Elephant Seal Research

Elephant Seals (Southern and Northern) in the news!

Researchers from UC Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences are studying the vocalizations of Northern Elephant Seals:
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_17612280?nclick_check=1

Satellite tags attached to Southern Elephant Seals are providing data that measures changes in the Southern Ocean and its ecosystems, and helps map the Antarctic seafloor:
http://news.ucsc.edu/2010/10/seal-maps.html

Instruments Photo

Most of the musical instruments I have constructed with Antarctic objects so far (I still plan to build more)...

Adélie penguin bones and Antarctic limpet (Nacella concinna) shells mounted in driftwood. Pictured (left to right, back to front): Vertebrae Mobile, 7" x 4" x 5", 2009; Limpet Shell Spine, 20" x 5" x 8", 2009; Coracoids, 13" x 5" x 5", 2010; Ghost, 8" x 5" x 7", 2010; Bone Slug, 10" x 4" x 6", 2009; Octobone, 12" x 7" x 6", 2010; Keel, 9" x 4" x 10", 2009.

DIY Instrument Tailgate Party this Sunday

I'll be demonstrating my Antarctic instruments at this free event at Stanford University on Sunday. Come on by and make some sounds with my penguin bones, limpet shells and stones from the Antarctic Peninsula...

Sunday, April 10, 2011 | Noon to 4pm White Plaza, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Free, Open to the Public, Family-Friendly (with activities for kids!) Stanford University and Thingamajigs present a meet-up-style afternoon of demonstrations, sharing, and performances by and for the Bay Area instrument-building community. Two dozen instrument builders and musical inventors from the Bay Area and beyond will participate and demonstrate their projects. Visiting artist... and MacArthur Fellow Trimpin will serve as honored guest and Grand Marshal of the day's festivities, mingling with presenters and demonstrating some instruments of his own design. Participants include: Craig Parada / Matthew Goodheart / Tom Duff / chas smith / Fernando Lopez-Lezcano / Jiffer Harriman / Will Grant /Babak Falsafi / Sean Simon / Cheryl E. Leonard / Andrew Werby / Tim Thompson / Danishta Rivero / Wendy Reid / Stewart Port / Peter Nyboer / Larnie Fox / steve cooley / Ed Christensen / Alan Adler / courtney sexton / Bryan Day / Alan Tower & Kim Riccelli Special guest artists will also perform throughout the afternoon: - Tom Nunn and Bart Hopkin Duo - Mobius Operandi - The Wreck of the Old #10 The event is co-hosted by Thingamajigs, the Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and Stanford Lively Arts, with support from Stanford Continuing Studies. Maps and Directions: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/visitorinfo/plan/maps.html

Antarctic Music Festival and Conference

The Australia National University will be hosting an Antarctic Music Festival and Conference in Canberra this June. I am thrilled to announce that I will be performing several of my Antarctic compositions at ANU and will also give a talk about my work.


Antarctic Music Festival
June 24-26, 2011

Antarctica: Music, Sound and Cultural Connections
June 27-29, 2011
A creative arts conference that highlights the importance of sound (or lack of it) and music as part of the unique Antarctic environment

Both events are being hosted by ANU's Department of Music and celebrate the centenary of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Douglass Mawson. I am scheduled to perform Saturday June 25th at 8 pm, and to speak on Monday June 27th in Session 2, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm.

Interview and Podcast

Works and Conversations has posted an in-depth interview with me (discussing music, aikido, Antarctica, climbing and more) at
http://www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=262

Also Bay Area Sound Ecology has posted a podcast of the Antarctic sounds talk I gave at BASEbot 005 last year.
http://www.basoundecology.org/listen/2011/01/basebot-005-%E2%80%93-cheryl-leonards-antarctic-sound-and-music-sound-recording/

A Little Ice Piece

So far I have eight Antarctic compositions that I am working to complete and record this spring and summer. These works range in length from 6 to 10 minutes each, so I already have close to an hour of Antarctic music. Additionally, I have ideas for two more pieces I'd like to write: one that combines my recordings of sparring Southern Elephant Seals with kelp horns, and a more gritty noise-oriented piece crafted from glacier ice recordings.

The Melting Marr Ice Piedmont, from Amsler Island

While searching out fodder for the ice noise composition I decided to put together a short glacier piece as a fun side project. So, here is Terminus, a little piece created entirely from field recordings of the Marr Ice Piedmont, including calving, small cubes of ice rolling down steep ice cliffs, the surface of the glacier creaking under my weight, and gurgling and percussive rhythms from small meltwater streams.

Terminus (1:00, CD-quality wav file, 9.7 MB)
Terminus (1:00, mp3 file, 2.2 MB)

I recommend listening to this piece on headphones or speakers with good bass response so you can hear the booming of the calving glacier properly. Enjoy!

Photos of Oona's Antarctic Artworks

Check out the photos of Oona Stern's Antarctic drawings and sculptures from her recent exhibition, the reluctant naturalist.

http://antarcticice.blogspot.com/2011/02/reluctant-naturalist-37-drawings-2009.html