Turtle-inspired gong orchestra to premiere new work at ScienceWorks
Terry Longshore, Southern Oregon University professor and Director of Percussion Studies, will premiere a new gong orchestra composition featuring the SOU Percussion Ensemble on Friday, Nov. 8, at the Ashland ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum. Audiences can catch one of two performances, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The performances will be free for SOU faculty, staff, and students with photo ID.
The composition, Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom, is Longshore’s original work and is inspired by local artist Betty LaDuke’s “Turtle Wisdom” series. Created in 2021, LaDuke’s artwork explores themes ranging from the personal to the political, all through playful, vibrant depictions of turtles. Her turtle imagery not only influenced the music but also features in the performance itself, becoming part of the musical score. Attendees will also have the opportunity to view some of LaDuke’s colorful turtle pieces at the event, bringing together art and music in a unique, immersive experience.
“Turtles became my symbolic storytellers, commenting on the events reshaping our lives,” LaDuke explained. “My imagination came alive as I used a Skil saw to shape wood boards into various turtle forms. Their stories began with rough painted outlines, later refined with sharp gouges that defined their intricate textures.
“The wood-thirsty surfaces then received layers of acrylic paint, transforming these colorful turtles into almost huggable companions on my studio floor,” LaDuke said.
Some of these turtles have long awaited their emergence from LaDuke’s sketchbooks, inspired by her travels in Africa, Latin America and Asia, while others were born out of isolation during the pandemic. As the world began to reopen, LaDuke’s turtles gradually took form, culminating in “Turtle Wisdom,” a collection of 20+ carved and painted turtles exploring human themes across wood panels, each measuring 32 by 24 inches.
LaDuke’s turtles embody themes of love, hope, resilience, and nostalgia, interwoven with political dreams of peace, fears of wildfire and the deep connection to water and seeds. Each turtle’s internal swirls reflect these complex emotions.
Joining Longshore and the SOU Percussion Ensemble, students from Longshore’s Honors 315 “Making Music” course will also participate as members of the gong orchestra.
Performers will use a wide array of implements and techniques to coax a range of sounds from their gongs. Positioned throughout the performance space, the audience will be enveloped by the sounds of nature, the resonant voices of the gongs and the dynamic visuals of LaDuke’s art.
The composition is designed to be inclusive, allowing anyone to participate regardless of their musical or percussion experience. A pre-performance workshop will provide instruction on performance practice and score interpretation.
“One of my most inspirational and dear friends, renowned artist Betty LaDuke, attended the 2021 premiere of my solo gong composition, This Moment In Time, and was inspired by the performance and the round shape of the large gong, and immediately began her Turtle Wisdom series of works which now number 36. These beautiful pieces have in turn inspired me to compose a new work, Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom, for gong orchestra performing from Betty’s Turtles in person, or projected/graphic scores. “Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom” will feature a wide variety of gong sizes, with each movement interpreting one of LaDuke’s “Turtle Wisdom” artworks,” said Longshore. The performance will be guided by a score composed by Longshore, which is both text- and time-based.
The structure of “Full Circle: Turtle Wisdom” also takes inspiration from the lunar calendar and Indigenous beliefs, where the turtle’s shell symbolizes 13 lunar cycles. The upper shell (carapace) displays 13 larger scutes that represent the lunar months, surrounded by 28 smaller scutes corresponding to the days in a lunar cycle. These numbers, 13 and 28, are incorporated into the rhythmic sections of the composition, alternating with more lyrical and textural passages.
Tickets will be available at the door for $10 per person at ScienceWorks. For more information about the artwork or performance, please visit https://oca.sou.edu/events .
