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What do we hear when we listen to the Earth?
What do we hear when we listen to the Earth?
Dear Friends,
Dear Friends,
We hope you have enjoyed the opportunity to explore the EARTH Month resources. Many thanks to everyone who created a sound map to help us celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. We received so many photos of your work that we had to create two sound map video galleries to share them all with our community. The links for the galleries can be found below this message.
In the months that follow Earth Day and throughout the year, we invite you to continue exploring and enjoying a natural resource that we seldom think about - silence. Audio ecologist, Gordon Hempton, says that silence is the absence of "noise" and the presence of everything else. He also believes that quiet places where we can listen to the Earth are as important to human well-being as they are to the lives of wild beings and wild places.
In this Google Site archive, you will find a range of Art and Science resources that you can explore by yourself and with your family, including interviews with and presentations by audio ecologists, scientists who study Earth sounds as a way to understand the health of our ecosystems and planet.
From time to time, we hope you will consider ways we we can learn from the beauty, resilience and adaptability of Nature, and reflect on the query, "What do I hear as I listen to the Earth?"
Always learning,
Teacher Ben, Teacher Diane and Teacher Peter
Have a look at the sound maps and other work
Have a look at the sound maps and other work
created by our school community in celebration of Earth Day!
created by our school community in celebration of Earth Day!
Earth Day and
Earth Day and
Sound Maps Gallery I
Sound Maps Gallery I
Click on the image to view the video gallery.
Sound Maps Gallery II
Sound Maps Gallery II
Click on the image to view the video gallery.
Pre-K Earth Day Promises
Pre-K Earth Day Promises
Click on the image to see the Earth Day promises made by our youngest friends!
Listen to the Earth. . . and make a sound map!
Listen to the Earth. . . and make a sound map!
Directions for making a Sound Map
Directions for making a Sound Map
This activity was developed by nature educator Joseph Cornell. The video provides complete instructions for how to create a sound map. All you need is paper, drawing tools (like a pencil, crayons or markers) and your "deer" or "fox" ears. You can make your sound map from any location near your home - for example, on a deck or porch, or out in your yard!
View the video directions at https://www.sharingnature.com/sound-map.html
Click on the top picture to watch Teacher Ben make his sound map.
Click on the top picture to watch Teacher Ben make his sound map.
Resources to explore
Resources to explore
Children’s Books and Videos about Nature Sounds for Younger Learners
Children’s Books and Videos about Nature Sounds for Younger Learners
The Listening Walk by Paul Showers
A girl takes a listening walk with her father and her dog Major. Her walk starts on a busy street and leads her to a park where she is surrounded by the sounds of nature.
Click on the picture to listen to the story.
The Umbrella by Jan Brett
As the story begins, Carlos walks into the cloud forest where the only sound he hears is the steady drip, drip, drip of water falling from leaves. This book features hidden animals, which the reader is challenged to find as the story unfolds.
Click on the picture to listen to the story.
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
The book tells the story of a young cricket that finds its voice.
Click on the picture to listen to the story.
The First Music: A Folktale from Africa by Dylan Pritchett
This is a story of the rhythms and harmonies of West African animal sounds that inspire human music-making and our connections to place.
Click on the picture to listen to the story.
Bird Sounds
This video shows different kinds of birds and the sounds they make.
Click on the picture to watch the video.
Insect Sounds Compilation
This video shows pictures of insects and audio clips of the sounds they make.
Click on the picture to watch the video.
Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems by Kristine O’Connell George
This collection of short poems celebrates trees and the ways they touch our lives.
Click the picture to listen to the poems.
An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston
This children’s non-fiction book presents information about all kinds of eggs.
Click to picture to listen to the book.
Earth Soundscape Recordings
Earth Soundscape Recordings
Earth’s Morning Song (1991) by Gordon Hempton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Gt-C2w3-A
Forest Rain (1991) by Gordon Hempton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkfFxdc7MVk
Rolling Thunder (1991) by Gordon Hempton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVkP4R9cMMw
Earth Sounds Interpreted by Artists and Musicians
Earth Sounds Interpreted by Artists and Musicians
Meditation
This six-minute wordless choral meditation comes from Listen to the Earth, composed by James Grant, performed by the Choral Artists of Sarasota and conducted by Joseph Holt.
https://www.listentotheearth.org/copy-of-listen
Whales Alive
Whales Alive
This "Concerto for Whale and Organ" was composed and performed by Paul Winter and Paul Halley. Listen and see if you can hear humpback whale voices that sound like musical instruments and musical instruments that sound like humpback whale voices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk9v-MgTyNs
Listen to the Earth
Australian singer songwriter, Tracey Barnett performs this Blues/Roots song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n031kWbS03o
The Place Where You Go to Listen
Grammy- and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer, John Luther Adams, created this sound and light installation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The site features several video clips.
https://uaf.edu/centennial/uaf100/ideas/the-place.php
Listen
This January 2018 KQED Morning Edition production looks at 1,200 years of Earth’s climate data turned into sound. This site features a short podcast and a recording.
https://www.kqed.org/science/1918660/listen-1200-years-of-earths-climate-transformed-into-sound
Heat Waves in a Swamp
This video presents the work of Charles Burchfield, an artist who tried to “make sound visible” through his paintings.
Bug Music
Musician, David Rothenberg writes about the influence of the sounds and rhythms of insect on human music. Listen to his insect recordings and his duet with cicadas. This video includes insects - many insects - which some viewers may find really fun.
https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/david-rothenberg-bug-music/
Interviews with Acoustic Ecologists
Interviews with Acoustic Ecologists
He Hears Music in the Quietest Place on Earth – Can You?
This National Geographic short film introduces listeners to the work of audio ecologist Gordon Hempton and his lifetime work to become a better listener.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp-8UEtpffQ
Silence and the Presence of Everything
This feature-length, On Being, podcast interview with Gordon Hempton aired in 2012. Gordon Hempton is an acoustic ecologist who has recorded sounds from all around the world.
https://onbeing.org/programs/gordon-hempton-silence-and-the-presence-of-everything/
Listen to the Earth
This TEDxArendal video is presented by scientist, Bryan Pijanowski, who uses sound as an indicator of the health of the world’s ecosystems.
https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_c_pijanowski_listen_to_the_earth
Lassen Volcanic National Park Artist in Residence
This video describes the work of artist Greg Weddig who makes ambient sound recordings that provide a baseline and historic record of natural soundscapes in a world that grows noisier all the time.
https://www.nps.gov/lavo/getinvolved/supportyourpark/air.htm
Listening for Nature
Australia’s Museums Victoria is a research partner in an ambitious project called the Listening for Nature Research Programme. The program using automated species recognition to analyze large quantities of acoustic data recorded in natural habitats around the state. The soundscape recordings data provides an important tool for mapping, managing and preserving biodiversity.
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/listening-for-nature/
Making Your Own Sound Recordings
Making Your Own Sound Recordings
How to Record Bird Sounds with Your Smart Phone
This “how-to” article comes from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/how-to-record-bird-sounds-with-your-smartphone-our-tips/
Silent Earth
Silent Earth
This global project asks each of us to be a scientist and to measure the sound level of a quiet place near our homes. With so many people staying inside and few people driving or flying, our neighborhoods are noticeably quieter than they have been in the past. Download the app, measure the sound level in your backyard, and share it with the world.
Download the app at https://www.anecdata.org/projects/view/509
Turning Your Sound Recordings into Art
Turning Your Sound Recordings into Art
Sound Wave Art
This free app displays your voice recording as a wave pattern and allows you to edit the wave pattern using art tools.
Listen to the Earth.
Listen to the Earth.
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