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[00:00:00.01] (calming music) [00:00:06.08] - [Narrator] Okay, let's talk about how data [00:00:08.04] is becoming music in this piece. [00:00:10.06] This is an audio waveform. [00:00:12.02] It is a graphic representation of audio [00:00:14.02] when making a digital recording. [00:00:16.04] As changes occur in a piece of music, [00:00:18.00] the waveform will become either more complex or more simple. [00:00:22.03] As you can see, the louder the audio, [00:00:24.03] the larger the waveform [00:00:25.05] and the quieter the audio, the smaller the waveform. [00:00:29.03] Our science advisors, Andy and Bill [00:00:31.03] use data sets to create graphs [00:00:32.09] from extremely powerful climate models. [00:00:35.02] These graphs have incredible amounts of information [00:00:37.02] embedded into their minute curves, [00:00:39.00] much like the audio waveforms. [00:00:41.05] To the untrained observer, [00:00:42.08] it's difficult to understand how those data curves [00:00:45.00] relate to the changing climate [00:00:46.04] without someone to translate them. [00:00:48.06] It is this collision of the audio waveforms [00:00:51.01] with the climate data that drives this piece. [00:00:54.02] The translation of the climate graphs, [00:00:56.04] the will of the music coming into direct contact [00:00:58.08] with the inevitable direction of the climate data. [00:01:03.00] One of the first steps in creating this score [00:01:04.08] was determining what the most extreme degree [00:01:06.09] of musical disfunction would sound like [00:01:08.08] at the end of the piece, in the year 2300. [00:01:11.06] We then worked backwards from there as a control point [00:01:14.01] to plot the degree and type of change to the music [00:01:16.04] according to the corresponding climate data. [00:01:19.00] According to the scientific model, [00:01:21.00] we used climate data beginning from the year 1800 [00:01:23.09] up to the current date [00:01:25.06] and projected ahead to the year 2300, [00:01:28.00] with every 25 years equally one minute. [00:01:31.06] We could then set the climate data to tempo, [00:01:33.08] pitch, rhythm, distortion and modulation, level of chaos [00:01:37.06] and the position of a knob on any music device. [00:01:40.06] The four climate variables used in this piece [00:01:42.09] and their music corollary [00:01:44.03] are atmospheric CO2, which is tempo, [00:01:47.07] near-surface air temperature, pitch and harmony, [00:01:52.00] incoming and outgoing long wave radiation, [00:01:54.08] also known as earth's energy balance, [00:01:56.08] distortion, modulation, level of chaos, [00:01:59.07] and ocean pH, [00:02:01.00] which affected by the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. [00:02:03.09] This controls form in the music. [00:02:08.01] If all of the variables are relatively normal, [00:02:10.00] the music will sound relatively normal, [00:02:11.07] but as the variables change, [00:02:13.04] it may sound like the musicians are playing out of key, [00:02:15.04] playing different pieces, speeding up [00:02:17.09] or sounding like it is going through an audio meat grinder. [00:02:21.03] (harsh music) [00:02:23.02] Also, this is a live performance by musicians [00:02:25.07] who, with each performance, [00:02:27.01] make different decisions about how to play their parts. [00:02:29.07] This is analogous to the randomness [00:02:31.07] that naturally occurs in our climate's system [00:02:33.08] and was built in to the execution of the piece. [00:02:37.00] So this music is a sonic translation [00:02:38.05] of our climate's system. [00:02:40.03] Where it was in the past, what is happening to it now [00:02:43.02] and what the future will bring. [00:02:45.04] - And so the piece actually treats the past, [00:02:49.03] runs up to the present, [00:02:51.00] and then we track two of these scenarios going forward. [00:02:54.04] One of them is business as usual, it's this red curve, [00:02:57.09] and that winds up with temperatures [00:02:59.09] in the range of eight to nine degrees Celsius, [00:03:03.03] close to about 15 to 20 degrees fahrenheit [00:03:06.09] by the year 2300, [00:03:09.07] and then a scenario where we [00:03:12.07] really control emissions very dramatically [00:03:14.08] and actually bring carbon dioxide back down [00:03:17.07] in the latter part of the 21st century [00:03:20.01] and that puts us on a trajectory where we increase, [00:03:24.00] we are close to about two degrees Celsius [00:03:26.07] or about three and a half degrees fahrenheit, [00:03:28.07] and then gradually start to cool off. [00:03:33.04] (calming music) [00:03:36.01]

After Dark

The Climate Music Project

Published:   September 26, 2019
Total Running Time:   00:32:43

Climate is an original composition by Erik Ian Walker, created in collaboration with TheClimateMusicProject. Tracking historical and projected variations in the climate system from 1800–2250, the composition is guided by four key markers of climate change: carbon dioxide concentrate, near-Earth atmospheric temperature, Earth energy balance, and ocean pH. Carbon emissions from human sources impact each marker, which is assigned a musical analog—tempo, pitch, distortion, and compositional form—to manifest the data as a fully realized musical work.

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