Season 1, Episode 21

Matthew Burtner on Ecoacoustics

On this episode of Free Range, Michael Livermore speaks with Matthew Burtner, a Professor of Compositions and Computer Technologies in the music department at the University of Virginia. Burtner’s work explores ecology and the aesthetic link between human expression and environmental systems. His latest album is Ice Field.

Episode is an appropriate teaching tool for but not limited to the following topics & courses: music theory, art and climate change, compositions, computer technologies, ecology

Discussion Questions

  • What does Burtner see as the value of using natural processes and systems as inspiration for musical compositions? How might this translate ecological phenomena into a human context?
  • What are some key methods used in “eco-acoustic” music according to Burtner? How do practices like sonification, soundscape recording, and human-nature interaction aim to incorporate environmental elements?
  • How does Burtner describe the experience of “playing music” with a non-sentient natural system? What makes this fundamentally different than playing with human musicians?
  • What artistic and conceptual possibilities does Burtner identify in working across vastly different timescales between human music and natural processes? How does this temporal difference manifest?
  • How can technology like microphones, recordings, and data sonification provide new ways of perceiving and understanding ecological systems, according to Livermore and Burtner? What limitations exist in human sensory experience?
  • What does Burtner say is the value of “participatory” listening to eco-acoustic compositions? How might this experience affect people’s environmental awareness and conceptual framing?
  • How does Burtner characterize the relationship between his creative intentions and any political implications of using environmental issues as subject matter? What role does he see for music in this context?
  • What environmental topics does Burtner identify as suitably eliciting emotional responses like mourning and loss through artistic expression? How else might music provide a space to process ecological change?
  • Burtner discusses acoustic recordings of ecological restoration projects as more hopeful representations of human-nature relationships. What examples does he provide and how might these be expressed musically?
  • What connections exist between aesthetic appreciation of the natural world and ethical obligations towards conservation? How might eco-acoustics bridge these domains?
  • Does using artistic mediums like music to convey ecological phenomena change or enhance environmental awareness? What effects might this have on shaping nature’s cultural role?

Additional Readings