Music & the Natural Environment - MUS00186I

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Module summary

This module explores the relationship between music and the natural environment, looking at an eclectic range of musical works by musicians from Jean Sibelius to Joni Mitchell.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

Nature has influenced a vast amount of music – from classical canonic repertoire to jazz ballads; from folk songs to massage CDs. Creators of music have sought to depict nature, replicated natural sounds, and have taken music into the great outdoors. The formations of musical systems and rituals across various cultures have been tied up with ideas of natural orders and materials. Natural resonance and sound properties have provided sources of creative inspiration, while a shared idea of “place” can form a touchstone between musical writers, performers and receivers. We will consider questions such as:

• How do we understand and seek to define “nature”, “environment” and “culture” in relation to music?

• Can we discern “music” in the natural environment?

• Can we separate an understanding of music from ecological contexts?

• What is the role of music in shaping how we see and inhabit the natural world?

This module will first examine the contexts in which music and nature have come together as a field of study, considering elements of musicology, eco-criticism, ethnomusicology, semiotics and acoustic studies. It will then draw on a range of musical case studies (from the Western Classical tradition to 80s Rock) to observe some of the complicated intersections of music, place and culture. These examples are organised around three broad perspectives. The first concerns how musical artists have represented the natural world and how we recognise patterns of meaning. The second is the relationship between music and soundscape, how musical artists have creatively drawn on natural resonance and specific locations. And thirdly: how music can be an engine –or even a rallying cry – for environmental awareness and activism.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the taught part of the project all students should be able to:

• Demonstrate familiarity with many ways in which music relates to the natural environment and communicate these with clarity and insight.

• Apply ideas and perspectives from scholarship critically and independently to a range of music.

• Demonstrate skills in recognising and interrogating representations of, and connections between, ideas of place, music and culture.

• Demonstrate familiarity with broader musicological contexts, including ecocriticism and soundscape.

• Lead or contribute to high-level musical activity, for example through listening, thinking critically, and analysis.

In their independent work for this module, students will be required to:

• second-year students should demonstrate Learning Outcomes B1-6

• Analyse music or demonstrate understanding of appropriate analytical techniques – LO 9;

• Demonstrate techniques of detailed critical listening such as transcription and/or ‘close readings’ of aural sources – LO 12;

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

Mark and report within University designated turnaround time.

Indicative reading

Allen, Aaron S. ‘Ecomusicology: Ecocriticism and Musicology’. Journal of the American Musicological Society 64, no. 2 (2011): 391:394.

Beard, David, and Kenneth Gloag. ‘Ecomusicology’. In Musicology: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge, 2016.

Clarke, Eric F. Ways of Listening: An Ecological Approach to the Perception of Musical Meaning. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Feisst, Sabine. ‘Music and Ecology’. Contemporary Music Review 35, no. 3 (2016): 293-295.

Grimley, Daniel M., ‘The tone poems: genre, landscape and structural perspective’. In The Cambridge Companion to Sibelius, edited by Daniel M. Grimley, 95-116. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Mellers, Wilfred. Singing in the Wilderness: Music and Ecology in the Twentieth Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001.

Moore, Allan F. ‘In a big country: The portrayal of wide open spaces in the music of big country’, Contemporary Music Review 17 (1998): 1-6.

Pedelty, Mark. Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012.

Schafer, Murray R., Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World Rochester: Destiny Books, 1977.

Torvinen, Juha, and Susanna Välimäki, ‘Nordic drone: Pedal Points and static textures as musical imagery of the northerly environment’. The Nature of Nordic Music, edited by Tim Howell, 173-192. London: Routledge, 2020.

Rothenberg, David, ed. and Marta Ulvaeus, ed. The Book of Music and Nature: An Anthology of Sounds, Words, Thoughts. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

Ross Edwards – Dawn Mantras

Pete Seeger – version of This Land is your Land

Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi

John Cage – In a Landscape

Pauline Oliveros – Deep Listening

Anna Thorvaldsdottir – In the Light of Air / Catamorphoses

Toru Takemitsu – Rain Tree Sketches

Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 6

Einojuhani Rautavaara – Cantus Arcticus

Libby Larsen – Deep Summer Music / Up Where the Air Gets Thin

John Luther Adams – Among Red Mountains