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Songs from the World Around Us

by Thomas Meinzen

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Songs from the World Around Us is the musical component of my undergraduate thesis in environmental humanities, entitled Listening to Multitudes: Confronting the Human-Nature Divide through Sound. This live recording was performed by Abby Herrick (violin), Flora Klein (viola), Erin Cunningham and Liam Dubay (cellos), McKenna "Cass" Taylor (flute), Keeli McKern (clarinet), and Nathan Krebs (vibraphone and marimba), in accompaniment with recorded sounds from the environment, including those of humans, birds, whales, insects, machinery, and waves.

Songs from the World Around Us begins with melodic fragments based off the songs of four birds: western screech-owl, black-faced solitaire, common potoo and short-billed pigeon. Later, these fragments are each expanded into larger melodies, which are superimposed over rhythms created by human artifacts (e.g., train bells) and human and nonhuman bodies (e.g., heartbeats, footsteps, crickets). At the piece’s climax, all of these melodies are layered together, and human and natural sounds weave both in and out of time with the written music. This design is meant to reflect the interactive rhythmic and melodic nature of our world and convey the beautiful amalgamation of human and nonhuman voices that surrounds us. More broadly, the piece aims to demonstrate the integration of humans and nature through sound.

Many of the bird recordings included in this piece I collected in Costa Rica while studying birdsong evolution in the cloud forests of Monteverde and working for a conservation organization on the Osa peninsula. Others were recorded in and around Walla Walla or elsewhere in the U.S. by myself and others. I did not modify these recordings, except to adjust their timing and tempi to fit with the music; however, because of the direct sonic relationship between frequency and time, this also alters their pitch.

To learn more about the genesis of this work and the thesis behind it, visit: arminda.whitman.edu/theses/2019020

This piece was premiered in concert at Whitman College in April 2019. To watch a performance (dress rehearsal) of this piece, visit: vimeo.com/332363107

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released March 10, 2023

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Thomas Meinzen Portland, Oregon

Hi! Welcome to my music page. I'm a composer & pianist originally from Eugene, Oregon. I'm also an ecologist, birder, natural history enthusiast, and activist, and I incorporate these themes into my music. Thanks for listening and supporting my work!

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