Ball of Wax 53 Songs: Judy Twedt – “Arctic Sea Ice”

Judy Twedt‘s “Arctic Sea Ice” is our third instrumental contribution to this environmentally-themed Ball of Wax, and definitely the most literally connected to the theme. Judy is a climate scientist (one of two to be included on this volume), and the music she makes is an example of what is called data sonification – i.e., taking a whole bunch of numbers and turning them into sound and/or music. (John Cage would heartily approve, I have to assume.)

Each note in the melody in”Arctic Sea Ice” represents the ice cover in the arctic during one month. Higher, louder notes mean more ice; lower, quieter notes mean less. The hectic eighth-note melody line meanders up and down, but it doesn’t take a musicologist to notice that the overall trend is downward. This, of course, is not good. Not content to let the data have all the fun, Judy has added sounds of waves, ships, and whales to the overall soundscape, adding a somewhat relaxing layer to the overall frantic, disorienting nature of the piece. Perhaps this symbolizes the blase attitude most of humanity seems to take toward our impending demise. I would love to hear a slower, stretched-out version of this piece; but of course I would also love it if our trajectory toward disaster were also slowed down a bit. Thanks to Judy and her kind for exploring unusual, compelling ways of making this data real for people.

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