Auraculous!

 

1 This is God's wondrous world,

and to my listening ears

all nature sings, and round me rings

the music of the spheres.

This is God's wondrous world;

I rest me in the thought

of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,

God's hand the wonders wrought.

Word of the day: "auraculous" - of or concerning the wonder occasioned by sound rather than by sight; ear-marvellous.

(Word coined by Caspar Henderson in A New Map of Wonders).

Years ago we stayed at the Hole in the Wall campground on Grand Manan Island, in the Bay of Fundy. There is a provincial park on Grand Manan but we were drawn to this private cliffside campground by the claim that we might be close enough to the sea to hear whales passing by.

 Lo and behold, we lay in our tent, only metres from the cliffs edge, and heard the marvellous rhythmic breathing of whales -- just writing about it once again brings goosebumps.

 Beyond this wonder, the rush of the famous tides in the bay were audible. 

If this wasn't enough, on a subsequent stay Ruth decided to put up her hammock adjacent to our tent and she had a mystical experience during which the wind suddenly picked up, causing her to rock back and forth vigourously, enough that she started to be concerned. Then it was gone, almost as quickly, leaving her with a sense of awe. 

We are sound-seekers in some respects, even though we love the quiet. I mentioned in an earlier blog that while we were on Change Islands, Newfoundland, in September we made a point of walking a shoreline trail after the remnants of Hurricane Lee passed by well to the west, fortunately. We knew that there would be energy in the sea just to the same, and we love the sound of waves on the shore. We also went to the large wooden 19th Anglican church on the north island. We wanted the glorious experience of the creaking and groaning of the timbers, which are somewhere between ethereal hymn-singing and whale song. We weren't disappointed by these experiences.   

All this was brought to mind a review of a new book titled A Book of Noises by Caspar Henderson. Even the title of the review Song dreams: Aural wonders and curiosities from the great outdoors

A Book of Noises is another wunderkammer, this time of aural wonders and curiosities. Henderson writes in his introduction that the book began with a visit to a nature reserve in Norfolk to see knots, birds which migrate to Britain from their Arctic breeding grounds in the winter. “It was a beautiful sight, but what really struck me that day was the sound as thousands of them flew overhead.” It was this sound that inspired Henderson to coin to the word “auraculous”: “an instance not of the miraculous but … a wonder for the ear”.

The book is composed of forty-eight entries of varying length, organized into four sections. Henderson begins with a discussion of sound in the cosmos (“Cosmophony”), then works through topics relating to the Earth and its geological events (“Geophony”), and animals and plants (“Biophony”). He ends with a more reflexive section on human beings and the way sound shapes our lives (“Anthropophony”)...

Those terms Geophony, Biophony, and Anthropophony were coined by the wise acoustic Yoda, Bernie Krause, author of The Great Animal Orchestra. I read this book a decade ago and it altered my appreciation and perception of sound as someone who loves the "wonders of the ear"and perceives that aspect of the natural world  as the work of a Creator. 

I will say that I associate noise with unwanted sound, usually the "anthropophony" or human-made sounds, but I'm eager to hear what Caspar Henderson has to offer.  

2 This is God's wondrous world:

the birds their carols raise;

the morning light, the lily white,

declare their Maker's praise.

This is God's wondrous world:

God shines in all that's fair;

in the rustling grass or mountain pass,

God's voice speaks everywhere.