Wesleyan graduate student Emma Mistele reached out to the Jonah Center seeking ideas for an “earth-art” musical composition. “Vernal Piano” takes us into the woods where frogs chorus and breed in vernal pools after rain in early spring. Imagine a pool of rainfall accumulating inside a grand piano gradually becoming inhabited by frogs. Using different techniques—both on the keys and on the strings inside the body of the piano — the piece simulates the sounds of thunder, rainfall, and frogs calling. The track ends with a sample of the soundtrack from a Jonah Center video recording (by Phil LeMontagne) of vernal pool frogs in Middletown.The project was part of Emma’s work for Prof. Noah Baerman’s course on Creating and Presenting Socially Conscious Music. The assignment was to interview a local nonprofit leader and create a musical composition inspired by the conversation and by that leader’s work in the community.
To watch the Vernal Pool video by Phil LeMontagne, click on the image below..
