PELLSTON, Mich. — On a Sunday afternoon in mid-June along Douglas Lake, a group at the University of Michigan Biological Station made music and a little bit of magic, sparked by the sounds of nature and the words of a student.
"Just gotta use our heads, play our part,
Use our hearts, it might not hurt this time...
Hold up.
You hear that redstart?
You feel that sunshine?"
Mikel Vaughan-Coston, a senior at the University of Michigan studying ecology and evolutionary biology, wrote that line earlier in June as part of a poem to describe the experience of living and learning at the U-M Biological Station during the 2025 spring term.
“That line really emphasizes the importance of living in the moment to truly appreciate and learn at the UMBS,” Mikel said. “We're students who are constantly thinking of the next piece of our four-year plan, so to be placed in an environment that forces us to be present is something that I'm going to miss.”
The 21-year-old from Detroit took two courses from May 20 through June 19 at the research and teaching campus in northern Michigan comprised of more than 10,000 forested acres: “Field Ornithology” and “Rivers, Lakes and Wetlands.”
Before leaving the remote Northwoods campus, Mikel wanted to create something special to sum up four weeks of exploration and discovery with fellow students and researchers from around the world.
When finished, Mikel called it “An ode to the lake.”
“I started the poem within the second week of classes after sitting by the lake at night. It was extremely peaceful and thought provoking,” Mikel said. “I began to work on the poem more as I shared more experiences with our cohort and finished it around 15 minutes before our Talent Show where I first performed it.”
Turns out, that was only the beginning of its life.
On Sunday, June 15, Mikel and about a dozen others in the field research station community attended the first workshop of the season featuring UMBS artist in residence Ricardo Lyra, a professional musician and bioacoustics researcher from Brazil.
Most carried their instruments from their cabins — guitars, jaw harp, saxophone, soprano trombone, trumpet, keyboard and bass.
Mikel brought the new poem.
The hands-on art workshops this year are designed to explore simplified concepts of music theory and production, basic principles of bioacoustics, and techniques to obtain high-quality samples of natural sounds for music composition, including recording methods, sample selection and audio editing
During this first session, participants weren’t entirely sure what to expect.
Lyra swept them away with the joy of sound and then invited everyone to create together.
The second half of the workshop focused on producing a song from scratch so everyone could see how the recording part works.
“We initially chose a drum loop together,” Lyra said. “After that, I've recorded a guitar part to work as the basis for the song, creating a short loop. Then everyone else started recording other ideas with different instruments over it. We initially focused on creating more ideas for the loop and after that recorded some solos from the students.”
The last part was recording the vocals.
Breathing a second wind into student art, Mikel read the words of the poem into a microphone.
Now both the poem and the song share the same name: “An ode to the lake.”
“It felt warm. Very comfortable and awe inspiring,” Mikel said of collaborating with the group. “I learned a lot about how to use the different programs I have been playing around with for the past semester, but to be able to see everyone add their own piece into something together was truly a beautiful experience.”
“I had a great time putting this together alongside them and hope everyone can see how much fun we had,” Lyra said. “They are all very talented.”
After the workshop ended and the students and scientists dispersed, Lyra edited and arranged the song, focusing on how the song flows from the beginning to the end. He also added some natural sounds representative of the soundscape of the UMBS.
The song prominently includes an icon of the Northwoods: the call of a loon.
That’s one of the things that Mikel will miss about UMBS after the end of the spring term.
“The people, the lake, the landscape, the fun activities like monster hunt, strawbale house, jumping into the lake and regretting it because of how cold it feels, the classes that actually spark that curiosity that a regular lecture on campus would struggle to attract. The staff, and to really emphasize it, the community we built here for the spring semester,” Mikel said.
One line of Mikel’s poem says, “Here the days feel like weeks but the hours feel like minutes."
Mikel called that line a message for students in Ann Arbor and anywhere else in the world who plan to take courses at UMBS in the future.
“Be prepared to have full days and use every bit of your free time but understand that the time flies when you're in the midst of it all,” Mikel said. “Have fun, try new things, and be open to everyone because you're not sure what you could learn as you finish the next four weeks. “
Listen to the song on the UMBS YouTube page.
List of song participants:
Ricardo (Rhythm guitar and production)
Susan (Jaw harp)
Mikel (Poetry)
Ruby (Bass)
Ryan (Keyboard)
Dylan (Solo guitar)
Gage (Saxophone)
Lucile (Soprano trombone)
Nate (Trumpet)
Read Mikel’s poem:
An ode to the lake
The rules of threes led me here.
The elements of three greeted me.
The sister three is rooted deep down and it keeps me.
The side streets water tours, family to everyone who lives around this corner,
Open arms round here no one’s a foreigner,
It’s Driving down that road, same as before letting everyone know it’s still there.
The truth is old just open your ears, And hear,
Yes we still here,
The same pattern but always something different it’s like the waves don’t want to drown,
sometimes it’s hard to swim in that sound, gotta splash just to let you know I’m around,
I think I step out now no longer looking to be found
See
I don't want to drown, not to those memories and I think the lake knows.
It’s making music to the drum of life and it knows.
It’s humming its way through the night and it knows.
The waves we make our impact echoing across this lake,
I hope they write us down before our wake,, savor these moments to save this taste,
Memorizing the hit Of that quinoa bake,
The crash has to come and it knows,
Eloped with the shoreline I like to think it’s finally buying baby clothes.
That way It’s happy now.
I think it might be in love it’s finally pushing, showing me it’s here,
Constantly pushing intentions steering clear,
Telling me
telling you
Yes we still here,
as we shift the gears and park
just gotta use our heads and play the part.
Use my heart, it might not hurt this time,
Hold up
You hear that redstart?
You feel that sunshine?
Learning new things about ourselves new songs this earth can make, we’re intertwined,
To witness the bloom of this symphony then recognize it as yours as mine,
It’s heard,
I hope you see the picture I try to paint with these words,
Maybe a few more strokes then you’ll get it,
Here the days feel like weeks but the hours feel like minutes,
The dark offers up peace, the silence carries out your sentence,
I'll meet yall at the beach, but damn these bites itch so know I’ll get my vengeance,
I’ll remember the iron in this water,
And how this lake has no heat retention.
I hope you’ll hear the copper of these thoughts the pension from all that pinching,
The tension I get from rubbing that golden lamp with callused hands clean it all,
with polished sand
with yall all I want is
3 more wishes.
The end
RELATED STORIES:
Professional Musician, Bioacoustics Researcher Joins U-M Biological Station as Artist in Residence
UMBS Artists in Residence Create Works Inspired by Place-Based Research, Nature
The U-M Biological Station — the largest of U-M's campuses — is one of the nation's largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.
Founded in 1909, the Biological Station supports long-term research and education. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.
The University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world, advance research and education, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.
Subscribe to the UMBS monthly e-newsletter and follow the field station on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter).
