As a musician, Cate Byrne sees sound and music as an essential component of climate activism. A violinist, improviser, and composer, music and the importance of sound have always been a large part of Cate’s identity. A recent graduate of New England Conservatory, Cate strives to combine her musical interests with her passions for social and environmental justice. She is excited to start her masters in Climate Science and Policy this fall at Bard college, while still playing as much music as possible. Recent endeavors to connect music with the environmental movement include the composition Plasticity (co-written with collaborators Ryan O’Connell and Henry Wilson), as well as writing music about endangered ecosystems with her duo Half Moon Island. She will be joined later in the episode by her collaborator Jake Zaslav to discuss their electroacoustic music, and the process that went into their upcoming EP Jake Zaslav is a trumpeter, video producer, and researcher based in New York, NY. A graduate of Tufts University, Jake has studied and performed with musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Ran Blake, Jason Palmer, and William Parker. He currently works in commercial video and television production including programs such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and HelloFresh. His research draws upon his background in jazz, film, and immersive technology to explore the intersections of sound, power, race, and community. https://halfmoonisland.bandcamp.com/ https://www.instagram.com/halfmoonisland_band/
As a musician, Cate Byrne sees sound and music as an essential component of climate
activism. A violinist, improviser, and composer, music and the importance of sound have always
been a large part of Cate’s identity. A recent graduate of New England Conservatory, Cate strives
to combine her musical interests with her passions for social and environmental justice. She is
excited to start her masters in Climate Science and Policy this fall at Bard college, while still
playing as much music as possible. Recent endeavors to connect music with the environmental
movement include the composition Plasticity (co-written with collaborators Ryan O’Connell and
Henry Wilson), as well as writing music about endangered ecosystems with her duo Half Moon
Island. She will be joined later in the episode by her collaborator Jake Zaslav to discuss their
electroacoustic music, and the process that went into their upcoming EP
Jake Zaslav is a trumpeter, video producer, and researcher based in New York, NY. A graduate of Tufts University, Jake has studied and performed with musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Ran Blake, Jason Palmer, and William Parker. He currently works in commercial video and television production including programs such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and HelloFresh. His research draws upon his background in jazz, film, and immersive technology to explore the intersections of sound, power, race, and community.
https://halfmoonisland.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/halfmoonisland_band/
eff 0:04
Welcome to the Interdisciplinary investigations podcast. I'm your host, Jeffrey Perrin. actually recording from home for this episode of our guests and our producer Jay are in the podcast lab in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In our first season of this podcast, we're focusing on the subjective and phenomenological experience of listening. And the foundation of our investigation focuses on making sense of the world through the sounds and lack of sounds that we encounter in our daily interactions. How do we hear these sounds? And how do we create meaning from the sounds? How does listening help us understand the world and our place in it? During this inaugural season, we've been joined by educators, artists, musicians, scientists, contemplative practitioners, scholars and activists, who have tracked the importance of careful and engaged listening in a world that seems to enable scattered attention, disengagement and displacement. Their insights reveal great lessons in the stories of sound. And today we are joined by Cate Byrne. As a musician, Cate sees sound and music as an essential component of climate activism. A violinist improviser and composer, music and the importance of sound have always been a large part of Cate's identity. A recent graduate of New England Conservatory Cate strives to combine her musical interests with her passion for social and environmental justice. She's excited to start her master's in climate science and policy this fall at Bard College, while still playing as much music as possible. Recent endeavors to connect music with the environmental movement include the composition Plasticity co written with collaborators Ryan O'Connell and Henry Wilson, as well as writing music about endangered ecosystems with her duo Half Moon Island. Later in the episode, her collaborator Jake Zaslav will join us to talk a little bit about their electro acoustic music and the process that went into their upcoming EP. Cate, thanks so much for joining us.
Cate 2:12
Thanks so much for having me.
Jeff 2:14
Cate, now you dabble in the world of ecomusicology? As we've talked a little bit about some of our discussions before recording this podcast. Can you let the listeners know exactly what ecomusicology is? Sure. So
Cate 2:29
Ecomusicology is kind of an exciting way that we can look at the study of music with nature and the natural environment and connecting those two things together. There's a Venn diagram that was released in this journal by Aaron Allen, Jeff Titten and Denise von Glahn. That kind of defined Ecomusicology as the intersection of music, culture and nature. And I think that's a really great definition because it's a way for a kind of artists to connect themselves to the natural environment and try to interact with it through their art.
Jeff 3:08
And we've had some folks talk about field recordings in some of our episodes of this podcast, can you explain a little bit of the difference between ecomusicology similar and different than field recordings?
Cate 3:23
For sure, I think that field recordings are an essential component of kind of the ecomusicology world. field recordings usually are taken outside. Or you know, it's about natural environments, or you can have them with built environments as well. But it's really about getting that sound that is already existing in a place. And then you can take those field recordings, and you can add on to them, or maybe manipulate them a little bit to try to also add some music to them. And those musical qualities, combined with field recordings are kind of really where the intersection of the world of music and the world of listening to natural sounds kind of mesh together.
Jeff 4:08
Now, your journey is a unique one, in regards to your interest in music and environmental studies. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and your personal journey and where these two seemingly disparate fields began to intersect for you?
Cate 4:23
For sure. And I feel so lucky that two of my main passions are, there's actually a way that I'm continuing to find strength in that can combine them. I started playing music when I was four years old, I picked up the violin. And so that's been a huge part of my life for a long time now. And I always knew kind of from a young age that music would be a central part of my identity and how I kind of relate to the world and I'm so privileged and lucky that I was able to continue that through a conservatory education as well. But right before I went to conservatory when I had kind of already decided that music was the path that I loved and wanted to continue On, I realized that there was this whole other world too, that I was really fascinated with. And that was the world of environmental science and studies, particularly kind of looking at climate change, and all of the issues that are coming up that relate to social justice as well. So that whole world of environmental justice was something I became really intrigued by and passionate about and worried about. And kind of my time at NEC, I was really lucky that I was able to take a bunch of classes, environmental science classes that related to that other passion of mine. And the longer I was there, the more I realized I had to find a way to kind of combine music and environmental studies, because they were both such important aspects of identity that I didn't think was possible to separate them at that point.
Jeff 5:48
Yeah, yeah. No, that's, that's such an interesting story to hear. And really excited to hear that at places such as NEC music schools across the country, that issue such as climate changes, is coming up in the curriculum. Should you have from growing up? Did you have interest in this issue, family members that were interested in climate change friends growing up that were really concerned and interested in in the environment?
Cate 6:12
Well, living in Southern Vermont, I have been lucky that I've always been surrounded by nature, it's just kind of been a huge part of my childhood experience. And, you know, I live on a dirt road with no cellphone service, we didn't get high speed internet for until I was maybe 11, or 12. So I've always loved being outside in nature. And when I was little bit older, I started realizing that connected to to kind of really better understanding kind of the science that is happening around me at all times. And so I definitely have a family that loves nature too. But kind of my journey with climate change was kind of just came out of left field. For me, I took this one class at the in my senior year of high school, an introductory climate change class, and I've been hooked since then.
Jeff 6:55
It's interesting. And you know, I have these are the stereotypes about Vermont, which is one of my favorite places that you know, people can people in Vermont care about the climate more? Yeah. It's confirming my bias. Can you explain a little bit around about this tie between sound and climate change? Because when I think I think about when, when people think of climate change, and what's happening with the earth, and what's happening with the environment, sound isn't necessarily the first thing that comes to mind. Right? The implications of sound, how sound has been affected, or is affecting the environment? Can you just tell us a little bit about how these two connect?
Cate 7:32
I think sound is so interesting, because it's something that we're constantly surrounded by. And not just music. I mean, their sound is such an important part of I think, how we define places, and how we kind of perceive even memories and how we kind of all figure out where our place in the world is on a day to day basis, whether you're, you know, you're hearing cars going by on the highway, or, you know, an ambulance going by or you're making dinner, there's sounds or just a constant aspect of life. And I think, because of that sound is a really important tool we use to kind of communicate things with people and to communicate issues and our case, you know, how can we communicate climate change issues. And I think that sound needs to be an important aspect of that, because it's something that we already whether or not we want to or not, are constantly relating to and surrounded by and can't really escape from, so why not use it for good, and why not show how sound can be something like beautiful too, or it can be something that can kind of release an alarm bell. But it's a tool that we have at our disposal. And field recordings are a really cool way to kind of bring that world of constant sound into something that's more focused that we are really listening to hard.
Jeff 8:50
Yeah, and it's something that we've talked a lot about, in this first season of this podcast is how we actually hear sound and how we facilitate people really experiencing listening, because it's not something that we sort of learn that we actually have to be really intentional about, obviously musicians that have formal training to learn how to listen and how to hear. But what about those folks that don't have formal training as a musician? How do we facilitate their awareness and their ability to hear and pay attention to sound?
Cate 9:23
Yeah, I think that's a wonderful question. And I think it's interesting because even people who don't identify as musicians are, most of us are constantly listening to music. We're not we might not be all sitting down and analyzing what chord progression is happening, but it's such an integral part of our daily lives, whether we're listening to the radio or, you know, going to see a concert. I mean, music is really a huge aspect of lots of people's lives. And I think that kind of realizing how people relate to sound and people, lots of people love music. They love listening to a little riff they can remember and hear over and over Again, if we can kind of facilitate that same type of process to field recordings or figuring out sounds that we can use to kind of influence the way people are thinking or inspire people to act in a certain way, I think that we kind of can use that same path of realizing that even if you're not a musician, music is such an important thing. And sound is such an important aspect of really lots of aspects of life already. So using that is a really good way forward to start building a conversation between people.
Jeffr 10:32
Yes, I completely agree. And I think now might be a great time for the list for the musicians and the non musicians that are listening to our podcast to have a chance to hear you and your partner Jake Zaslav, talk a little bit about your specific music that you're working on and actually hear some of the clips of some of the tracks that you all are working on. So let's call in Jake Zaslav. Jake, are you there?
Jake 10:58
Hey, it's Jake. Thanks for letting me on.
Jeff 11:01
Jake is joining us over the phone from New York City. Jake, before we dive into the questions of your work that you've been working on with Cate, can you just tell us a little bit about how you met and how this collaboration began?
Cate 11:14
Of course, so this was a collaboration that was really born out of the pandemic. And the situations that were came from that Cate and I had been in an ensemble together at New England conservatory. I was currently a senior at Tufts University studying music and Political Science and looking a lot into musicology. But I would take courses at NEC conservatory. And that's where I met Cate. And then when the pandemic hit, we were both in the situation of wanting to be able to make music, but not being able to meet with people in person. And so it started out originally, it's just like, meeting jamming together, figuring out how we make music remotely. And then it kind of blossomed into this beautiful exploration of ecomusicology of listening, and of what sound is.
Jeff 12:06
Great, thanks, Jake. And, and can can either one of you tell our listeners a little bit about some of these improvised soundscapes music that you are all working on what you've been working on what came of this time together in collaboration during the pandemic?
Cate 12:21
Sure, maybe I'll start at I think that when we first started thinking about how to make music remotely, we decided that we wanted to kind of have a theme to the pieces we were going to create. And kind of the idea of combining improvised music, a little melody as it came up with, with kind of a cause in this case, like endangered ecosystems seemed really exciting. And it seemed like a really interesting way to be able to combine, start using field recordings with original music and start exploring that world, which turns out it's a really vast and exciting world of field recordings and music.
Jake 12:58
Yeah, I think it kind of worked out really well. You know, we were inspired by musicians like Greenhouse. But especially during the pandemic, there have been a lot of people in this world of field recordings and music that have really blossomed into a community artists like Claire Roussea, among others. I think for us, this was a great opportunity to really combine a lot of both what we were studying, and what we were passionate about bringing together music, research and climate justice together.
Jeff 13:33
So when you all create these, this music, and we're going to hear a clip in a moment, what's the relationship between the music and the field recordings, you start with the music, you start with the field recordings, what role does each sound play? Just tell us a little bit about how you compose these pieces.
Jake 13:49
I think it's a pretty collaborative process. Just like with Cate and, I, you know, sometimes we start with the melodies themselves. Sometimes we start by selecting different field recordings from an ecosystem and seeing, trying to create a soundscape and figuring out what music can we align with that. But I think the most important thing is just like an ecosystem, it's very much a living, collaboration, right? We're constantly changing the backgrounds, the soundscapes the music, to be able to work with each other better to create better these moments of noticing, where everything kind of comes together. And you're kind of woken up almost from what can seem like background sound or background music.
Jeff 14:35
And so one of the projects that you are working on, it's called Half Moon Island. Can you tell us a little bit about this and some of the goals behind this project, what we can look for in terms of an upcoming release? And then hopefully, we can dive into listening to part of one of the tracks.
Cate 14:54
Yeah, definitely. I think that we came up with the name Half Moon Island. After kind of debating for a while, what would be a good name for this duo and we liked the little remote islands name, it seemed to fit well with the music that we're creating too. But it kind of was really born. The first piece we were really working on, and I think we'll get a chance to hear it pretty soon is called Port Lockroy? And is about Antarctica and kind of, really, that was the first place we were really able to explore all of these different field recording sounds and putting a little melody music along with some improvisaion to it. And I think that was a really exciting start, start of a project we read, we realized would be a longer term project, combining different ecosystems from all over the world into an EP, which we're hoping to actually release quite soon, maybe even hopefully, by the end of August.
Jake 15:53
Yeah, I think for me, it was like one of those moments where it just kind of clicked like sometimes when you're making music and then do it afterwards and you're like, Oh, this is a project that is better than a lot of what I've done in the past. And it just makes me happier to make it and so I was really lucky to be able to kind of discover that especially during the pandemic when there were a lot of things to not be happy about.
Jeff 16:19
So true and it must be such a great feeling to feel as if you are achieving what it is that you set out to achieve in terms of making great music and also bringing awareness to some of these endangered ecosystems that you all are bringing attention to. So maybe this is a good chance for us to take a listen to Port Lockroy from Jake Zasloff and Cate Byrne
Jeffr 19:53
So in addition to this upcoming release, are there any other projects that you all are thinking about? down the pipeline, things that you want to achieve, or is this going to be the end after the CP release of the Jake Zaslov and Cate Byrne dup? And do or are there other things up on the horizon?
Cate 20:09
Well, I think that one thing that we've been thinking about is how do we combine these pieces that we're coming up with, with more art forms? And how do we combine? How do we make this more interdisciplinary, which I think is exciting, because it could bring even wider ranges of audiences and interests to what we're doing and trying to accomplish? As well as just another way to really kind of be creative and tell a story through music. And if you add some visual art forms to that as well, I think that's a really exciting path to explore.
Jake 20:42
I was gonna say one of the biggest challenges is how do we even perform this live? You know, it's like we worked a lot on this year, is, what does it mean to take a duo, which clearly combines a lot of different sounds, recordings and sometimes multi layers of instruments. And how do we play that with just two of us? So that's its own challenge, and also a really exciting one?
Jeff 21:07
Yeah I can see that there's a lot of complexity to translate into some of these pieces live. I'm also wondering whether there's any interest in the future of actually going out and conducting some of your own field recordings in some of these places.
Cate 21:22
Definitely, I think that's a really exciting part of this music is not just exploring field recordings that already exist, but also trying to make them a little bit more personal. And can get it gathering them ourselves. which luckily, we're able to kind of start that journey out, we made a piece all about Boston in the seasons around Boston, which will be on the EP, and a lot of those recordings are local that we took around the area.
Jeff 21:48
Great. And you both have mentioned a couple of folks that have been inspirational to you. Are there other any other specific artists or musicians that have really inspired your work?
Cate 22:01
For me, at least the list keeps growing pretty much every day, which is really exciting. But I would love to mention a couple New England Conservatory faculty members, because I've learned so much from them and from that institution. So Carla Killlstadt is, is a violinist and composer and singer that and beuliss that I really look up to. And she worked a lot on an album called Black Inscription. And she does a wonderful job of doing a lot of research and then putting that research into her music and figuring out how that becomes a really great storytelling mechanism. Tanya Commonovedge is another person who is very aware of climate change and wants to figure out how to best present that in her music. So she is another big inspiration. She has his whole thing about climate change called the Tar Sands songbook, which she did in her hometown in in Canada that talks about the oil rigs there and oil tar sands I mean, so very inspiring people are all around us, which which is really cool.
Jake 23:02
Yeah, and I think, along with musicians, I'm also inspired by researchers and writers as well on the topic of sound. People like Michael Chuon, Armory Schaffer and one of my own professors, Frank Lehmann, whose work on ambient music, and talking really influenced for me as a musician, how do I create arcs within music that is sometimes supposed to be in the background? How do you create these moments of noticing?
Jeff 23:32
Well I would also count Jake's Zaslav and Cate Byrne amongst people that are inspirational in the work that you are creating. And I'm sure that you are going to go on to inspire many other musicians and artists and climate activists and climate scientists and writers in your future. Very, very bright careers. Is there just in closing? Is there anything that you hope that listeners really walk away from, after listening to the music that you both create?
UnJake 24:02
I think for me, the most important thing is to just take a second and being able to listen. I think a lot of times we don't realize about the sounds that surround us every day, the soundscapes that were a part of. I think for me, a lot of the goals behind this is not just raising awareness about these ecosystems, but causing people to pause and listen. Because I think when you are able to listen to something, when you put the care of listening behind something you were a lot more inspired to protect it.
Cate 24:36
Yeah, I think that's really well said and I think that hoping people are really going to listen to this music and you'll both feel both inspired and also maybe a little alarmed, finding the kind of the sweet spot between those two worlds of wanting to inspire them to want to act and want to care about these things. while also finding beauty in an art form of me being able to enjoy and connect with our music.
Jeff 25:00
Well, one of the recurring themes in this first season has been creating an emotional connection between individuals and the environment. And that is a way to as an impetus for people to actually care and act. And I think music can be a great tool because music is so emotional, and it does bring up so much as we listened to and as we pay attention to it seems like it's such a visceral experience of connecting that with climate seems like actually a really natural pathway to getting folks to care. So thank you both so much for your time. Thank you for the beautiful music that you create. And for all the great work that you're doing in the world of climate activism in the world of music, we look forward to hearing from your upcoming EP from Halfmoon Island and also any future projects that you all are working on the future. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you.
Jeff 25:53
Thank you for listening to the Interdisciplinary investigations podcast hosted by me, Jeff Perrin, thank you to Half Moon island for providing our intro and outro music. Please rate review and check out all of our episodes wherever you stream your podcast. Thanks so much for listening