Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, contains a field of boulders that produce a metallic ringing sound when struck, as if they were hollow. The boulders consist of a volcanic basalt called diabase, and thus have a high content of iron and aluminum. In 1890, Dr. J. J. Ott collected a number of these rocks with different pitches and performed with a brass band. He was not the first person to give such a performance. [Read more →]
Recently as I was approaching a pond while walking in DC’s National Arboretum, I was startled by a prominent, lone “boing” emanating from the bushes. It sounded almost mechanical, and at first I thought there was some device that was triggered by approaching hikers — to what purpose I couldn’t imagine. As I passed the pond, I heard the sound again and stopped. After a few moments, the boings started coming in more frequent succession, almost like an orchestra very slowly warming up. In fact, the more I listened, the more it sounded like viola strings being plucked, followed by a short glissando. Curious, I struggled to see the source of the developing symphony. Finally, there they were, periodically hopping in pursuit of one another on the muddy banks of the little pond: frogs. [Read more →]
For the past few weeks, a mockingbird has been singing in the middle of the night in the courtyard trees like some crazed lunatic. Starting shortly after midnight, the song proceeds for a couple of hours without interruption. An opera singer would die for such stamina. I presume it’s a male, because the males typically sing loudly and at night, using such singing to attract females. [Read more →]
I’ve written before about how the earth makes music: the deep flute-like tones produced by volcanoes, Japanese instruments that use falling water to create music, sound sculptures triggered by geologic phenomenon… Gerhard Trimpin, a German-born sound artist who lives in Seattle, has designed installations over the years that use nature and the earth to produce music. An early piece was a water fountain in which drops of water, timed in complex rhythmic fugues, dripped into glass receptacles. More recently, he was inspired by a Seattle earthquake. Wired reporter Hugh Hart describes how Trimpin tuned in to the sonic chaos that ensued. “I had tympani hanging on a catwalk that started to move back and forth, got out of control, and smashed to the floor,” Trimpin recalled. That was the inspiration to use seismic data as musical material. [Read more →]
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