Homework Due Next Class: 3/18/07

Hope Homework:

Please Read the first two short articles. Please also watch the 3 minute "video" below featuring David Rothenberg playing with beluga whales in Russia.

Respond briefly to each. How does each relate to our curriculum and class? What connections /inferences can you make? Which reading/video did you "enjoy" or get the most out of and why? (Your response should be at least 1 page long. No longer than 2 pages. This is just informal. However, I am looking for a content rich response that indicates you have witnessed/reviewed these 3 things! Thanks and Enjoy!) You may EMAIL hw or bring it into class on recycled/double sided paper. thanks!

Shy Affectionate SF: Kathleen Dean Moore

The Unsung Solution: By Bill McKibben (Middlebury Professor)
What rhymes with waste-heat recovery?
Making Low Carbon Energy a Precious Resource
can this reduce global warming?

David Rothenberg plays with beluga whales in Russia
video

"It sounded like the perfect place to continue my musical investigation. Over the years, I’ve come to think that animal sounds share more characteristics with music than with human language. Each phrase sung by birds, wolves, cicadas, or dolphins must be performed correctly to convey its message, but we humans can never translate exactly what is said. This has led me to believe that music might be a useful way to communicate with animals, and thus extend human art into the natural world, hoping for a connection, a response. I started testing this theory by playing with birds, and now I’m ready to try it with the most intricate musicians of the wild world: whales. Because they live underwater, there are additional challenges—such as how to do it without getting my clarinet all wet."

"The beluga whale, whose name means “the white one” in Russian, might be one of the best species to try to make music with. Called sea canaries by sailors who frequented the Arctic regions, their wide range of whistles, clicks, and buzzes is far more diverse than the vocalizations of dolphins, whose sounds and behavior have been studied the most.?
Serenading Belugas in the White Sea: Orion Magazine, by David Rothenberg