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Animal Musicians
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Nature is never silent. As well as the general background of water, wind and weather, unique sounds are added by living creatures. There are a huge variety of calls and the more melodic ones have even inspired composers. But instead of just copying their musical qualities—what about actually using the animals themselves as musicians?
Obviously they won’t play on request, but by feeding a whole range of animal calls into an electronic sampler, British composer Nick Glennie-Smith is sure he can build up a wildlife orchestra, which will respond to the touch of a button. Take the strings for instance.
Grasshoppers not only produce string-like sounds, they even make music in a similar way to violinists and cellists. But their bow is a row of pegs on their legs, and veins in their wings take the place of strings.
This gremlin-like creature is an Aye-Aye—a type of lemur normally found only in Madagascar. Aye-ayes use their long middle finger to tap branches to find cavities, where grubs and insects hide out. It may not have the best table manners, but this strange looking creature is certainly a very adept and unusual percussionist, which should help provide Nick with a good beat.
The aye-aye uses a branch as its instrument—but other players have a built-in rhythm section. It’s useful for ground squirrels. They’re the main prey of rattlesnakes and so it’s in their interest to appreciate the variety of playing styles. The snake gets near a burrow, as that’s where the vulnerable squirrel pups are. In fact though, it could be a very different animal down the burrow. These are burrowing owls, which will also surprisingly add to Nick’s rhythm section. They hunt and eat above ground but they actually nest down disused squirrel burrow. They could also be ate by rattlesnakes and other predators such as coyotes, but if they hear danger, they have a very effective defence. They mimic a rattlesnake!
Nick’s now got a good selection of percussionists to really get the beat going. Now he’s got the rhythm he needs his wind instrumentalists.
In summer, the waters around the North Coast of California literally hum to the playing of this toadfish. The Plainfin Midshipman is one of several fish species, which make sounds, but its recital can go on for up to an hour. They’ve found that during the breeding season the male finds a nest pool and at night when the tide is in hums to attract a female. Once a male is settled, he’s introduced to a female, and soon digs himself in to start humming his love song by vibrating his swim bladder—about a hundred times a second.
Fish aren’t the only animals, which are impressed by long and loud serenades. These male grey tree frogs put plenty of wind and effort into attracting a partner, and with several hundred chorusing together around the pond, the noise can be earsplitting. A female frog laden with eggs and therefore desperate to mate is placed between two loud speakers in a sound proof chamber. One speaker plays a short call from her own species—the other plays a long call, but of a different species—so which will she choose? Previous experiments have shown that as with fish, female frogs prefer long and loud serenades—so this is somewhat of a dilemma for her. The long strong call of the wrong species, or the weak short one of her own? Guided only by her hearing, it doesn’t take long for her to head for the call made by her own species—even if it is somewhat wimpish! And that’s vital. Being able to differentiate between melodies prevents interbreeding between species.
Many frogs’ are in the treble range, but some animal calls are so bass that at least part of the sound is inaudible to humans. The water droplets are being sent into the air by the vibration of a male alligator’s sub-sonic call. The water dance precedes the very clearly heard bellow, which alligators make during the breeding season. During the summer both male and female alligators bellow to catch the attention of the opposite sex. Since an alligator in good voice produces a bellow that’s as loud as a pneumatic drill, their lusty declamations travel large distances through the water, bringing amorous partner from far and wide. Bellowing doesn’t always have the desired effect though. Males who get too vociferous when close to other males often end up in fights over territory, and so quieter, but conspicuous social displays are also made to claim their patch.
The alligators’ more recently evolved relatives, the birds, have more complex songs. Birds often sound flute-like. They really are more songsters than wind instrumentalists. Even so, because of their trilling sound, Nick is including them in his wind section, which is already sounding quite melodious.
The finishing touch is the vocalists, and the only singers who really sound anything like humans are the primates. These are lemurs from Madagascar—and all the different species are very vocal, with a wide range of calls. Scientists have been studying the lemurs alarm calls and have discovered that they have particular cries for specific threats—so for instance if the call for an aerial predator, such as a hawk is played to them, they respond immediately. They leap for the centres of trees, and look up for the bird. If on the other hand the call for a ground predator is played, the response is very different. They climb these and look anxiously downward. Nick is keen to get as many lemur calls as he can for his animal symphony. Luckily it’s not long before some ring-tailed lemurs treat him to a virtuoso performance.
Now Nick has his vocalists. He’s ready to put all the sections together to make a symphony using only animal musicians.
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动物音乐家
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大自然从未有过片刻安宁。除了水、风和天气的背景声，各种生物也不断发出奇特的声响。动物的叫声多种多样，一些旋律优美的叫声甚至能激发作曲家的创作灵感。除了简单地模仿动物的叫声，能不能让动物自己来当音乐家呢？
显然它们不会按人们的要求演奏，但是，把各种动物的叫声输入电子采样器中，英国作曲家尼克相信他可以组建一个动物交响乐团，只需用按钮来指挥。比如，弦乐声部。
草蜢不仅能发出类似弦乐的声音，而且它们演奏的方式同小提琴家和大提琴家大同小异。它腿上的一排锯齿是弓子，翅膀上的薄膜是弦。
这种小鬼似的动物叫指猴，它是狐猴的一种，生活在马达加斯加岛。指猴用长长的中指敲打树干，寻找空洞，那是蛆和昆虫的藏身之处。也许它的吃相并不雅观，但这种相貌奇特的动物肯定是一位老练的打击乐高手，能为尼克提供一些不错的素材。
指猴把树枝当成了乐器，另一些动物却随身带着乐器。响尾蛇的声音对美洲黄鼠很有用，它们是响尾蛇的主要猎物。这条蛇爬到了黄鼠的洞口，那里通常有很多小黄鼠。但洞里有时是另一种动物，它们是穴枭。令人惊异的是，它们也将加入尼克的乐队。它们在地面上觅食，栖息在地下美洲黄鼠废弃的洞穴。它们也有可能被响尾蛇或丛林狼之类的捕食者吃掉。但如果提前发现危险，它们有一种有效的防御手段，那就是模仿响尾蛇的声音。
尼克已经组建了一支不错的打击乐队，可以进行演奏了。现在他需要的是吹奏乐。
夏天，加州北部海岸线附近到处都有这种蟾鱼低沉的声音。平鳍美洲蟾鱼是少数几种能够发声的鱼类之一，它的独奏能持续一个多小时。研究者发现在繁殖季节，雄鱼会找一个栖息的水塘，在涨潮的夜晚用音乐吸引雌鱼。雄鱼一旦安顿下来，研究者会向它介绍雌鱼，它很快把自己埋入沙中，以大约每秒一百次的频率，振动自己的鱼鳔，借此来演唱情歌。
鱼并不是唯一能长时间高声演奏小夜曲的动物。这些雄性灰树蛙使尽全身力气，高声鸣叫以吸引异性。当池塘周围有几百只树蛙合唱时，那种声音会震耳欲聋。在一个隔音的房间里，一只体内充满了卵，并因此急于交配的雌蛙，被放在两个扩音器之间。一个发出同类短促的叫声，另一个则发出悠长的声音，但不是蛙的叫声。它会选择哪一边呢？以前的实验证实，和鱼一样，雌蛙偏爱绵长嘹亮的叫声。这只雌蛙有点左右为难了。凭着听力的引导，雌蛙很快就爬向发出它同类叫声的扩音器，哪怕它显得有些软弱无力。这一点很关键。能分辨彼此叫声的不同，可以防止不同动物杂交。
大部分蛙的声音都是颤音，但有些动物的叫声非常低沉，有些声音人耳根本听不到。一只雄短吻鳄鱼哼叫时发出的亚音波激起片片水花。人们往往先看到飞舞的水花，然后清楚地听到短吻鳄鱼在繁殖季节经常发出的低沉声音。夏天，雌雄鳄鱼都用低沉的吼叫吸引异性的注意。一只音色好的鳄鱼发出的叫声可以和风钻媲美。它那激昂的声音在水中传播得很远，把远处的异性吸引到身边。但这并非总能达到预期效果。当过于吵闹的雄鳄接近其他雄鳄，经常会导致关于地盘的纷争，所以这些相对平和，却很引人注目的表达方式也会派上用场。
鸟类是鳄鱼的亲戚，但是经历了更长的进化时间。鸟类能唱更加复杂的歌曲。鸟类的叫声经常听起来很像笛子，它有些接近歌声而不是乐器。但尽管如此，尼克还是把它们的声音加入了吹奏乐部分，这部分已经相当成型了。
乐队最后一部分是歌唱家，只有灵长类的发声与人相似。它们是来自马达加斯加的狐猴。各种狐猴的叫声都很动听，音域宽广。科学家一直在研究狐猴的报警声，他们发现狐猴对于特定的危险会发出特别的叫声。例如，播放来自空中的捕食者，比如鹰的声音，它们会立即做出反应，跳向树林中间并抬头寻找猛禽。如果播放的是地上捕食者的声音，反应就不同了。它们会爬上树，紧张地向下望。尼克想为他的动物交响乐收集尽可能多的狐猴叫声，幸运的是，不久环尾狐猴就为他进行了高水平的表演。
现在，尼克有了他的歌唱家。他要把各个部分组合到一起，指挥一场完全由动物音乐家表演的交响乐。
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