Eco-Music - Connections Between Music and Nature

"Music and Nature" was a one-hour radio program written by Philip Blackburn and produced by Minnesota Public Radio in 2005 that explored the connections between music and nature. In addition to a recording of the original program, the companion website offers interviews with artists, composers, scientists and researchers; streaming recordings of "environmentally friendly music"; a variety of links and resources; and a sampling of special features such as:
Name That Tune -- Try to identify which item in nature matches the sound
Shrouds of Air -- A survey wind music recorded out in the field
Music for Pets -- Compositions based on what dogs want to hear
Environmental Scores -- Conceptual and performable eco-scores
Thai Elephant Orchestra -- Musical elephants of Northern Thailand
Philip Blackburn composes, builds sound-sculptures, performs, and writes about things like Harry Partch, Vietnamese music, and the use of sound in public art. He is building a sound park, Bitter Jackass, in the foothills of the Maya Mountains in Belize. His aim is to fashion a place for the arts of listening and growing within a living art project. Living areas will be designed like gigantic musical instruments, with tunnels, reflective surfaces, parabolic walls and domes, acoustic focal points, anechoic chamber, echo spots -- a grand sonic architecture, expanding on the Ancient Maya art of acoustically-designed pyramids, staircases, and ball courts. The forest will have walking trails that lead to sculpture sites, plantings that become living art (such as a wind-powered organ made of living bamboo), fruit trees, edible and medicinal plants, viewing/listening areas, and other things.
Why call it Bitter Jackass? "Jackass Bitters is a common herb for curing malaria, diabetes, infections, intestinal parasites, with general antiviral and antibacterial properties," writes Blackburn. "The alternative is Xochipili, the Ancient Maya god of music, dance, plants and sex; but can you remember it?"