On this page, we have thoughtfully gathered a selection of websites, articles, and films exploring the connection between sound, music, and environmental sustainability.
Copyrights remain with the original authors.
Foundations of the Sound Commons
A Sound Commons for All Living Creatures
Jeff Todd Titon, 2012, first description of the sound commons.
The Sound Commons and Applied Ecomusicologies
Aaron S. Allen, Taylor Leapaldt, Mark Pedelty, and Jeff Todd Titon, 2023. Evolution and better definition of the sound commons theory in relation to applied ecomusicology.
Non-Human Sounds
The Great Animal Orchestra
Bernie Krause, a renowned natural sound expert, explores the vital role of nature’s soundscapes in animal survival and their influence on human music. His recordings capture everything from whale songs to rainforest jaguars, revealing the profound connection between wildlife and their aural habitats. Krause argues passionately for preserving these natural sounds as an essential, often overlooked part of our ecosystem.
Whale Music: Thousand Mile Songs in a Sea of Sound
David Rothenberg shares insights from researchers and musicians as they seek to decipher these underwater sounds. His journey culminates in an ambitious quest to create interspecies music by playing his clarinet alongside whales in their natural habitats, from Russia to Canada and Hawaii.
Human Sounds and the Environment: Ecomusicology
Ecomusicology: Tributaries and Distributaries of an Integrative Field
A freely accessible review article by Mark Pedelty, Aaron Allen, Chiao-Wen Chang, Rebecca Dirksen, and Tyler Kinnear, gathering all the research to date (2023) about Ecomusicology.
A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism
Mark Pedelty, 2016. The author engage in a beautifully written ethnographic account of environmentalist music in the Salish Sea region.
Current direction in Ecomusicology: Music, Culture, Nature
Edited by Aaron Allen and Kevin Dawe, this 2016 book is the first collection of essays regarding ecomusicology as a multidisciplinary and multidirectional field of study.
Performing Environmentalisms: Expressive Culture and Ecological Change
Edited by John Homes McDowell, Katherine Borland, Rebecca Dirksen and Sue Tuohy, this 2021 volume explores the contribution of performances towards environmental sustainability.
Sounds, Ecologies, Musics
Edited by Aaron Allen and Jeff Todd Titon, this 2024 volume is the most recent collection of ecomusicological research.
Soundscapes and Our Sonic World
Principles of Soundscape Ecology: Discovering our Sonic World
Brian C. Pijanowski, 2024.
Our Sonic Environment and the Soundscape: The Tuning of the World
R. Murray Schafer, 1974. Seminal book on the topic of the soundscape. While some of the theory contained here is old and widely criticated, it is still a relevant reading.
Films and Documentaries
Sentinels of Silence? Whale Watching, Noise, and the Orca
2020 documentary about the sonic impact of whale watching.
Useful Links
EcoSong
Award-winning environmental music videos.
Ecomusicology Review
An open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of music, culture, sound, and nature in a period of environmental crisis.
Share Your Recommendations
If you have relevant work to recommend or would like to see your own contributions featured on the Sound Commons Project resources page, please feel free to leave a message below, or email us at soundcommons@gmail.com.
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