Natural soundscapes have become a crucial factor in meditation, stimulation and concentration for the current generation, and have been for over 40 years. This sonic experience has intertwined with neurological aids that promote sustainable mental health for its audience.
Music isn’t just data that has been recorded for playback, but is the transmission of sound through performance, as that is what various species do in nature. The neuroscientific process of ambient music is one that travels through auditory pathways that strip or digest the vastness of sound and enhance what relates to the person listening.
In 1987, Peter Szöke who was a professional Hungarian tennis player compiled a game-changing body of work titled The Unknown Music of Birds that he had captured through a variety of mediums, aiming the subject matter to indigenous birds of the country of Hungary. This recording had been slowed down, revealing the secrets of how birds relate to humans. Their pitch shift often resembles opera or the sound of a muted trumpet.
A robin, cardinal, hadeda and even the everyday pigeon have easily identifiable sounds that add either a melodic or rhythmic layer through various tempos and pitches. These contributions to the world’s natural ambience have seen human beings take interest in nature conservation, and depth of knowledge in disturbance as a result of climatology, deforestation and evolution.
A river stream as a sonic soundscape leaves room for living species to add beautiful components of their natural abilities and creates a choir of habitation within the vicinity. In today’s world, we have experienced a shift in the audible ambience as we’ve been riddled with everyday sounds like a computer or refrigerator running, an electric fence ticking, a distant neighbour mowing their lawn, and cars or aircraft passing by.
This concept has been widely received as “White Noise” that when recorded, is an aid to people that have left the bustle of big towns to retreat in quiet places and have been overwhelmed by silence. We cannot hear the wind or rain, if you listen closely you’ll notice that it’s what the wind and rain touch that is audible. From the rustle of leaves, the wind’s whistle near the eardrum, or droplets of rain touching the soil; these elements of nature seem to create a new dimension of ambience as the birds, bees and other creatures sing along to it.
