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| Kirk leads participants singing to Zebras at The Bronx Zoo, 1982 |
Hidden Orchestras
Proud music of the storm! Blast that careers so free…you hidden orchestras! - Walt Whitman
The Aristotelian concept that "art imitates nature" has long been embraced by western culture. During the many periods of realism, painters sought to capture nature's exact light and hues. And from Impressionism to today, there continues a sense of wonder at the abstraction found in leaf or waterfall.
Double Standard
But oddly, in music we have assumed the exact opposite: that the sounds of nature are merely noises - annoying ones at that. Roaring thunder, barking dogs, incessant crickets. In order to make music more pleasing, we developed instruments and tonal relationships ostensibly superior to those of nature.
Of course, most instruments resonate with nature's overtone series, and in Africa for example, flutes and drums are made from tree bark and animal hides. There are classic birdsong evocations by Messaien, and composers George Crumb and Paul Winter have famously integrated whale sounds in their works.
Nonetheless, there remains an overall feeling that music is music and nature is not.
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Cornell's Collection
It seems to me that music lovers as well as professional musicians have not yet listened thoroughly enough to nature's orchestra. I believe many would be astonished by its vast repertoire, intriguing detail and enchanting realm of invention.
Founded In 1930, Cornell's Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds is now the world's largest archive of audio and video recordings of animal behavior. Their samples actually number several hundred thousand. Their close-miked digital recordings were made in locales like Thailand's Khao Yai National Park and Kenya's Kakemega Forest.
Many of these unfold like little stories. One might hear wrinkled buzzings interrupted by one soprano bleep, a sudden register leap to a low hrumph, then soft whispers - all from one creature, spanning maybe 30". The rhythms alone are a study in intensity and grace, many falling into poly-meters, such as one finds in Bartok or Stravinsky.
But don't take my word for it. You owe it to yourself to hear such creatures as The Great Patoo, Franquet's Epauletted Bat and The Gibbons Family Chorus!
Visit: www.birds.cornell.edu/MacaulayLibrary (The videos are inspiring, but so is listening with eyes closed.)
God's Own Music
I believe that in music as in the visual arts, nothing transcends nature. And with the help of liberated theories of what can constitute beauty (e.g. Cage), today we are ready to open our ears to these earthly sonorities. Moreover - as in color theory - every sound we have created, whether vocal, instrumental or electronic, already appears in nature…plus countless more. [1]
All of these sounds resonate on our planet simultaneously, each in their own circadian cycles, expressing what could be called "God's music." It seems impossible to imagine such an unknowable totality. Or is it?...
Structurally - not unlike a symphony - this "totality" seems to include short motivic phrases, long sustained tones, various pitch classes (including those we would consider microtonal), and a multiplicity of rhythmic groupings, sonorities, and dynamics. There are unpredictable elements along with consistent ones, phrases left to interpretation and others to improvisation.
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[1] In 550 BC, Pythagoras discovered "music of the spheres" - high droning vibrations that, according to his astronomy-based calculations, were ringing eternally. (One would crave to hear those resultant chords - if human ears could tolerate their volume.)
Language
The essential purpose of all this is, of course, communication. What we have thus far described in musical terms are complex languages through which creatures "talk" to each other. Darwin will walk you through an array of vocalizations for danger, hunger, and mating that he observed - differently in each species. [2]
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So let us factor in the calls, responses, messages and yearnings that inhabit each utterance. Perhaps they could be likened to the motivic conversations traded between Jazz players. Indeed, Jazz is highly structured, yet speaks through each individual "wailing" in the moment. (Aristotle might be pleased - music imitating nature after all.)
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." - Albert Einstein
Comparisons with symphonies and jazz may be helpful initially. But ultimately we must surrender to earth's sonic universe as a paradigm unto itself - about which admittedly little is known (the way physicists still regard quantum and string theory). By basing hypotheses too much on existing musical knowledge, we may miss the mysteries from which we'd benefit most.
The old saying "there's nothing new under the sun" seems axiomatic enough. However, among the things "not new under the sun" are whole regions we simply haven't gotten to yet.
I'm not sure why, but since I was a small child I've always dreamed of hearing all the sounds of nature at once. Then again, I've always wanted to come back as a gorilla. I leave you to your own conclusions.
"On the threshold of beauty, science and art collaborate." Edgard Varese
It's wonderful how much we still don't know. There are ancient Peruvian and Native American rituals in which shamans communicate with animals - often with the help of entheogens like peyote. Can others learn to achieve this, and in "unaltered" states?
Can certain species understand other species? Might some be multi- or even pan-lingual? And non-creature sounds like ocean waves and thunder? - do these function as communication per se? And what about silent, telepathic communications? - can these be discerned by modern science? [3]
"Mapquest" provides wide-range photographs of the earth from altitudes previously known only to astronauts. Can satellites also record the earth's sounds from such a high and wide expanse that we could hear multiple layers of nature's vast counterpoint?
In 1977, Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer documented constant decibel escalation in the post-industrial soundscape. He warned of the unsuspected ways noise pollution increases stress, health risks and environmental decay. How can we reduce these levels, among our many green pursuits? [4]
If the earth and humans went to couples therapy, surely the humans would be urged to listen better. And the earth would join a support group for battered partners.
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And so…a composer's prayer: May we all learn to listen patiently, savoring the details. From up close and from afar. With science, art and compassion. With fun and with fury. May we remember to breathe deeply - sonic in itself. And…may we never stop imagining. [5]
K. Nurock, NYC, January, 2009
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[2] "The Expression of the Emotions In Man and Animals," Charles Darwin, 1872. Chapter IV, The Emission of Sounds. University of Chicago Press (1965).
[3] In a rapidly growing profession, Animal Communicators are hired by families, farms and zoos for cross-species mediation and healing. It's easy to be skeptical, but this is a credible scientific/intuitive field, related to shamanism.
[4] "The Tuning Of The World," R. Murray Schafer, Knopf. Since then new fields such as Bioacousitics and Acoustic Ecology have emerged, with agendas promoting healthier practices by industry, legislators and the public.
[5] Prayer dedicated to Pauline Oliveros, deep listening pioneer-savant.
Cross-Species Online
Highly recommended sites
Sounds on MP3
(all free online…)
Cornell Library of Nature Sounds www.birds.cornell.edu/MacaulayLibrary
Wildlife Sounds www.wildlife-sound.org/index.html
National Geographic (ornithology sounds) www.handheldbirds.com/
Songs of the Humpback Whale
www.emusic.com/album/Humpback-Whales-Songs-of-the-Humpback-Whale-MP3Download/11122951.html
Authors
Jim Nollman, www.interspecies.com/index.html#homesite
Rupert Sheldrake www.sheldrake.org/homepage.html
Eugene Linden www.eugenelinden.com/apes.html
Charles Darwin - www.aboutdarwin.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
Composers
Oliver Messiaen (vis bird sounds) www.boston.com and www.oliviermessiaen.net
Messiaens Oiseaux Exotiques, cond. by Pierre www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht5qqE_e1UE
George Crumb (re: "Voice of the Whale") www.georgecrumb.net/comp/voice-p.html
Pauline Oliveros www.paulineoliveros.us and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Oliveros
Composer/author R. Murray Schafer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer
Paul Winter www.livingmusic.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Winter
Sonic Environment
Acoustic Ecology http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/WFAE/about/index.html
Bioacoustics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioacoustics
Noise Pollution www.nonoise.org
Animal Communication and Healing
Shamanism and Animals www.animalspirits.com/index1.html
Animal Communicators (many links to history and techniques…)
http://healing.about.com/od/petcommunicators/Animal_Communicators.htm
Music healing animals www.livescience.com/animals/080103-harp- therapy.html
Nature Sounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_sound
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