I have always had a nagging doubt about being a musician in a world where there are just so many really serious problems. Perhaps we musicians should really be using our brains and ingenuity for a more tangible cause? As a mother living in 2021 in the middle of a devastating pandemic and reports of dire weather conditions caused by climate change which can only get worse, I think back to my carefree and innocent childhood days spent on the little family farm in New Zealand where Greenpeace was kind of cool, but the actual issue of global warming barely encroached on my consciousness, and wonder if my children or their children will ever experience such worry-free world.
So do musicians have a viable role in today´s society? I propose the theses that in fact not only Nature and the environment, but also Music is vitally important to the survival of humans and of this planet as we know it.
Music and nature are intimately linked, and I believe that the appreciation, prevalence and quality of both is an indicator of the wellbeing of a society. There are numerous studies that prove that both music and nature can affect the human Psyche: for example Harvard Biology Professor Brian Farrell in his article “First Take: Music and Nature”, states that „Music, meditation, nature, artistic and religious experiences have similar effects on the brain, engendering the kinds of contemplative changes in brain waves that have concomitant positive effects on stress levels, and perhaps overall health. This is an area of active research."
Vivaldi Four Seasons with Penelope Spencer and artist James Mayhew
Music can trigger deep-seated emotions in a way that words alone cannot. This idea is not new, and for centuries music has been used by humans (and some animals!) to communicate important messages, philosophies or as a force for social cohesion. Artists of all kinds have in turn always been inspired by nature – from the earliest cave-paintings to the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi and beyond. One could even say, our need to express ourselves in music, as well as the appreciation of the beauty of nature, are two basic qualities that make us human.
Reconstructions of (top) a 53,000-year-old Neanderthal flute made ofbear bone found in Slovenia (possibly recorder type), (middle) a 30,000-year-old French deer bone flute(most likely recorder type), and (bottom) a 4000-year-old French vulture bone flute (definitely recorder type).
Music appeared early in human history - some scientists believe that the large nasal passages of the Neanderthals, who existed in Eurasia from nearly 500,000 to 35,000 years ago, indicate an ability to produce resonant chant. This could explain why we find so much meaning and emotion in music even though we cannot explain why it makes us feel the way it does. Such an impenetrable vagueness about this most basic of human creations seems to signal that the roots of music lie closer to our ancient lizard brain than to our more recent reasoning cortex, that music has a more ancient origin even than human language. Certainly, the field of neurobiology has greatly increased our understanding of the depth and breadth of the “wiring” of our brains for music response and music production. While language abilities may be lost through a blow to the side of the head or a small lesion on the brain itself, musical production and responses are almost impossible to knock out. In fact, individuals who have lost their language abilities sometimes can learn to sing their thoughts.
By viewing musical sounds as an intuitive, nonverbal form of communication, we can better understand our own development in a biodiverse world. It has been postulated that there is an unproven (and probably unprovable) concept called mathematical Platonism, which supposes that there is a universal mathematics awaiting discovery. Is there a universal music awaiting discovery, or is all music just a construct of whatever mind is making it–human, bird, whale? The similarities among human music, bird song, and whale song tempt one to speculate that the Platonic alternative may exist–that there is a universal music awaiting discovery.
It is clear that that Music and Nature are intimately connected, and I would even go so far as to say, that without one there is not the other. Nature needs music to communicate and reproduce – the obvious examples being the songs of birds. Lasting from a few seconds to several minutes in length, these are truly songs, and new studies show that certain mice also sing. However, mice and birds are not the only songsters on earth, and they are far from being the largest. These would be the elephants and the whales. The undersea songs of humpback whales are similar in structure to bird and human songs and prove that these marine mammals are inveterate composers. Humpback whale songs are constructed according to laws that are strikingly similar to those adopted by human composers. Advances in audio technology allow us to draw fascinating parallel between bird song and human music. For instance, when birds compose songs they often use the same rhythmic variations, pitch relationships, permutations, and combinations of notes as human composers.
So if nature is so reliant on music to survive, how about Humankind? Human music-making may vary dramatically between cultures, but the fact that it is found in all cultures suggests that just as in the natural world, in humans there is also a deep need to create, perform, and listen to music. It appears that our Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal ancestors were as fond of music as we are. The discovery of prehistoric flutes made of animal bone in France and Slovenia, ranging in age from 4000 to 53,000 years old, demonstrates that ancient civilizations devoted considerable time and skill to constructing complicated musical instruments.
So in this crucial time, when both Nature and Music are endangered, is it any wonder that many of us fear for the continued existence of the human race? Can you imagine a world without Nature and Music? (for one does not exist without the other!). Personally I cannot, because in this case, Humankind would be extinct. We cannot survive without the forests, whose sound world not only ensures the survival of its own ecosystem but also provides us with a soundscape to orientate ourselves in our world. Can you imagine a world without bird-song, without the sound of win whistling through the trees, without natural sounds? Similarly, can you image a world without man-made music? And can you imagine a world without music inspired by nature? I think the answers to these questions tell us clearly, that we have no choice, but to nurture both our Natural and Cultural heritages with the same passion as the scientists and innovators who are working to solve our environmental, health, social and political challenges. Lets take a lesson from nature, and work together to excel– each to his or her appointed task!
Many thanks to the following articles: