It only happens once every seventeen years to jam with the cicadas in New Jersey.
Photo Credit ( Greety image )
The arrival of billions of red-eyed cicadas this spring after a 17-year hibernation has annoyed some Americans, especially because of their loud buzzing sounds.
However, it has offered a singular chance for cooperation for David Rothenberg, a philosophy and music professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
He said, “We’re combining human musical ideas with nature’s musical ideas,” while gathering other musicians at a Princeton, New Jersey, nature preserve.
With his clarinet and other musicians on percussion and saxophone, Rothenberg conducted an improvised jam while cicadas swarmed about, utilizing the insects’ trill as a guide.
According to Rothenberg, he could distinguish multiple unique noises made by three different kinds of cicadas, even though it would appear to be white noise to those who are unfamiliar with it.
As a boy growing up in Connecticut, the author of “Bug Music” claimed to have developed an interest in nature noises. He is not just interested in cicadas; he has also composed jazz pieces that feature humpback whale and bird sounds.
“Some people, of course, think I’m crazy, like it’s just this gimmick,” Rothenberg added. “[But] it’s serious stuff that nature has inspired humanity and all artforms more than anything else for centuries.”
Rothenberg used to frequently perform alone with the cicadas, but lately he has made an effort to include additional musicians.
“The more you pay attention to nature, the only way we’re going to save it without destroying it,” he stated.
The newly hatched insects were the most cooperative musicians Tim Blunk had ever played with, he joked.
“They never arrive late. You don’t have to pay them, and they always stay for the entire gig. He chuckled, “It’s like the perfect musical partner.”
Last month, the cicadas, sometimes referred to as Brood X or Brood 10, started to emerge from the ground in 15 states, ranging from Georgia to New York and farther west to Indiana and Illinois.
A fresh crop of Cicadas will begin the 17-year process anew after mating, entering the ground, and not coming out until 2038.
Rothenberg is enjoying his unique opportunity to jam with them in the interim.
“There’s a lot of musicians who think that through improvisation you can reach places that you cannot reach any other way,” he stated. “You can make something very special; it may never happen the same way again.”
