Creative Musicking for Eco-consciousness

Guided meditations: the four elements

Objective: Settle into an expressive arts experience integrating with ecology.

Sitting comfortably, with eyes open, closed, or with a soft gaze (letting the eyelids rest, without closing fully all the time), breathe naturally at first. Start to bring attention to the breath, noticing the depth and rate of inhalations, the length of rests, and the depth and rate of exhalations. Then allow breathing to return to normal. Guide students in creating mental settings and sensations by narrating descriptions based on one of the following themes, “the safe support of the ground beneath me,” “wading in the water,” “warm sunlight,” or “like a tiny feather in a gentle breeze.”

“Four elements” chant*

Objectives: Feel and perform a steady beat, move in sync with a rhythmic chant, and create original movements to accompany a given text and rhythm.

Growing in the soil,

planted in the Earth,

I am natural too.

Flowing like a river,

there’s water in me,

I go and never stop.

I am a fire,

illuminate,

shining bright and giving heat.

I am a tree,

my roots, my branches,

they flow in the wind.

*What movements can be added throughout the chant?

Listening to Earth's musics

Objectives: Attune to the ecosystem through sound and categorize sounds by their source (non-human living beings, Earth and Earth's systems, and humans).

Materials: paper and writing utensils.

Find a place to listen and note the sounds you hear by writing them down or drawing them. What does the quantity of different sounds tell you about the ecosystem? What do the kinds of sounds tell you about the ecosystem? 

Reconnecting through music

Objectives: Discover ecosystem connections and communicate using sound/music.

Materials: instruments, paper, writing utensils, and drawing utensils

In an outdoor setting, start by acclimating to the environment. Notice what you see, smell, feel, and sense. Then take a moment to listen to the environment. Notice all the sound layers and sources of sound/music. Begin to locate them by direction and distance from you. What sounds come from far away? What sounds come from your own body? Then begin slowly and curiously exploring the area. Notice what you are drawn to, or what captures your attention. Using your instrument(s), body percussion, and/or voice, sound a connection to this natural element. Allow your curiosity and attention to drift throughout the environment. Allow your sound/music to adapt as you communicate with each element you connect with. Allow movements, dances, or speech to arise if they want to. After exploring and connecting with the environment, take a moment to journal and/or draw in reflection on the experience. What did you notice? What was meaningful? Were there challenges? What do you wonder? What do you want to carry with you from this experience?

Waves and lines

Objectives: Attune to and demonstrate comprehension of dynamic levels and changes.

Materials: paper and writing utensils.

While listening to a (preferably local) soundscape recording of a seashore, draw a meandering line all over a blank piece of paper. This can be done with your dominant or non-dominant hand. It helps to hold the pencil like a paintbrush. As you listen and continue with your meandering line, draw lighter and slower when the waves recede, and faster and darker as the waves crash. Aesthetically, this activity helps develop awareness and understanding of volume dynamics. But this is also a mindful response to the soundscape while making a connection to the water, the Earth’s oceans, and the celestial rhythm of the tide.

Marking crickets

Objectives: Attune to rhythmic patterns, demonstrate comprehension of patterns, and awareness of pattern changes.

Materials: paper and writing utensils.

While listening to a (preferably local) soundscape recording including a cricket, draw small, short dashes with a pencil on a piece of paper whenever you hear the cricket chirp. This can be done with your dominant or non-dominant hand, and you may hold the pencil like a paintbrush or with a traditional grip. Notice the rhythmic patterns of the chirping, and notice when there are moments of extended rests. Notice when there are slight changes in the rhythmic patterns—usually from groupings of two chirps to groupings of three.

Transcribing birdsongs

Objectives: Attune to and demonstrate comprehension of pitch, melodic contour, rhythm, dynamics, timbre, and intentions connected to musical choices, and the effects conveyed through musical choices.

Materials: paper, writing utensils, and drawing utensils.

While listening to a (preferably local) soundscape recording including birdsong, draw lines on a blank paper corresponding to what you hear. This can be done with your dominant or non-dominant hand, and you may hold the pencil like a paintbrush or with a traditional grip. You may draw all over the paper, as needed—you do not need to draw from left to right like a traditional musical score. Draw with the following elements in mind: pitch (low pitches lower on the paper, high pitches higher up), rhythm (short dashes or dots for shorter notes and lines for longer notes), dynamics (quiet, loud, crescendo, and decrescendo marked by darkness of the marking), timbre (smooth, crunchy, singing, clicking, etc., in the texture of the marking), and perceived mood (joy, longing, sorrow, ferocity, etc., how you would like to notate this). It is important to know that it will likely be impossible to capture everything and that having fun with the activity is more important than being totally accurate. Optional extension: play the recording a second time and add color or additional details to what you have already drawn.

Thunderstorm performance

Objectives: Imagine and perform sounds using body percussion, following the cues of a conductor, and in consideration of the ensemble context; identify the various natural sounds and sound sources related to a thunderstorm, deepening our understanding of weather and the natural world.

You are a conductor. As you move your arm across the ensemble, the players make noises comparable to those heard in a thunderstorm (e.g., hand rubbing, finger-snapping, desk tapping, body patting, and foot-stomping). The players can either be assigned a specific sound, or they can be given options. As you move your arm in the opposite direction, the noises end. As you move your arms up and down, the volume increases and decreases accordingly. To diversify the sounds that are made throughout the process, different hand shapes can signal different sounds (e.g., two fingers for finger-snapping and a closed fist for foot-stomping). Optional variation: after leading the group in this activity, invite students to conduct.

Collaborative soundscape

Objectives: Select, arrange, and refine found sounds, create original sounds and music using various sound sources, and attune to the differences and changes in sound throughout an environment.

Materials: computers/tablets, speakers, and internet access.

This activity using computers allows individuals to contribute to a larger work created collectively. Students play sounds from their computer (preferably from local settings) and listen around the room to what their peers are producing. Allow students to walk around the room to hear how the soundscape changes when they get closer to different students.

Composing with soundscapes

Objectives: Select, arrange, and refine found sounds, create original sounds and music using various sound sources; identify how listening and environments impact thinking and feeling, and relate musical elements and expressions to personal thoughts and feelings.

Materials: computers/tablets, speakers, and internet access.

In separate browsing tabs, the students can open music-making websites (e.g., Chrome Music Lab, Soundtrap), and in another tab, a website with soundscapes or individual natural sounds (e.g., Xeno-Canto, YouTube). The composition can be approached in multiple ways, such as choosing a “favorite soundscape,” then composing a song or sound that accompanies the soundscape, or one that “sounds like it belongs there.” Another option is to compose the music first, then find a soundscape that fits in some way. The great thing about this is that students may begin to link concepts of anthropocentric and ecocentric musics. The broader theme is “How can we live in harmony with our world, or gain a better sense of placement and connection within our ecology?”

Composing and teaching "bird songs"

Objectives: Listen to local soundscapes; differentiate between various sound sources; deepen understanding of sound/music in ecosystems; generate and refine original musical ideas; identify and visually represent qualities of music including pitch, melodic contour, rhythm, tempo, articulation, and dynamics; sing/sound as an ensemble.

Materials: local soundscape recordings, speakers, paper, writing utensils, and drawing utensils.

This is essentially an exercise in using a novel notation system and assigning sounds to certain symbols. Listen to lots of recordings of (preferably local) birds, and with students, start to name the sounds heard, or describe differences in sounds with students (providing sentence starters and reviewing vocabulary before starting will be helpful). Next, introduce how birds teach each other their songs, and explicitly name how this is comparable to how humans use and disseminate music. Then allow time for students to compose their songs, making them short and memorable so they can easily teach the song to their peers (allowing the use of drawing utensils can help students more easily differentiate between symbols, and it can be another method of creating and being expressive without leading to a composition that is too lengthy or complicated for the goal of the activity). Finally, allow students to perform and teach their “bird song” to the class, so they can all sing the composition together. I recommend making the last step voluntary, as leading vocally can be intimidating for students even in a safe and long-prepared classroom environment.

Composing and evolving "whale songs"

Objectives: Deepen understanding of sound/music in ecosystems; generate and refine original musical ideas; identify and visually represent qualities of music including pitch, melodic contour, rhythm, tempo, articulation, and dynamics; sing/sound and improvise as an ensemble.

Materials: paper, writing utensils, and drawing utensils.

This activity is a lot like the “bird song” exercise described above, but it works best with students working in groups, and there is a different participatory outcome in the end. Follow the procedure above, but describe how and why whales sing, how whales change their songs over time, and how noises caused by human activities are degrading whale populations throughout the world. Group the students. Together, the groups will compose short and simple “whale” songs, using a novel notation system and sounds like the ones identified in the recordings. Each group will then teach the class their song. Then, each group will make a slight change to the original song and perform it for the class. The original group will then determine what changes were made. This whole process might take more than one class period, but the group singing can sometimes make vocalizing less intimidating. With both activities, the focus should not be on clear and beautiful vocalization, but on being playful and creative.

Audio production project

Objectives: Deepen understanding of sound/music in ecosystems; select, arrange, and refine found sounds; generate and refine original musical ideas using a variety of sound sources; develop technical and creative music production skills; develop storytelling abilities and techniques; connect sound/music with other academic disciplines; use sound/music to convey thoughts, feelings, and information.

Materials: computers/tablets, internet access, and a digital audio workstation (DAW).

Using a DAW of your choice, create either a musical composition, podcast, or an audio collage that brings together various sounds, including recordings you make, digital instruments, your voice, and soundscape recordings. Your project may consist of more than one audio file, and you may combine media types (e.g., making a song and a podcast). When using your voice, you do not have to limit yourself to speaking or singing. Your voice can be used as creatively as you would like, either to make beautiful sounds or to make sounds that are “wild” and “weird.”

Some questions to consider when composing your music, planning your podcast, or designing and constructing your audio collage include:

• How can a soundscape be used like an instrument?

• How can instruments and voices musically interact with soundscapes?

• How can soundscapes be used to provide background, foreground, or a “setting” for instruments and voices?

• What should I say explicitly with my words, and what should I leave up to my use of instruments, soundscapes, and/or editing?

• How can I use audio effects to express, highlight, or manipulate sounds in expressive ways?

• How can I use effects to help tell the story I have written, by changing my use of them over time?

• How can the DAW be used as a canvas for collage-making?

Not all these questions must be answered, and you do not have to “answer” any of the questions directly. Pondering questions like these can help us get started or work around issues and “creative blocks.”