June 2007

Nature's iPOD: Professor curates 'Wild Music' exhibition

A new science exhibition that explores nature's musical spectrum, from the high-pitched chirping of tiny crickets to the low frequency whistling of Blue Whales, has been developed by Dr. Patricia Gray, a professor and senior research scientist of Biomusic at UNCG's Music Research Institute.

The 4,000-square-foot exhibition, titled "Wild Music: Sound & Songs of Life," opens on Saturday, June 30, at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh and runs through Sunday, Sept. 16. North Carolina is the second host site on a six-year tour of science museums across the United States.

Gray is an expert in biomusic, the study of the musical sounds in all species of animals, including humans.

"We live in a loud and musical universe that science is just beginning to understand," Gray said. "This exhibition gives visitors the chance to explore their own musicality and that of other living creatures' to hear life as music."

Highlights include:

• three immersive soundscapes encompassing the sounds of the forest, city and sea
• a "jamming room" – a soundproof studio where visitors can lay down a beat and add tracks with animal sounds along with their own vocals
• a bioacoustics laboratory with that enables visitors to experiment with how the human voice works and how it compares to other animals

For more information, contact the School of Music at (336) 334-5789, or visit www.uncg.edu/mus. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is located at 11 West Jones St. in Raleigh. Visit www.naturalsciences.org for more information.