Music That Shakes, Rattles and Rolls Date: February 13, 2017

With earthquakes being a persistent part of our lives in California, we always have those  tremblers on our mind.

We should always be informed on the best ways to be safe during an earthquake but it’s also useful to learn about earthquakes from a different perspective.  A small group of geophysicists from the U.S. Geological Survey decided to tell the story of earthquakes not through dense scientific terms but through music.

That’s right! Music.

After all, when we describe earthquakes to others we talk about it in the form of sounds including comparisons to the roar of a big-rig truck or the boom of a thunderstorm.

“It’s almost as if the earth is a musician and people, including seismologists, are the audience who must try to understand what the music means,” the USGS writes on its website.

Earthquake Quartet #1 — originally conceived in February 2000 — features trombone, cello, voice and seismograms (recordings of the ground moving), to create a unique musical composition. The piece opens with a trombone mimicking the movement of plates, the buildup of tension and the subsequent release of that tension. The music progresses to a more upbeat tempo meant to replicate society resuming its normalcy  even as more seismic  activity takes place. It’s a useful reminder that we often live with the sounds of earthquakes in our day-to-day life, we just don’t recognize it.

We also like that the geophysicists haven’t stopped playing music. It is another useful reminder on the connection of music education and the development of math and science skills.

Listen to the recording and let us know what you think!

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