Bernie Krause: The voice of the natural world
Not going to do anything other than ask you to watch, or more pertinently listen, to this 14-minute video.
Published on Jul 15, 2013
Bernie Krause has been recording wild soundscapes — the wind in the trees, the chirping of birds, the subtle sounds of insect larvae — for 45 years. In that time, he has seen many environments radically altered by humans, sometimes even by practices thought to be environmentally safe. A surprising look at what we can learn through nature’s symphonies, from the grunting of a sea anemone to the sad calls of a beaver in mourning.
The Wikipedia entry explains that:
Bernie Krause was born in 1938. Somewhat of a musical prodigy, by age 3-1/2 he studied violin and by age 4 classical composition. He performed on a variety of stringed instruments (cello, bass, viola, harp) but fell in love with the guitar. He was disappointed when in 1955 not a single music school to which he applied would accept him with guitar as his primary instrument. Krause went on to work as a studio guitarist on jazz sessions and, occasionally, on early Motown sessions. He also worked as a recording engineer and producer in Ann Arbor while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. He joined The Weavers in 1963, occupying the position created by co-founder Pete Seeger and stayed with them until they disbanded a year later.
More details here.
Do go across to Bernie Krause’s website Wild Sanctuary if only to listen to the sounds of birds on the ‘home page’!
Learning from Dogs 
Hi Paul, Bernie reminds me very much of Gordon Hempton.
Here’s a piece he wrote for “On Being.”
http://blog.onbeing.org/post/23159665632/sounds-of-silence
…and Here’s a link to a show he recorded with Krista Tippet last year. You’ll find the audio file top left but the recording is also on itunes.
http://www.onbeing.org/program/last-quiet-places/4557
I vividly recall listening to the show last year while doing jobs outside (as is my fashion). I was so drawn in that I just decided to abandon it for while and listen to the show while walking in the woods just behind my house. It felt better.
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Love that link to Gordon Hempton. Will read more later today. So big thanks for your comment.
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Excellent and instructive. BTW biophony is as relaxing and pleasing as the best anthropophony…
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And don’t we need genuine relaxation! More frequently than we might imagine.
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Yes. As I tried to say in Consciousness I, it brings in the construction of a different brain.
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The more I read about this, the more engaging it becomes. Another aspect being posted on Monday.
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Had to get my tissue out again over that Beaver… We are all bound together…” In the beginning was the word,,,,, ” Word, being Sound!………..
Whales and Dolphins play important roles in our Ocean.. So too do our Elephants… All of which man is destroying…
I enjoyed this very much Paul thank you
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Sue, you are such a dear friend of this blog! Thank you.
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