[UNIT 7] Weekly Blog Post - The Connection between Nature and Music
Where is music in nature? Where is nature in music?
What song takes you immediately back to a natural landscape? What is the context?
Initially when reading the first two questions above, I found it difficult to come up with an answer because I was attempting to break them down “literally”. Nature, in its most obvious sense, is a physical thing. However, others might view music differently; it is not something we can technically see and/or touch, but we can hear it (though, one could argue that the physical vibration of sound and pitch is a physical thing). So, how can music be in nature (physically), and how can nature be in music? These two things can bring about similar emotions and can affect us spiritually, mentally, or physically. Reflecting on these aspects more, nature and music are indeed connected and are found in the same spaces more than we realize.
As explained by Gray et al. (2001), the world is filled with a variety of “natural sounds”, which have been recorded and documented for years. From the undersea songs of whales to low frequency communication of elephants and to bird songs, music is in the nature all around us. Just like how humans use music as a medium to communicate knowledge and/or emotions, animals in nature do the same, most of which are also part of their biology and behaviour. The study of animal sounds is known as bioacoustics, and it is an emerging field involved in research related to ecosystems and conservation (Welz, 2019).
Natural music is commonly used in the field of nature interpretation as well, as described by Sahi (2012), where in Finland, folk singing is a valued oral tradition that is used to express the awareness about nature’s powers and the relationship between humans and nature. Folk singing also “activates presence and sensitivity”, with lyrics promoting personal interpretation and observation about nature, songs re-establishing meanings, and natural sounds being incorporated into music too (Sahi, 2012). It is evident then that music can be found in nature, especially through biotic factors, and nature is an important element that is used in and described through music.
Funnily enough, a song that takes me immediately back to a natural landscape, despite its main message not exactly being about nature itself, is “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.
The song features lyrics such as:
I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night; and
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
Lyrics taken from: Genius (n.d.). https://genius.com/Louis-armstrong-what-a-wonderful-world-lyrics.
These lyrics not only act as a great visual guide for imagining the natural world around me (i.e. when I hear the song, I am immediately reminded of experiences in nature where I saw trees of green or pretty rainbow colours in the skies), but they are also a great reminder that our world, both the nature and people within it, are beautiful and should be appreciated.
Genius. (n.d.). Louis Armstrong – What a Wonderful World. Genius.com. https://genius.com/Louis-armstrong-what-a-wonderful-world-lyrics
Gray, P. M., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, R., Krumhansl, C., & Baptista, L. (2001). The music of nature and the nature of music. Science.
Sahi, V. (2012). Using folk traditional music to communicate the sacredness of nature in Finland. Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe, 2, 129.
Welz, A. (2019, November 5). Listening to Nature: the Emerging Field of Bioacoustics. Yale E360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/listening-to-nature-the-emerging-field-of-bioacoustics