Post 37.

Recent research has begun to map noise pollution (anthropogenic noise) and its impact on biodiversity.  Sordello, De Lachapelle, Livoreil, and Vanpeene discuss the problem: Noise pollution, especially as originates in cities, has a negative impact on biodiversity. But anthropocenic noise is experienced outside of cities ("motor boats on lakes, aircraft in the sky, etc.").  Many species hear and emit sounds (e.g., to mate, to detect prey or predators). They need to hear and emit sounds to survive. Noise pollution negatively impacts their ability to do this.

Do music educators have a responsibility to teach in ways that help students understand the challenge of noise pollution in relation to loss of biodiversity? Perhaps. At an interdisciplinary level, we are able to teach for improved scientific understanding, at least around issues that concern musics, sound, soundscapes, and noise. Broadly speaking, I feel responsible for teaching people to understand sound; and not just what has traditionally been called "music." And I've defined music in my book around the idea of sound. And music teachers operate within preschools, K-12 schools, and universities, often without rigid curricula as restrictive as is faced by teachers of other subjects. Because of this, music teachers seem well-placed to educate students of all ages to recognize, hear, and resist noise pollution.

Following suggestions in my book:

1. Students can explore the issues of anthropogenic noise and write songs of resistance (see p. 65)
2. Teachers and students can recognize the rights non-human beings may have in relation to sound and music (see p. 59-60)
3. We can spend more time listening to soundscapes (see p. 51)
4. We can work for increasing commons, where diverse species may exist (see p. 29).

Ultimately, I define music as the intentional experiencing of sound (p. 41). These three ideas--intention, experience, sound--are important, for me, to constructing a praxial music pedagogy that is ethically good around environmental issues.

DJS

Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-019-0146-6
Link: https://www.routledge.com/Eco-Literate-Music-Pedagogy/Shevock/p/book/9780415792578

Post 36.

Today's post is pretty Catholic specific. It is rooted in Catholic theology and philosophy. If these aren't of interest to you, please skip to the next post. But a spiritual praxis is a practice of specifics. Not a 1980s style new age, hippie "spirituality" of poorly thought-out generalizables but a spirituality rooted in religions, which are specific ligaments (re-ligion) connecting us to specific bodies. It is from these bodies that we encounter the other, and can have ecumenicism. Thanks!

One cannot but encounter God everywhere.

This is something Charles Taylor writes in his book, “A Secular Age,” about previous generations. Taylor suggests atheism was practically unimaginable in 15th Century Europe; but it is an alternative in 20th and 21st Century America. But, I suppose that if one cannot but encounter God everywhere in the 15th Century, then it is also true that one cannot but encounter God everywhere in the 21st Century.

It’s merely true.

And this is where many theologies that ignore science—that don’t do the hard work of integrating scientific insights into their theologies—fail. An intellectual, or really anybody that wants to live an integral life—integrating the wisdom of their body, mind, and spirit—cannot but reject religion that has a short view of history based on the exact days mentioned in the bible. The bible wasn’t written by God. It wasn’t canonized by God. It was written by people who were inspired by God. But they still had human brains. And it was brought together into its cannon by people who were inspired by God, through a specific political process (a somewhat democratic one at that). People. Humans with human brains. And democratic social structures made by people. Not God. And so, the bible points toward God, but it doesn’t overthrow or contradict the gospel of nature—God’s creation.

We keep pets, non-human beings that God puts into our care. We walk at parks. We tend gardens. We feed birds. We clean up the side of our highways. We recycle and compost. We act in our local communities to make them more sustainable. And we teach for ecological literacy. All of these are encounters with God, because God is encountered everywhere.

One cannot but encounter God everywhere.

And so we see God also in other people. Humans are, after all, God’s creation just as are birds, and canyons, and sunshine. Even the worst humans have some God-nature. So we have to step back from our politics. A leftist is asked who the worst people are, and they identify Hitler, and Nixon, and Trump. And certainly they’re all rightfully identified as bad people. A rightist is asked who the worst people are, and they identify Stalin, and Castro, and Clinton. And they’re right too. But even the worst of God’s creation has some light. Even Judas Iscariot carried something of the light of God—and was blessed in such an enviable way to be Jesus’s companion for three years. So, as Christians we’re called to step back from our politics and encounter God everywhere. And that is hard work. But as St. Benedict held up prayer and work (ora et labora) as two of the highest virtues, so we should be glad to do the work of stepping back from our politics. Of encountering God. Everywhere.

DJS

Post 35.

Here in Pennsylvania, we face a number of ecological challenges. Big business has decimated our beautiful home. Texan multinational corporations are putting leaky (and exploding) gas pipelines across the commonwealth (a month doesn't seem to go by without the local news reporting on a new leak!). When we fish, we can't eat more than about a small fish a week from most of our waterways, which is due to high PCB and mercury levels. Strip mining and mountaintop removal has long destroyed our rural ecosystems and communities. Lets add coal ash contamination to our ever-growing list of big business generated ecological crises.

According to a recent report, nine of Pennsylvania's power plants are leaking coal ash into our groundwater. "At one former coal plant near Pittsburgh, arsenic levels in the groundwater are 372 times EPA’s safe drinking water standards." When this happens, it's us taxpayers who have to foot the bill for cleaning our drinking water. And this is at a time when the tax burden is already needlessly high in Pennsylvania. As a father of a four-year-old; I really long for the past, when our lazy summer days could be spent with families at our beautiful State Parks, fishing and cooking our catch for an afternoon picnic. Of course, we should still appreciate our State Parks (but I'd stay away from eating too many of the fish!). It doesn't matter if you live in one of our large cities, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, or across the rolling hills at the center of our commonwealth; our State Parks and protected lands, and even those non-protected ecosystems are our shared heritage. We have long protected wilderness, and game land, and other sites because of their importance to all of us. Our collective heritage and duty. But our current government is failing at protecting our shared heritage from big business interests.

There's a lot I can do as a parent, as a church parishioner, and as a citizen. But, what can I do as a music teacher? What can other music teachers do? We are uniquely situated in schools (I teach at Penn State Altoona part time, and State College Friends school with their after-school program--previously I taught in the Pittsburgh Public Schools). Unlike our counterparts who teach reading and math, we don't often have pre-set curricula, scripts, and standardized testing to facilitate for the government and businessmen at Pearson. What we music teachers do have is control over what we teach and how we teach it: as long as when the Principal shows up she sees good work being done, which can be accomplished in many ways. I suggest that we have to pick up the work other teachers cannot accomplish (with their hands tied behind their backs). Music provides distinctive opportunities to open space for conversations that matter. It is important that students, especially in high school, know what's happening environmentally at the local- and state- levels. If we're conducting a band piece about national parks, or singing a pastoral song in choir, or designing an interdisciplinary lesson in general music; we have opportunities to facilitate conversations around environmental issues that our students are facing. We can open space by bringing up a local issue, and see how our students share their opinions and ideas. We don't have to dominate the conversation with our opinions. Let them talk about it in their own language; using their own ideas. This may even provide ideas for student-lead informances when concerts come around. Our students, after all, will be the active citizens, parents, church parishioners, and musicians of the next generation. And we (we with them) will have to clean up the mess we have made here in Pennsylvania.

DJS

Post 34.

A term coined by philosophers Felix Guattari and Arne Naess, Ecosophy, a portmanteau of ecology and philosophy, is described as "a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium." Paul Larson describes Paul Winter's Missa Gaia as the ecosophical movement's musical masterpiece. Missa Gaia is rooted in the realization that humans and non-humans are "of one household (ecos)." He also writes, "Missa Gaia is a musical cathedral because its genesis is rooted in interdependent communal musical action for a sacred purpose." Naturally, Winter's music can help form the core of an eco-literate music curriculum; providing a lot of space for generating discussions that matter.

Naturally, I was excited when I came across a book & CD, "The Music of Paul Winter: Earth -- Voices of a Planet," by Marilyn Copeland Davidson (who was involved with the Share the Music series). I look forward to delving deeper into it. But so far, I can see in the teacher's edition that this is a series of listening lessons, with suggestions for student improvisations (so active listening). There is also a student book, which I did not order. To use an example, on p. 5 the song "Appalachian Morning" by Paul Halley (long-time organist with Paul Winter) shares outcomes (including pictures, poems, and essays intended for a presentation), along with improvisation in 5/4, and movement suggestions. While the directions in the book are quite strict (not at all uncommon today; and was expected in music education publications in 1994), I intend to use these lessons far more liberally, allowing students to guide much more of the process (in addition to the product). For less than $15 (USD) "The Music of Paul Winter" is a good pickup for music teachers intending to implement music education for eco-literacy.

I'm beginning to think that a resources page might be useful. So, I may begin to share resources, in addition to songs, choral, band, and orchestra works, and the blog.

DJS

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosophy
Link: http://home.moravian.edu/public/relig/ecoSpirit/issues/Vol1No2.pdf
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Paul-Winter-Voices-Planet/dp/0769253210/
Link: https://youtu.be/0z1TsrG4rWs
Link: https://www.routledge.com/Eco-Literate-Music-Pedagogy/Shevock/p/book/9780415792578