THE MUSIC OF NATURE is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of nature, with an emphasis on nature that is near at hand. The following brief essays describe our mission and the philosophy behind our work:
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OUR MISSION
In the belief that immersion in nature enriches the spirit and promotes health of the body and mind, our mission is to celebrate nature, especially “nature near at hand,” and provide inspiration and resources for:
• Children and parents exploring nature together
• Beginner and advanced naturalists of all ages
• Adults wanting to recover a “sense of wonder”
• Outdoor educators and other teachers
• Anyone who enjoys “just being in nature”Our initial focus is on the birds, frogs, reptiles, mammals, insects, spiders, and other creatures that are native to the United States and Canada. Plant life will also be covered. Our emphasis is on species that are easily found and observed in the diverse habitats that lie at our doorsteps — cities and parks, fields and forests, ponds and streams, marshes and swamps, prairies and potholes, deserts and mountains, seashores and islands. Why concentrate on exotic animals in faraway places when miraculous creatures inhabit our own backyards?
How will we accomplish our mission? At first, we will pool our resources to create an exciting and inspirational web site and blog (this is it!). Then, if our effort is well-received and we find a modest amount of funding, we will refine and expand our site to better meet your needs. After that? Who knows? So please stay tuned!
Yours Sincerely,
Our Team
WHAT IS THE “MUSIC” OF NATURE?The “music” is what one hears or feels when one is fully immersed in nature, fully awed by what one is observing. It is much more than sound . . . not only singing birds and croaking frogs, but also bursting buds, courting salamanders, crawling insects, butterflies in flight, tiny wriggling creatures in a pool. There is no end to the music that one senses, that one feels inside, when one is attuned and in harmony with one’s natural surroundings.
The goal of musicofnature.org is to focus and amplify the many voices of nature to help people tune-in to their natural surroundings. If we are successful at what we do, our web site will be infused with rich multimedia content that is not only scientifically accurate and educational, but also:
• Beautiful, Inspirational, Uplifting, Enlightening
• Art-Full, Heart-Full, Joy-Full, Spirit-Full
• Light-hearted, Whimsical, Childlike, Magical
• Personal, Moving, Relaxing, RejeuvenatingWe want to help our audience fall in love with nature, in all its manifestations, especially the natural world that lies at our doorstep, that is accessible to all who take the time to go outdoors to look, listen, smell, touch, taste, and FEEL.
Ignite your sense of wonder and explore your surroundings as if you are a child and you will be astonished at what you find. The play of light on leaves, a wildflower unfurling, the blinking of a firefly, the sound of raindrops splashing, the ethereal song of a thrush — this is the Music of Nature, music to the spirit and music for the soul.
NATURE ABSORPTION versus NATURE FACTS
When it comes to introducing children (or adults) to nature, we believe that “lecturing at” is to be avoided. Too many facts, too much information, and detailed scientific knowledge can overwhelm a person and may draw attention away from the miracle of nature at hand.
We believe that the emphasis should be on helping a person “connect” or “bond” with nature. This is more about igniting the spirit than it is about filling the mind. It is about helping a person learn to love nature, to make a connection of the heart.
We focus on the process of discovering nature, of tuning-in to its magnificence. This is about exploring, finding, observing, and documenting, for the sheer joy of it. The goal is not to convey a set of facts—the goal is to improve the quality of a person’s interaction with nature and to increase the depth of their experience of the natural world.
Becoming absorbed in nature, letting nature fully excite one’s senses, is central to the process. Perhaps we should call the activity “Nature Absorption” rather than Nature Study, Nature Education, or Natural History, all of which have an academic ring to them.
Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, emphasizes that feelings and emotions are central: “I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are fertile soil in which the seeds must grow.”
Liberty Hyde Bailey, an eminent botanist at Cornell University and one of the founding fathers of the Nature Study Movement of the early 1900s, expressed similar ideals: “Nature study is not a science. It is not knowledge. It is not facts. It is spirit. It is concerned with the child’s outlook on the world . . . One’s happiness depends less on what one knows that on what one feels.”
More recently, David Sobel, in his book Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators, makes the point that “One transcendent experience in nature is worth a thousand nature facts.” We agree, because such powerful experiences in nature will ignite a child’s spirit and foster an intimate connection to nature and the earth.
All these authors are concerned about how we introduce children to nature, but why not take the same approach with adults who have never experienced childhood wonder? Shouldn’t the process of nature absorption be applied more universally, such that no matter who the audience is, the goal is not primarily to educate or inform but rather to encourage an absorption in nature and a loving and caring attitude toward all living things?
Additional Planned Essays:
• A Sense of Wonder: Recovering the Halcyon Days of Childhood
• Nature Absorption and the Environmental Ethic
• The Nature Study Movement: A Historical Perspective
• Nature Study and Charlotte Mason
• Opal Whiteley—The Magical World of a Child Immersed in Nature
• The Nature Deficit Disorder
. . . and more!