Making music from moths?

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“Catch Frequency” was created by five species of Yellow Underwing moths (Noctua species). I run a catch and release moth programme at home, I took the 2019 data from the nightly catches and assigned the number of moths caught to the appropriate note in a scale (ie higher moths resulted in a higher pitch), while the timing relates to the date of the catch. It starts with a single species and then repeats as further species are added represented by a different instrument. There is a short section using the grandest instrumentation which represents the data for the Least Yellow Underwing which made the fewest visits. I made a very few “musical decisions” in removing a couple of days where I didn’t run the trapping programme to avoid gaps in the music.

No moths were harmed in the production of this track.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lemgjb1an9g
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
Experimental Music https://markdaltongriffiths.bandcamp.com/

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sounds really nice, and lovely idea.

cheers!

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thank you!
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
Experimental Music https://markdaltongriffiths.bandcamp.com/

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Wow what a unique method for crafting a song. Love the originality.

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thank you!
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
Experimental Music https://markdaltongriffiths.bandcamp.com/

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Unbelievable - you let the moths do what they want and create musical
content from it. The funny thing is, it really does sound like moths (at
least the way I would imagine a kind of moth world to sound)! :dog:

You could - no, you really do - define a new genre: "Moth Night Music"! :o

A great thing, a surprise! I think it's gorgeous! :tu:
free mp3s + info: andy-enroe.de songs + weird stuff: enroe.de

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enroe wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 10:38 pm You could - no, you really do - define a new genre: "Moth Night Music"! :o
music by and for moths! :)

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yoursoul wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2024 5:46 am music by and for moths! :)
We don't really know what a great and diverse music culture the moths
in fact have. And ChamomileShark ala Mark Griffith may have uncovered
just a little bit of it - on the way to a magnificent brilliant discovery ... :hyper:
free mp3s + info: andy-enroe.de songs + weird stuff: enroe.de

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Interesting, just wait until the Moth Musician's Union contacts you for royalties...

Funny, completely randomly after seeing your post I came across this: MothBox 4.0

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thank you for all your kind comments!

We've undergone a massive decline in numbers of moths here. The very common Large Yellow Underwing (blunderwings) is probably the commonest moth in most people's light traps. Even so it's had some years when it's numbers have been significantly less.

I'm thinking of repeating the exercise for other years to see how the music sounds, ie same moths but different years data.

re the Mothbox, the way that monitoring has been done by Rothhamstead research centres in the UK was by weight of dead moths. Just to re-iterate, that's not what I, or any other people or organanisations I know do it. But that Rothamstead data goes back to the 70s and I guess when they started things were more abundant.
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
Experimental Music https://markdaltongriffiths.bandcamp.com/

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Fascinating. I enjoyed it, thanks!

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glad you liked it!
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
Experimental Music https://markdaltongriffiths.bandcamp.com/

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I like Moth Rock, pretty cool
Last edited by seangm on Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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thanks!
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
Experimental Music https://markdaltongriffiths.bandcamp.com/

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Nice one, Mark. As I journey on I'm gravitating to the more minimalistic kind of stuff. Your track did well to keep me interested. Great work.

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