Secret Sounds of Ponds in Cold Spring

Secret Sounds of Ponds Live

David Rothenberg presents a special concert live with underwater singing creatures and plants at a special location in Fahnestock Park, to be decided based on sonic conditions determined a few days before the event. Exact details will be sent to all ticketholders a few days before the event. This day's event may involve a walk up to 40 minutes in length. (Sunday's event will only involve a ten minute walk.)

At this concert he will be joined by his frequent collaborator guitarist Charlie Rauh, of the ild Life Music Collective. “Charlie Rauh plays guitar with a quiet intensity, each note and chord ringing with purpose,” writes Acoustic Guitar Magazine. “Rauh gives a gentle reminder that playing soft and slow can be more impactful than loud and fast.” With these words, we find ourselves in the company of a musician whose imprint is as delicate as it is indelible.

In his book Secret Sounds of Ponds, environmental musician and philosopher David Rothenberg tosses a microphone into a pond and we read (and hear) about an entirely new realm: the unexpected and stirring rhythms of some of the smallest and loudest creatures on Earth. Recording the songs of the animals and plants inhabiting each pond reveals a different perspective than what we meet in our human society. Each pond episode brings the reader closer to a new understanding of the non-human world that we share.

Rothenberg has previously investigated, recorded, and collaborated with the music of birds and whales. Now he writes, "Having heard the pond, I want to join the pond, making music no one species could make alone." His energizing and technological research combines with a musician's and poet's creative aptitude as he discovers the orchestration of ecosystems, uncovering new connections lurking beneath the silent surface. Secret Sounds of Ponds is replete with full-color photographs and musical works presented both as colorful spectrograms and as QR codes that link to all the music that is placed online. Some are musical, some are rhythmic, some Rothenberg accompanies on his clarinet.

The book is full of QR codes that point to the pond sounds and the music which are here: https://soundcloud.com/user-828525518/sets/the-secret-sounds-of-ponds
and is out as an album on all major music services: https://davidrothenberg.hearnow.com/secret-songs-of-ponds

"It's now obviously urgent that we find a way back into balance with nature that observes, respects and integrates us into what we have left of the natural world. It's great to see and listen to David Rothenberg's work, harnessing science and music to point out the path of potential dialogue with the natural world and all the wonderful creatures within it."

—Peter Gabriel