The Whole Music Experience

Did you know that animals enjoy human music? Yes, I realize that you probably already know that various creatures enjoy their own music.  Wolves and coyotes enjoy howling, whales sing their songs, and we can add crickets, bees, birds, and frogs to this list. I often wondered about a connection between human musical expression and the animals themselves.  Then I started observing birds and squirrels, especially around various types of music.  For instance, when I lived in my last apartment in Seattle, I befriended a family of squirrels.  These squirrels would find delight in listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3. At first, I thought hmmm, what a coincidence.  But every time I played that piece of music on my CD/cassette player, the squirrels would run back and forth on the roof and even let out gleeful cries, if no better words to describe the experience. They also like traditional guitar music from the Dominican Republic. The music matched the energy of the squirr

I'm already looking at 2011 and what I seek regional music of France (and Corsica), Italy, Spain, Finland, Norway, and the Americas (especially Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina). I encourage labels that release this regional music to contact me by e-mail and then we'll go from there. I look forward to exploring this music. By the way, I'm always interested in acoustic music from Mali, Senegal, and Cuba. WME

I found the Film Movement series movie, The Wind Journeys at my local library.  Directed by Colombian Ciro Guerra and featuring accordionist Marciano Martinez, a road flick marries music exploration. While the Colombian rural music, vallenata takes centerstage, other regional musical traditions appear in the movie.  Highly Recommended. (Especially for the students who enrolled in my Songs of the Americas course). http://www.filmmovement.com/