never heard that before.
Ally: Beautiful.
Tom: Really interesting.
Ally: Depends on the voice that you're comparing it to. Right.
Tom: Right. Yeah. I guess you could do like any, any voice. You're just going, "Oh."
Ally: So voices I'd prefer not to hear. Right.
Tom: I know I get.
Lia: That and those, the violin mimics. So you don't have to worry about that.
Ally: So why is the cello so emotional.
Ally: You can make that emotional connection. Yeah.
Lia: I can often.
Ally: Yeah. Is the cello hard to play? I wouldn't.
Lia: No, I don't know, I don't have any memory of. Actually, I do have a memory of beginning the cello. I was going to say I don't have a memory beginning. It's always just been a part of me. But I do remember when I got my first cello. I tried to play it in the backseat of my car. That's like the one little blip of consciousness I have from that.
Tom: Wait, how old were you?
Ally: How big was this car? Seven.
Lia: It was a minivan.
Ally: So it was doable.
Lia: But mom, look back and she starts. Not that.
Tom: I'm not.
Ally: In the moving vehicle.
Lia: So I do have that one memory of beginning, but in a more real sense, I don't remember starting. I don't remember what learning it felt like. It's just always been part of the language of my body. And so I think for me, it always felt very natural. I've tried teaching it to people, and people do find it difficult because it's a lot of two hand coordination and that can be tough back.
Tom: So and there aren't many instruments that... Oh never mind, every instrument you just talking about.
Ally: And now you're questioning, why are we invited to have this podcast to be playing myself out now?
Ally: Oh, there's a couple good ones in here. When it's okay if you don't know the answers to these. Okay. When was the cello first invented? see.
Lia: Majoring in classical cello. At one point, I knew this because I had to take music history, and right now, it's not in the memory bank. But I do know that the cello started as a viola gamba. And which is I actually can't speak on the viola, but that's all I can say. That's truly all I can say is that it exists and that that's the origins of the cello.
Lia: That's all. I used to be able to speak on it. Not anymore.
Tom: So...
Ally: All right, let's see who is famous for playing the cello. Anyone we might recognize. Yeah, I think you might recognize Mr. Yo-Yo Ma.
Ally: Oh, my gosh, yes, I've heard him play live. Oh, my gosh. Where? When I was in college, he came to play a concert. How lovely.
Lia: Yeah, he's a lovely man. He actually did a series of live performances of the Bok Suites in national parks, which you should look up because they're stunning. He released an album that he did, I think, in Great Smoky, of the first Bok suite, and he records it like this with the birds in the Park live.
Ally: Well, you'll be next because we're going to ask you to do that.
Lia: What a legacy. Oh my goodness.
Ally: And then let's choose one more question.
Tom: Wasn't there one that we really wanted?
Ally: It was a little bit of an odd ball, I think. I think it was just playing the cello hurt. Oh yeah. And we didn't know why that was even a question. But if you could provide some insight on why that scale.
Tom: Of 1 to 10, how painful is the cello?
Lia: That is a hilarious question, because yes, yes, it is painful for various reasons. So when I was younger, I would practice, you know, in the classical tradition, you're using your left hand on the fingerboard a lot. And I say in the classical tradition, because I kind of moved into alternative techniques now. So it's less of the fingers on the strings, but doing that can really rip up your fingers until you build calluses.
Lia: And I used to, when I was building calluses, I would bleed from my fingertips quite a lot. But it's funny that you ask that now, because I've been playing my cello sideways a lot, and I have these huge bruises right now on my legs because the cello has this really sharp point in its body, has two really sharp points, and they've just been digging into my leg as I play it on its side.
Lia: So it's very funny that you ask, wow, it's been a...
Tom: That is a...
Ally: Big part of my life this past week, actually. You're really dedicated to your craft. If you can make it so that it doesn't hurt in the moment is the thing. I think maybe I just, I get so into whatever I'm doing that I don't notice, and then I will pull the cello up. I'm like, oh my goodness.
Tom: So is it normally, it's not normally played on its side, right? It's an upright instrument, okay.
Lia: Upright. It has an end pin that goes into the ground. But I've been playing it kind of like a guitar.
Tom: Oh, that's really cool.
Ally: How much does it weigh?
Lia: That's a great question. Not too much. It's usually actually the cases that weigh a lot. But I got when I was in high school, I got a really light case. So the cello for me is really... everyone's always like, can you walk upstairs with that? Can you? Yeah.
Ally: I walk miles doing this and Samsung was born for this. Yeah.
Tom: So what advice would you give to other artists like yourself? Not only people who would accept like an artist in residency, but in general, any other artist that has been working for to work towards making or creating something that they care passionately about.
Lia: I would say this is probably mostly just advice that I would have wanted to give myself maybe a few years ago, but and this is going to sound actually super cheesy, but don't be afraid to be yourself. And don't be afraid to be very earnest. I think you can be afraid of earnestness and feel like we have to be something that we're not.
Lia: But I think truly beautiful art that translates your fellow experience of being into something that other people can connect with has to come from a really earnest place. And that's what makes your art beautiful and unique and probably touching and that's what welcomes in other people also to your practice. And so I think just really creating from the most earnest place within you.
Tom: Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us.
Lia: Oh, thank you for having me.
Tom: Yeah. No problem. It's been a great time. We've been here again on Limber Lost Trailhead.
Ally: Where we're about to do a live concert.
Tom: Yeah.
Ally: Yeah. Do you mind playing? Just a bit. Yeah. We want to hear. We want to hear what this instrument can do. Yeah.
Lia: Absolutely.
[cello music plays]
Lia: You guys.
Ally: Do that so deeply. Like, I don't even know what it is that I feel, but it's just it really does bring out an emotion in you, even if you can't describe it too.
Tom: You and just feeling all that.
Lia: It's intense. Yeah.
Ally: Oh, wow.
Lia: That's so nice to hear.
Tom: The people around us are probably like “what”?
Ally: They're getting a show. They're like, that is a crazy bird.
Join Ally, Neal, Karl, and Tom as they sit down and talk music! Lia Pikus, the first artist-in-residence of Shenandoah's 2024 summer season talks about how the cello was a formative yet transformative part of her life. Relating music to nature in the park, Lia gives brief encounters of her time spent here at Shenandoah and what she's gained and learned.