Climate change is causing the planet to develop at an alarming rate. Climate change can also be heard thanks to musicians and lecturers from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
Full Sail musicians have partnered with USA Today to create music based on more than 100 years of data on climate change in various US states, including Arkansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa. The data showed that there was more rain east of the Rockies than ever before, but rain is becoming scarcer in the west.
Each composer approached the project differently with different musicalities. They all used real rain sounds in their plays.
Pennsylvania by Dr. Timothy Stulman
In Dr. For Stulman's composition, he used a melody line representing the peaks of precipitation and dry years for the state of Pennsylvania. To represent the deep and high parts of the data, Dr. Stulman's composition raised and lowered in pitch. Every year in this composition corresponds to two seconds of music.
He put together various recordings of wind, thunder and rain and interlaced them with flute and cello melodies. The higher peaks of the data are played with a flute, while the lower parts of the data are played by three cellos in descending melodies.
“I wanted to create my own virtual storm so I could more precisely control its intensity. Instead of using a single recording of a storm, I used individual rain, wind and thunder sounds, ”said Dr. Stulman versus USA Today. “If there was a really rainy year, I would choose footage of heavy rains, strong winds and mix them with loud claps of thunder. So it is not a single shot of a storm, but different storm elements that are mixed together based on the precipitation data. "
Tennessee by Thomas Owen
Thomas Owen is the Full Sail University Professor of Recording Arts Program and Associate Instructor in Interactive Audio.
In his composition, Owen used real sounds of wind and rain from the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. This song inspired him after a trip to Tennessee to visit his family for Christmas last year. The snow that turned his family's home into a winter wonderland brings back memories.
"You're seeing these huge, heavy rain peaks," Owen told USA Today. "Sound out that it is really easy to hear and see the difference in the climate."
You will find that in Owen's composition, wind and rain get louder during the wet years on Tennessee's chart.
Arkansas, Iowa and Michigan by Marc Pinsky
Marc Pinsky is a course instructor in the audio production program at Full Sail University. His passion is interactive audio, which is why he made it his mission to compose five pieces for five states: Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Pinsky used a consecutive tick for each year. The top 10 driest are highlighted with weakly plucked strings, and the wettest years are highlighted with heavily plucked strings.
He took every decade and placed it on a scale between 1 and 13. With the violin as his main instrument, Pinsky associated each number with a note on the C minor scale. As the rain increases, the pitch for the violin increases and as the rain subsides. The continuously played rain layer also corresponds to the pitch and volume.
Pinsky chose the violin because it reminds him of a raindrop. "In my opinion it really penetrates the soul and that melody line didn't sound right on any other instrument."
You can listen to the full songs through USA Today.