The Cicada: Nature’s Krumhorn

This past Sunday, we held the 2nd annual outdoor studio recital in my backyard, called “For the First Time in Forever” (since it was the first time in forever that we got to sing in front of people – thanks to Nichole Feltner for the suggestion and for opening the program with that song.

It was a lovely event,  and everyone sang well, the program was entertaining, and people were supportive of each other.  However, we had a few uninvited special guests join the program. Actually, we had thousands of special guests.

CICADAS!!.

I did not take these into account when I planned the recital. I had set a rain date for next Sunday, just in case. But it’s been 34 years since I dealt with cicadas (I missed the 2004 invasion because I was living in Wisconsin). They didn’t seem as bad this time, although I did recognize that they were getting louder over the past week.

This is a recording I made while walking home from Hampden on Friday:

(I wasn’t just talking to myself, this was an audio I sent to my husband.)

I notice that they all seem to be tuned to F. The other day I had toads in my pond, and they were tuning to A, so I had a nice major third going on in my yard.

And they didn’t seem to be as loud on Sunday, or maybe I was just USED to them, so I didn’t think it’d be a factor. Plus everyone was going to be using a mic, so I figured we’d be fine.

It wasn’t until I got the first video that I realized how… present… they actually were. It was like a drone. And then I realized that what I should’ve done was embraced the cicada sound and programmed around it. After all, aren’t cicadas basically nature’s version of krumhorns?

So, mark your calendars. In June, 2038, the outdoor studio recital will feature music that allows the cicada to shine. Everything will be in keys that complement the cicada, rather than compete with it. The repertoire will be chosen carefully to enhance its drone-like qualities.

Or maybe we’ll just go inside.

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