this video is sponsored by CuriosityStream!
hey, welcome to 12tone! this week's guest video comes from Sheryl, creator of The Roving
Naturalist.
Sheryl's an expert on wildlife, and today she's looking at a group of musicians that's
far too often overlooked.
take it away, Sheryl!
12Tone has tackled the question of “what is music” a few times before, but always
when considering sounds made and arranged by humans.
But humans aren’t the only animals on Earth that intentionally make sounds, so I came
to the Phillips Park Zoo in Aurora, Illinois, to explore other animal sounds and to wonder
if any of them can be considered music.
Animals can make sounds in the same three ways that humans do: percussion, so hitting
things against one another; vibration of a string or membrane; or exhalation, like playing
a wind instrument or singing.
And humans and animals make sounds for the same basic reason: communication.
To break it down a bit more, animals might make sounds in order to claim a territory,
warn others about approaching danger, attract mates, or otherwise communicate with other
members of their group.
It feels like the latter two reasons are most often the motivation behind human music, but
I suppose you could make an argument for the others as well.
Let’s start at what some people would call the “simplest” animals and talk about
invertebrates.
I’m sure you’re already aware that a lot of insects make sounds, but have you ever
wondered how?
So let’s say you’re trying to recreate a perfect summer afternoon.
You’ve got the sun, some grass, a cool breeze, and the perfect background music.
[lawnmower sound] Guh, no, not that.
[insect sounds] Much better!
That iconic summer sound is made by two groups of insects with different noise-making strategies.
First, crickets and grasshoppers use a technique called “stridulation,” which is where
they rub rough areas of their legs and wings together, like running your finger over the
top of a comb.
Secondly, cicadas contribute to the summer insect symphony by vibrating a special membrane
on their bodies called a tymbal.
This isn’t like human singing, though - the vibration is caused by a movement of the insect’s
body, rather than the forced movement of air over membranes like those of your vocal chords.
In fact, there’s only one kind of insect that makes noise via exhalation: the Madagascar
hissing cockroach!
These insects take in air through their spiracles, which are small holes for breathing that line
the edges of the abdomen.
If something startles the cockroach, it quickly pushes the air back out of its spiracles,
creating a hissing sound caused by the air being forced through very small openings.
Speaking of hissing, let’s talk about reptiles.
A snake’s hiss is an exhalation, just like singing or talking, and the same can be said
for the impressive bellows that male alligators and crocodiles make.
But the other snake warning sound, a rattlesnake’s rattle, is a percussive sound, made when the
snake shakes the modified scales on its tail and they click together.
But the animals that are the real pros at making music are amphibians, mammals, and
of course birds.
Did you know that amphibians are amazing singers?
Each spring, if you visit a pond or other wetland area, you’re sure to hear at least
one kind of frog or toad singing to attract a mate.
The males inhale huge amounts of air, then slowly release it in order to vibrate their
vocal sacs, like this male American toad.
Mammals make sounds for a wide variety of reasons.
Wolves howl to communicate over long distances, bats squeak to echolocate their food, chipmunks
“chip” to warn others of danger, gibbons sing duets with their mates, and some mammals,
like elk, sing to attract mates.
Perhaps the most well-known mammal noises (besides our own, of course) are the songs
of whales and dolphins, who use a system of complex airways and fatty tissues in their
heads to produce many unique whistles, clicks, and tones.
But the hands-down winners for sound making in the animal kingdom are, of course, the
birds.
Bird sounds come in as many varieties as bird colors and shapes.
They’re so versatile that some, like mockingbirds, parrots, and the famous lyre bird, are able
to mimic other birds, other animals, electronics, vehicles, and human speech with amazing clarity.
We humans like to use birds to convey ideas or set the scene in movies and TV shows, and
none is more popular than the bald eagle.
So I bet you’ve heard this sound before: [hawk call].
But that’s not the call of an eagle…
That sound belongs to this bird, the red-tailed hawk.
So what do eagles sound like?
Mostly they make this alarm call, which reminds me of something like a very large and very
grumpy chicken.
However, the bird sounds I’m most interested in are the songs male birds use to attract
mates, like this peacock.
We call these bird noises “songs” because they follow a lot of the same rules that songs
performed by people do.
For instance, a species’ song has a particular set of notes and a unique pattern that birdwatchers
can use for identification.
Similarly, the things we often call “music” have a particular set of notes and a unique
pattern that you recognize every time you hear the song.
Bird songs can also allow some room for improvisation or individual styles that males develop as
their learn their songs.
Some bird songs even have an “accent” depending on what region the individual bird
is from!
So, I guess you could say this prairie chicken has a Midwestern accent?
So what do you think: are animals musicians, and can we consider any of the noises they
make to be songs or music?
The next time you’re outside, I hope you take a moment to consider this question while
you listen to all of the animal sounds around you.
thanks, Sheryl! if you want to check out more of her work, she did a really cool video where
she participated in a controlled burn of a prairie and documented the entire process.
it's a fascinating story, and she walks you through it from start to finish.
there's a link to that in the description.
plus, as a bonus, I composed her theme song!
but before you go, we couldn't have done this guest video series without our sponsors, so
I'd like to take a second to thank CuriosityStream for their support.
for those of you who don't know, CuriosityStream's a streaming service that specializes in documentaries,
covering a wide range of topics including music, art, history, and science.
one that I've been particularly enjoying recently is called Music of
the Future.
check it out!
*snap* this is part of a CuriosityStream original series called Dream The Future, narrated by
Sigourney Weaver, which asks experts to speculate on what a particular aspect of life will look
like in the year 2050.
their episode on music explores how changing technologies and evolving artistic styles
may shape the future of music.
are they right?
I mean, we won't know for sure for another 30 years, but it's really fun to speculate.
*snap* and that's just one of the over 24 hundred documentaries on CuriosityStream,
including lots of other originals featuring familiar faces like David Attenborough, Stephen
Hawking, and more.
they're even offering 12tone viewers a free 31-day membership to get you started, so just
click the link in the description, use the promo code "12tone" when signing up, and have
fun learning.
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