Meklit Hadero: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds | TED

Summary

The speaker explores how everyday soundscapes, nature, language, and the impossibility of true silence inspire music creation. They demonstrate how natural sounds, like birdsong, and human languages, with their musical inflections, shape our sonic experience. The story of Saint Yared and Ethiopian music’s origins from birds highlights the deep connection between nature and music. Additionally, John Cage's '4:33' proves that silence is filled with sound, showing how the world is alive with musical possibilities. Ultimately, the speaker invites us to embrace the sounds around us as a source of endless inspiration.

Takeaways

• 🎶 Music and sound inspiration go beyond genre; everyday soundscapes can profoundly influence songwriting.
• 🐦 Birds have inspired human music for centuries, like Saint Yared's connection to birds and the pentatonic scale in Ethiopian music.
• 🌍 Cultures around the world draw musical inspiration from nature, such as the Pygmies of the Congo, who tune their instruments to birdsong.
• 🗣️ Language has an innate musicality, as seen in tonal languages like Mandarin and the expressive qualities of Amharic.
• 🎼 Amharic's emphasis on pitch and melody in emphatic words inspires musical composition, showing how language shapes sound.
• 🔇 Silence is never truly silent, as John Cage’s '4:33' demonstrates, emphasizing ambient sound as music.
• 👂 Charles Limb theorizes that human hearing evolved to appreciate music, suggesting we are hard-wired for musical appreciation.
• 🍲 Everyday sounds, like a pot lid clanging, can serve as rhythmic and musical inspiration in composition.
• 🎵 Our surroundings are inherently musical, offering sounds that can inspire both formal study and spontaneous creativity.
• 🌅 We belong to a universal sonic lineage; by listening carefully, we can find endless inspiration in the sounds around us.

Q & A

What does the speaker mean by 'sonic lineages'?

The speaker refers to 'sonic lineages' as the musical influences and traditions that shape one's sound as a musician. For her, this includes jazz, hip hop, her Ethiopian heritage, and 1980s pop music. However, she suggests that our everyday soundscapes can also influence the music we make.

How does the speaker demonstrate the connection between birdsong and human music?

The speaker plays a slowed-down birdsong that sounds like an opera singer, illustrating how humans can mistakenly recognize bird sounds as their own. She discusses how in Ethiopian tradition, birds are seen as musical teachers, and how the pentatonic scales of Saint Yared were influenced by birds.

Who was Saint Yared, and what was his contribution to music?

Saint Yared was a 6th-century Ethiopian composer who developed a unique musical notation system and composed hymns using pentatonic scales known as 'kiñit.' He is considered a significant figure in Ethiopian music, and his work is still influential today.

How does nature serve as a musical teacher according to the speaker?

The speaker suggests that nature, especially birds, has historically taught humans musical concepts. She provides examples like the Pygmies of the Congo tuning their instruments to birds' pitches and Bernie Krause's research showing how animals occupy different sound frequencies, similar to an orchestra.

How does the speaker connect language with music?

The speaker explains that every language has a musical quality, with pitch affecting meaning. She shares examples from her native language, Amharic, where words like 'indey' and 'Lickih nehu' have musical intonations. These naturally melodic phrases inspired her to compose music.

What is John Cage's '4:33,' and how does the speaker reinterpret it?

'4:33' is a piece where no notes are played for four minutes and 33 seconds, highlighting the ambient sounds in the environment as music. The speaker remixes this concept by sharing how the sound of a pot lid clanking while cooking lentils inspired her to create music, demonstrating how everyday sounds can be musical.

What point is the speaker making about 'true silence'?

The speaker argues that true silence is impossible. Even when there is no intentional music, we can still hear ambient sounds like our own heartbeat, the environment, and natural occurrences. These sounds are musical expressions in themselves.

How does the speaker suggest we find musical inspiration in everyday life?

The speaker encourages listeners to seek musical inspiration from ordinary sounds like birds singing, tires rolling on grooves, or the click of a stove burner. She emphasizes that music is everywhere if we are attentive and open to it.

What is Charles Limb's theory about music and the human auditory system?

Charles Limb theorizes that the human auditory system may have evolved to process music, as it is more complex than necessary for understanding language alone. This suggests that humans are naturally attuned to find and create music in their environment.

What is the speaker’s overarching message about music and sound?

The speaker’s message is that we are constantly surrounded by musical possibilities, whether through nature, language, or the soundscape of everyday life. Music is not limited to formal study or performance; it is part of the world we live in, and we are all both listeners and creators.