Lake Erie Science Series: Listening to Climate Change

On Tuesday, May 30, Dr. Lisa Rainsong will present ‘Listening to Climate Change’ about some of nature’s earliest musicians. This Lake Erie Science Series Program will take place at 1:30 p.m. in Orchestra Hall.

Have you noticed a birdsong you wouldn’t have expected up here before? What about that cricket or katydid that has become so common over the past few summers? New singers are joining our local ensembles as the climate warms, and we can learn to track changes over time by sound as well as sight.

From Carolina Chickadees moving into northern Ohio to Jumping Bush Crickets on the shores of Lake Erie, professional musician and naturalist educator Dr. Lisa Rainsong will show how she documents northbound species by sound.

Lisa Rainsong’s musical life integrates composition, education, vocal performance and natural history.  She was appointed to the Cleveland Institute of Music (CI) Music Theory faculty in 2000 and teaches undergraduate and graduate theory courses. She also is the coordinator of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) program and holds a DMA in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music. A soprano as well as a composer, Lisa has performed medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music as a soloist and a choral musician.

In addition to her work in education, performance and composition, Lisa is a professional naturalist who specializes in the music of Earth’s first musicians: bird song, insect song and the songs of amphibians.  She earned a Naturalist Certificate from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 2008 and now uses her ear-training teaching skills in programs that help people learn and understand the music of the natural world.  She has presented programs for numerous Ohio universities and park districts, as well as classes for the Holden Arboretum, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Rainsong also gives advanced workshops for natural history professionals and presents at conferences across the state.

Rainsong is an active field naturalist who makes her own field recordings of bird, insect and amphibian songs throughout Northeast Ohio and around the state. She seeks to inspire an understanding and appreciation for the oldest music on earth and protection of the avian, insect and amphibian musicians and their “concert venues” at a time when their music is in danger of being silenced by climate change and habitat destruction.

In addition to her natural history teaching, she has also created an extensive online field guide of the singing insects of Northeast Ohio entitled “Listening to Insects” at listeningtoninsects.com. This field guide includes her field recordings, photos and detailed information on each of these species. Listening to insects is suitable for a wide range of readers and listeners from professional naturalists to park program participants.