Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise - Hardcover

Rothenberg, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250005213 ISBN 13: 9781250005212

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2013

Synopsis

In the spring of 2013 the cicadas in the Northeastern United States will yet again emerge from their seventeen-year cycle―the longest gestation period of any animal. Those who experience this great sonic invasion compare their sense of wonder to the arrival of a comet or a solar eclipse. This unending rhythmic cycle is just one unique example of how the pulse and noise of insects has taught humans the meaning of rhythm, from the whirr of a cricket's wings to this unfathomable and exact seventeen-year beat.

In listening to cicadas, as well as other humming, clicking, and thrumming insects, Bug Music is the first book to consider the radical notion that we humans got our idea of rhythm, synchronization, and dance from the world of insect sounds that surrounded our species over the millions of years over which we evolved. Completing the trilogy he began with Why Birds Sing and Thousand Mile Song, David Rothenberg explores a unique part of our relationship with nature and sound―the music of insects that has provided a soundtrack for humanity throughout the history of our species. Bug Music continues Rothenberg's in-depth research and spirited writing on the relationship between human and animal music, and it follows him as he explores insect influences in classical and modern music, plays his saxophone with crickets and other insects, and confers with researchers and scientists nationwide.
This engaging and thought-provoking book challenges our understanding of our place in nature and our relationship to the creatures surrounding us, and makes a passionate case for the interconnectedness of species.

About this title

About the Author

Philosopher and jazz musician David Rothenberg is professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the author of Survival of the Beautiful, Why Birds Sing, and Thousand Mile Song. He lives in the Hudson Valley, New York.

Reviews

Do insects sing? Are they nature’s percussion section? Did musical bugs inspire humans to drum, strum, and hum? Professor of philosophy and music Rothenberg believes they do, they are, and they did. With their seemingly endless mathematical noisemaking, insects laid a foundation for human music making. Both tribal drummers and electronic-music composers have drawn from the rhythms of insects. In this report on his encounters with cicadas, crickets, and katydids, the author is both broadly philosophical and highly technical, alternately telling us what insects mean when they sing and, using sonograms and anatomical illustrations, describing in detail how they produce their remarkable sounds. Rothenberg also recounts his playing clarinet and saxophone with insects in the field, on the stage, and in his recording studio. Following Why Birds Sing and Thousand Mile Song (about whale songs), Bug Music completes Rothenberg’s trilogy of books about human interaction with nature’s musicians. --Rick Roche

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1250005213
• ISBN 13: 9781250005212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288