Actually, Adams' comment, made half in jest in the late 60s, was the
impetus for me to head off in a acoustic direction because I clearly
was no photographer. Although, by that time, I was a pretty well-
established professional musician and avant garde music producer (for
Nonesuch). Adams mentioned later that he was looking for folks to
carry on his tradition, and when I described the music album the late
Paul Beaver and I were doing for WB called "In A Wild Sanctuary," the
first to incorporate ecology as a theme, he told me he hoped that
someone would pick up the notion of exploring the National Parks with
sound in the same way he did with photography. I carried that notion
with me til the time in the mid-90s when I finally hooked up with the
NPS's Wes Henry (Roger Tory Peterson's son-in-law) who, with Bill
Schmidt, was instrumental in formulating the concept of natural
soundscapes as a protected resource within the National Parks.
From the inspiration based on the discussions I had with Adams, I
subsequently authored the National Park Service Natural Soundscape
Program Visitor Guide, meant to introduce visitors to listening and
recording activities within the parks. It was a lovely idea that
somehow got subverted during the Bush years and where the Natural
Soundscape Program digressed to something called the Natural Sounds
Program (the powers at Interior objected to the word, "soundscape" ),
and began to focus more on noise issues.
If I had something to play the Koch disk on, I'd transfer it to
digital media and post it on the group site. But alas...
BK
On Apr 21, 2009, at 11:42 AM, wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Wow Bernie, that is an interesting side story for sure! How was he
> in person, and or as a teacher? Ever think about getting that 7" LP
> into an MP3 file or something similar? I'd love to hear that (as I'm
> sure a few of us here would) That was a funny way for him to tell
> you to head in a different direction, lol... did he smile and wink
> as he gave it to you? :-) You've always said you've had bad eye
> sight correct?
>
> Dave
>
> I've got the 1st edition US (released in 1963) copy of Koch's 1938
>
> book, done with Julian Huxley and which includes a virtually pristine
>
> copy of the 7" LP record. It was a present to me from the late Ansel
>
> Adams, who, when he handed it to me at the conclusion of one of his
>
> Yosemite photo classes that I attended, said that I should stick to
>
> sound. Fascinating stuff especially since he speculates in the text
>
> about the voices of ants and smaller organisms although he didn't have
>
> the gear to record those critters, then.
>
> Bernie
>
> On Apr 21, 2009, at 9:01 AM, Neville Recording wrote:
>
>
>
>
Wild Sanctuary
POB 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
707-996-6677
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
Google Earth zooms: http://earth.wildsanctuary.com
SKYPE: biophony
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