“Gray skies are just clouds passing over.”
Nature is music, cicadas in the tropical night. The sea is music, the wind is music. The rain drumming on the roof and the storm raging in the sky are music. Music is the oldest entity. The scope of music is immense and infinite. It is the ‘esperanto’ of the world.”~Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974)—A major figure in the history of jazz music, Duke Ellington’s career spanned more than half a century, during which time he composed thousands of songs for the stage, screen and contemporary songbook. He created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds in Western music and continued to play what he called “American Music” until shortly before his death in 1974. From the spirituals developed through the trials of slavery to the fight for civil rights and against environmental injustice, Ellington sought to tell a story about black life that was both beautiful and complex.Ellington was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1965. However, no prize was ultimately awarded that year. Then 66 years old, he joked: “Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be famous too young.” In 1999, he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize commemorating the centennial year of his birth, in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.
Reflection Questions
1) When do you listen to the songs of nature? What songs are nature singing to you right now?
2) What are ways that climate change is making nature’s song sound out of tune?
