Steve Heitzeg has been composing ecoscores (intimate works with inventive syntax and design) that seek to honor the beauty and rights of nature since 1991. Taking “eco” from the word ecology and “score” as in a musical work, Heitzeg seeks to merge the natural and musical worlds through these earth-centric pieces.
Influenced by the nature works of John Cage, R. Murray Schafer, Eric Stokes and Maya Lin, Heitzeg originally composed ecoscores as holiday peace cards that were sent to family and friends with the small scores emphasizing the inherent value of even the smallest of species on earth.
Printed on 100% tree-free kenaf paper, ecoscores are meditations on the many voices in nature, as well as our human definition of music. Neither anthropomorphic nor zoomorphic, ecoscores address social and environmental justice issues and alternative performance practices and notations, all in an attempt to break down old and artificial barriers involving human versus nature, nature versus art.