Introduction


Education in music is most sovereign because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the innermost soul and take strongest hold upon it.
Plato


The connection between music and the environment is much deeper than we might think. In Ancient Greek, philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, believed, for example, that there was a music of the spheres, music of the cosmos
[1]. And later, the sounds of nature, e.g. the twittering of birds or the noises of wind and thunderstorm inspired composers.


Environmental music arguably began in the Romantic Era. In this time, the idea of programmatic music, music which pictures an event, scenery, or a landscape, became popular. There has been programme music before (Vivaldi’s famous “The four seasons”), but in the Romantic Period, the idea of descriptive music became really popular. Beethoven’s sixth symphony, the Pastoral, was inspired by a walk through the countryside. Thus, the movements of the symphony refer to things he saw or experienced: the “”scene by the brook”, or “Thunderstorm.”

Many, many composers followed this idea. Modest Mussorgsky composed “Pictures of an Exhibition,” in which every picture he saw has its own movement. And Bedrich Smetana wrote “Ma Vlast,” an anthem to his fatherland Bohemia, in which he musically describes the vision of the high castle of Prague, and the development of the river Vlatva. These are just three examples in a long line. Many more are there to discover. Some do not depict an actual scene, but rather create an atmosphere, such as Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” or “La Mer.” 
From this time on, nature has always been an important topic in music. Contemporary composer John Luther Adams created musical pieces to resemble Alaska (and wrote beautiful essays about his work, see resources), and the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, for instance, even coined the expression "soundscape" to describe the audible, sonic environment.
 
Even if we might not be aware of it every time, music plays a large role in our cultural and everyday life. Throughout history, music has been used for dances, religious ceremonies, to celebrate, to mourn, and to present power. In all these cases, music has a “cognitive content”[2]. It is written and performed to achieve or support a certain goal.

            Here is a list of examples where music takes part in our life.[3]

  1. Music is used to regulate behavior, enforcing compliance with social norms and mores. Bells remind us to go to church, and there are public wake-up calls in some cultures.
  2. Music directs the behavior of young children through didactic songs.
  3. Music can serve to integrate society, e.g. at funerals and weddings.
  4. Music may also induce behavior that can be construed as detrimental to society; or it can serve integrative and disintegrative functions simultaneously. For example, some rock music asked for a detachment from society or the government and offered an alternative culture at the same time.
  5. Music can enhance personal relationships.
  6. Music may also have a healing or restorative function.
  7. Music can play an explicit role in the promotion of social and political action by marking or bringing to attention conditions that call for political action. For instance, the blues often expressed the causes of the emotional conditions, i.e. oppression, slavery etc. And in the anti-Vietnam War protests, music also played an important role. Think of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” or Edwin Starr’s “War – What Is It Good For?”
 

If music can fulfil all these tasks, why should not music affect people with regard to environmental issues, too?



[1]Cf. Turner and Freedman 46
[2]Alperson and Carroll 4
[3] This list is completely, though condensed, borrowed from: Alperson and Carroll 4-10