PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

August 14, 2024

MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE (Part II)

Diane and my excitement about Danny Lerman’s performance at the Encore “Summer Series In the Park” was not universally shared.  Bender who was just west of us was happy and content until the music started.  Then he began shaking.

Bender is a large, black poodle.  Evidently, there was something about the pitch, the rhythm, or the volume which was not to his liking.  His musical tastes moved to a different pitch, beat, and rhythm.  Finally, his owner had to take him home.

In the May 2011 issue of “The Smithsonian” there was an article about singing mice. The research of Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, a biologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, would seem to indicate that field mice sing to one another at frequencies just above the human ability to hear.  Deer mice have a four-note song which when played slower, thus lowering the frequency, sounds a little like the wooing song of a whale.

In wrapping up his article about the singing mice Bob Dunn makes the following observation. “Her (Martina) discovery reminds us that each species perceives the world in a unique way, with a finely tuned set of senses, and so finds itself in a slightly different world.” (p. 22)

Diane and I are blessed to have a wide variety of birds visit our little spot on God’s earth.  Early in the morning their many songs greet the coming of a new day.  When I am out working in the yard, their melodies help to pass the time.  For one with an educated ear, each of their individual songs can be identified.

The same variety that can be found between species when it comes to music can sometimes be found within specie.  Take our own human specie.  Western music uses a twelve notes chromatic scale with quarter tone separations.  Traditional Japanese music uses a five note pentatonic scale.  Middle Eastern music tends to use quarter tone separations for their scales which produce a theoretical twenty-four note scale.

For most Western music dissonances are seldom used.  An exception is the blues.  A musician will almost reach a note only to give it a second or third try.  Each time the dissonance comes closer to being resolution.  It is a musical way to express all the “not quites” in life.  My early violin playing involved a lot of dissonances.  Too bad that I did not know at the time I was actually playing “the blues.”  Would suspect that might have been the attitude of those who were listening.

Western music is usually written with either two, three, four, or eight beats to the measure.  Many years ago The Dave Brubeck Quartet produced an album that featured music written to other beats.  The most famous song on the album which became the group’s signature song was called “Take Five.”  Written by Paul Desmond it has five beats to a measure.  While it is a wonderful song to which to listen, it is almost impossible to count the beats as one listens.

The first scripture lesson I ever memorized was Psalm 100.  It was an assignment for Bible School I was attending as a young child.  The Psalm begins, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.”  It then goes on to say that we are to enter God’s gates with thanks giving and his courts with praise.

This coming Friday, August 12^th, I am looking forward to all creation making a joyful noise unto the Lord.  The Sulentic Brothers Band will be doing it as they perform the final offering of Encore’s “Summer Series in the Park.”  The field mice and the birds of the air will add their contribution.  Finally, all those creatures that we hear in the dark of the night make their contribution to the universal song.

(This article was originally published August 14, 2011.  Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com)