Sonification

On the Strangest Sea (2023)

Commissioned by the Coastal Conservatory

I think of this piece as both a sonification and a composition, as I had two goals in mind: to represent data and to create music inspired by the saltmarsh sparrow. The species is under threat of extinction due to several factors, including human development and sea level rise. For my starting point, I used a graph that depicts a projection of population decline of female saltmarsh sparrows. By the year 2050, the species is predicted to have gone extinct. 

The changing population is represented through changes in the music's textural density. The tracks are meant to mirror the shape of the graph in Figure 6 of the paper - for example, when all 14 tracks are layered, that corresponds to the peak in the projected population. When there are more sparrows, the music is denser. Then fewer and fewer tracks remain as the population decreases, and the piano music eventually dies away. The number of tracks at any given point is proportional to the population at that point on the graph (7 seconds of music elapsed = 1 year has gone by in the graph). 

I recorded individual tracks, each comprising a different set of pitches from one overarching collection, to represent the birds. I listened to previously recorded tracks while I played, improvising with myself to mimic the unpredictability of the birds. They are quiet and shy, so much of what they do is left to the imagination, especially if you’re not a scientist observing them. A pulse, which I recorded on my electric violin, is heard every 7 seconds to denote each year that passes on the graph.

An image of the scientific graph on which the piece is based.
A screenshot of my Logic Pro project; the piano audio tracks are shown.

The graph on which the piece is based, taken from Field, Christopher R., et al. 2017. “High-resolution tide projections reveal extinction threshold in response to sea-level rise.” Global Change Biology 35:2058-2070.

A screenshot of the piano tracks in my Logic Pro project; the shape of the tracks mirrors the contour of the graph. The vertical lines indicate when the violin pulse is heard (every 7 seconds, corresponding to 1 year on the graph).