Birdsong and Music

(Dr. Steve Ricks, composer and Honors faculty, is pictured above, 5th from left.)

The twitter of birdsong fills the small theatre in the Music Building. It has barely faded when the notes are echoed by a piccolo. Blue and green light bathes the stage, where singers are dressed in moss and bark, and the metal sculpture of a tree rises proudly from center stage. As the music and birdsong duet reaches a climax, applause shakes the room—among the audience are students from Honors 221: The Music of Birds and Humans.

This Unexpected Connections class, exploring the crossover between biology and music disciplines, was created through its own unexpected connection. Dr. Steve Peck, a biologist and bird enthusiast, team teaches the class with music composition professor Dr. Steve Ricks.

“I was becoming really interested in sound and sound studies, so I was talking to musicians,” Dr. Peck said. He was out getting lunch one day when he ran into an old friend and his buddy—Dr. Steve Ricks. “I was telling him that I need somebody to help me teach music. He said, ‘I'll do it.’ Right there in the [restaurant]. And since then, we've been exploring it. So, it was really a coincidence; one of those serendipitous events that change a life. Who knew that going to get my lunch would be so impactful?”

Together, the two professors created a class that challenges students to rethink what they know about the definition of music, the effect of humans on birds, and the effect of birds on human culture.

One of the fun parts of class is that the lectures aren’t relegated to one topic. Instead, the professors like to invite guest lecturers to spice things up. Dr. Ricks said, “We feel like it keeps things interesting and lively, and it really promotes lots of different viewpoints.” Noah Ricks, a 221 student, said, “We've had a lot of different conversations—philosophy, religion, historical perspectives—anything that could fit into the genre. It all comes back to the birds and the music.”

Noah is a biology major, so a crossover class between music and biology is right up his alley. However, he has gained new insights on his discipline from this class. “It's given me a lot more perspective on conservation,” he said. This was “not something that I really felt a kinship to beforehand…. I’m really seeing how sound, noise pollution, and light pollution are affecting birds.”

Another student, Katherine Rackliff, is a cybersecurity major. Although the Music of Birds and Humans class may not have been the obvious choice for Katherine, she loves it: “I grew up going to a lot of national parks, and I really grew to appreciate nature conservation…. [Plus] I like to choose things that are very different from what I normally do.”

Katherine also joked that she took the class “because I need a class that gets me outdoors. If there's not a grade attached to it, I won't!” Noah agreed that “being out in nature while in class is a huge, huge plus.”

Nature, birdsong, and music were all tied together in one of the highlight experiences of the class last week: attending the opera performance “Baucis and Philemon.” The opera is a story about a mythological couple who are transformed into trees on the bank of a lake.

The opera was the brainchild and composition of Dr. Ricks, who wanted to explore an interdisciplinary take on music. He asked, “How does what we think of as music include things like birdsong, and other sounds that we might dismiss as noise or non-musical?”

Dr. Ricks integrated nature in both the music composition and the story itself. To add a third Steve to the mix, he worked on the story with Dr. Steve Tuttle, professor of literature and creative writing. Dr. Ricks explained, “some of the lines that Steve uses are, ‘Look at us now, a home for birds.’ There’s a real connection with nature in general, and with birds and birdsong that's sort of inherent in the story and the text.”

Nestled between the vocal songs is the interlude that creates a thread of literal dialogue between piccolo and birdsong. But the link to Honors 221 is not only obvious in the bird/music connection; it’s also in the creation of the song. Dr. Ricks said, “That recorded bird is the Lazuli Bunting, and it's actually a recording that Dr. Peck made and shared with me.”

The opera was a hit. Every seat was filled, and the students had great things to say (even out of earshot of their professor-composer). “This has really expanded my view of music,” Katherine said. “I really enjoyed the opera, and I never would have gone to an opera [if it hadn’t been for this class.] I had a very strict idea of what opera was before I went and watched it. I thought, wait a minute. This is very different from what I was expecting.”

Honors 221 students are in for more unexpected connections between music, nature, and birdsong as the semester continues. Dr. Ricks shared, “Ever since we started to teach this class, it just seems like discovering ways in which the music of birds and humans is connected is a bottomless pit. I just keep running across new sources, new ideas…there's still so much more that could be explored.”

Dr. Peck has a unique vision of the interdisciplinary thinking he hopes students will learn from this class: “I would love them to take away an appreciation for the natural world—its music and its sounds and listening—and how the soundscape is really important for humans in terms of mental and spiritual health. It becomes a way of engaging in the world that's a little bit different.”

Honors 221 will run one more time in Winter 2025. Plan ahead to take this class the last time it will be offered!