Music

[Nice65]

Mmm... we'll have to agree to disagree; I'd far rather hear owls, foxes, nightjars than someone strumming Kum ba yah.

Well, assuming it’s night time, the instrument is stringed, and you decide to play the stereotypical religious song associated with music at camp and never, ever heard anywhere except American teen films then yes.

I took my wife’s ashes to scatter last May, and happened on a small acoustic only festival by accident, not even mics, let alone amplifiers. 2 flautists playing across Bristol water was touching, poignant and emotional.

I also enjoyed lying out in the sun after that, eating a croissant and having a decent coffee and a couple began to play, one on French horn and the other on accordion. Could have been in Marseilles if I shut my eyes.

 

[Kepis]

 

[Pattree]

I play a home made pentatonic flute. While I can play other people’s tunes, when I’m out at a camp I’m not particularly interested in the sort of music that’s written down in tadpoles on telegraph wires

I play along with the wind in the trees, the bark of a vixen or the rain in the leaves. It’s not counter-nature, it’s just joining in for a while. I certainly don’t play all night, it’s just as the mood takes me or the situation inspires.
I just might play The Irish Washerwoman as I turn in but then why not. Part of the forest diversity is me!

 

[Kadushu]

Now you’ve got me thinking! I used to have one half a century ago.

@Kadushu Do you play it out of doors?

Only in my garden so far. I like twiddling about making up ditties. What I will say is that the merlin goes out of tune at the drop of a hat as the weather changes. I suspect it would be better if the wood was sealed but it's not a big deal really.

 

[MikeLA]

Nature has its own music. That’s why I don’t like sleeping in tents enjoying the sight and sounds of the woods or the hills.

 

[Van-Wild]

If I'm in the woods or the hills, I'm there for the peace and solitude. I don't play music, and if I were to hear it I'd pack my kit away and bugger off elsewhere.

To each their own, but to the OP... If you were in camp with others and you started playing your musical instrument, how would you respond to being told to pack it in?

 

[Broch]

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here.

It's exactly because I am at one with the universe and nature that I tread lightly and don't feel the need to intrude on it.

 

[Pattree]

Oh dear deary me.

 

[Kadushu]

Well I think we've hit upon the perfect way to get people to pack up and leave

 

[Springchicken]

Why do we choose to venture into the woods? Among legion other things, it is for the peace and quiet that they afford us. We opt to abandon the trappings of 'modern life' to get closer to something more elemental and intrinsically beautiful. By that argument, it also means abandoning the music we make and enjoying that which the natural world offers instead.

The question was asked earlier about there being no music in bushcraft. There is plenty out there that just requires the bushcrafter to listen carefully and patiently. It is an unfamiliar but rewarding concert, one that's worth our attention.

I sing - passably - but feel that the woods give me a break from it. There is a slightly distasteful arrogance about humans drowning out the natural symphony of a natural environment with strummed or tooted melodies. Save them for when you're back home and enjoy them there.

 

[Pattree]

Wow! I knew that music was powerful but I had no idea that it switched off the sounds of nature.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Not switches off, but intrudes. To each their own.

 

[gibson 175]

If that flippin' Segovia came round my tent and started messing with the guylines on my tent, I'd say ' NO ANDRES!!- you may have made musical history by being the first musician to put the classical guitar on the map by being the first to record Rodrigo's Concerto De Aranjuez,and you may have taught John Williams who is one of the greatest guitarists alive today..but if my pegs come undone and my tent blows down in storm Ashley due to your childish prank I WILL be MOST ANNOYED and deeply unhappy!

 

[Chris]

I personally don’t play music in the woods, but I think there is a time and place where it can be quite nice.

At the Winter Moot, strolling through the woods and happening upon the main fire area, a cold and slightly misty day, wood smoke in the air and someone giving a wooden flute of some kind a little play, I thought was actually rather nice. I felt it connected me briefly with ancestors throughout the millennia, whom may have happened upon such scenes themselves.

 

[Broch]

I personally don’t play music in the woods, but I think there is a time and place where it can be quite nice.

At the Winter Moot, strolling through the woods and happening upon the main fire area, a cold and slightly misty day, wood smoke in the air and someone giving a wooden flute of some kind a little play, I thought was actually rather nice. I felt it connected me briefly with ancestors throughout the millennia, whom may have happened upon such scenes themselves.

Agreed, but you haven't really gone to the Moot to melt into the quiet of nature have you? Well, I don't, it's a completely different environment than being out in the 'wilderness'.

As I said earlier, one tune on the bagpipes played on top of a Saharan dune was one of the most moving moments I have experienced; a second tune would not have been

 

[Chris]

Agreed, but you haven't really gone to the Moot to melt into the quiet of nature have you? Well, I don't, it's a completely different environment than being out in the 'wilderness'.

As I said earlier, one tune on the bagpipes played on top of a Saharan dune was one of the most moving moments I have experienced; a second tune would not have been

Yeah, I agree that it’s entirely context dependent. When I am out on my own I prefer the sounds of the nature around me, but I think there are bushcrafty settings where music can be food for the soul.

 

[Grebby]

How sad.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here.

You ARE Nature!

While I enjoy a camp singalong, I’m predominantly a solo camper. My OP referred more to playing or singing on your own.

Is bushcraft really free of music?

How very very sad.

Oh dear deary me.

You asked the question. You got given answers by various people. Why do you think that your viewpoint is more valid than others?

 

[Paul_B]

Well I think we've hit upon the perfect way to get people to pack up and leave

Yes, a phone and a powerful BT speaker playing something loud and rocky when someone gets their guitar out!! It works both ways you know!!

PS I have been known to put on some NC headphones on when annoying people playing music I have no interest in listening to. I then crank up the punk music until my ears bleed. Well, perhaps until it stops bleeding from the dire playing and singing skills from the others in the camp spot.

The worst case was of about 5 families camping on a site basically they came in and took over the whole area we were put in with a few fire pits and several guitars and tone deaf singers. There must have been about 10 people singing in together. I have never wanted to hear Tom Jones when camping but I had to endure that and other songs I am not fond of. A loud speaker and some punk music or nu-metal on full might have made a good point.

As to camping in the wilds, well the whole point for me is to get away from a lot of the modern world (except the necessary for a good night like tent or tarp and bivvy). Unnatural or manmade noise is a big part of what I want to escape from. Forcing that on others is antisocial unless it is by consensus!! It won't be with me there.

 

[Paul_B]

Just remembered that where I used to live a neighbour used to play queen on high. It was done either when they were getting busy or had friends over in which case it was Queen songs on a big Karaoke speaker system they had. After they annoyed me by playing it so loud I could not hear my TV and cdplayer I turned my TV off then changed the cd in the player to stiff little fingers playing Suspect Device. My cd player was only a little separate speaker system but I found anything above about 6 or 7 is starting to be a bit too loud. So I cranked it up to 25 ( I never found out how high it went but it still had a bit more to go). All of a sudden the karaoke track was turned down such that the party wall pretty much blocked it off.

There was a down side. I started to hear them getting jiggy instead!! However I had found out that they don't like punk music so I could at least scupper their mood if it got too loud!!

 

[Pattree]

You asked the question. You got given answers by various people. Why do you think that your viewpoint is more valid than others?

I certainly don’t think this at all. My opinion differs from the majority and I defend it. That is all.

The quotation from the Desiderata indicates my take on “Nature” and shows, in part, where I’m coming from.

The expression “deary deary me” Is a sadness at the thought that music might be excluded from my walks and hikes.

There are assumptions and contradictions in responses above: primarily that I might impose my music on those who would not wish to hear it. Also that I might play for prolonged periods.

So:

The answer to the question that I asked in the OP I infer as “No”.
While folk might carry noise cancelling ear phones into the woods, they do not carry musical instruments or sing. Quite why this differs from conversation in its effect on wildlife I am uncertain.

The comments on the more general issue of the post’s title involve a range of variable definitions of “music”, “nature” and of course “bushcraft”.
I do resent the implication that I might not be sensitive to any group of which I was a member or to which I was neighbour.

As @crosslandkelly said. Each to their own. I shall certainly not trouble the readers of this thread with my music.

Edited
As a result of the recollection that few of us are silent in the wild places