Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Episode 671 (12-25-23): A Year of Water Sounds and Music – 2023 Edition

Click to listen to episode (5:44).

Sections below are the following:

Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.)

Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 12-26-23.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the weeks of December 25, 2023, and January 1, 2024.

MUSIC – ~13 sec – instrumental.

That’s part of “The Foggy Dew” by Timothy Seaman.  It’s one of the songs heard on Virginia Water Radio in 2023, and it opens our annual episode where we listen back to some of the previous year’s sounds and music.  We start with a medley of mystery sounds.  Have a listen for about 40 seconds, and see how many you recognize.

SOUNDS - ~39 sec.

1.  Eastern Narrrow-mouthed Toad.
2.  Humpback Whale.
3.  Hooded Merganser.
4.  Cascades waterfall.
5.  Gray Tree Frogs, an Eastern Screech Owl, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and Wood Thrush.

If you knew all of most of those, you’re a 2023 authentic aquatic ace!

You heard, first, an Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad; second; a Humpback Whale; third, a Hooded Merganser; fourth, the Cascades Falls in Giles County, Virginia; and, last, the
sounds of Gray Tree Frogs, an Eastern Screech Owl, an Eastern Wood-Pewee, and a Wood Thrush, all recorded at a pond in Blacksburg, Va., at sundown on July 27, 2023.

Thanks to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and to Lang Elliott for permission to use this week’s sounds, from the 2008 CD, “The Calls of Virginia Frogs and Toads”; to the National Park Service for the Humpback Whale Sound; and to Lang Elliott for permission to use the Hooded Merganser sound, from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs.

We close out 2023 with a 1 minute/45 second sample of music heard this year, with parts of “I Walk in Beauty,” by the late Madeline MacNeil; “Driftage,” by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand; “Frog Level Yacht Club,” by Trevor McKenzie; “Backburner,” by the group The Faux Paws; and, last, “World’s Too Big,” by Kat Mills, whose lyrics help us look toward the coming year.  Thanks to all the musicians who gave permission to use their music, and thanks to Janita Baker for permission to use Madeline MacNeil’s music.

So long to 2023, and here’s hoping for a 2024 the brings to your ears, good sounds; to your heart, good music; and to your health, good water.

MUSIC – ~1 min./43 sec.

1.  From “I Walk in Beauty” – lyrics: “Beauty is behind me, above and below me.”

2. From “Driftage” – instrumental.

3.  From “Frog Level Yacht Club” – lyrics: “I know it’s fantasy and my plays tricks on my memory, but that’s how I recall the Frog Level Yacht Club.”

4.  From “Backburner” – lyrics: “I put my heart in the freezer, I put my love on ice, I tell myself I don’t need her, wouldn’t that be nice?  I put  my heart in the freezer, I put my love on hold, I tell myself I don’t need her, and then I wonder why I feel so cold.  I wonder why I feel, I wonder why I feel, I wonder why I feel so cold.”

5.  From “World’s Too Big” – lyrics: “World’s too big to see in one lifetime; what do you think you’ll do this year in the world, world, world, in the world?”

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close this episode.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

Sounds Used and Their Previous 2023 Virginia Water Radio Episodes  (listed in the order heard in this episode’s audio).

The sounds of the Eastern Narrrow-mouthed Toad was from “The Calls of Virginia Frogs and Toads” CD, copyright 2008 by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (now the Department of Wildlife Resources) and Lang Elliott/NatureSoundStudio, used with permission.   The CD accompanies A Guide to the Frogs and Toads of Virginia, Special Publication Number 3, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries; that publication is no longer available at Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources online store, https://www.shopdwr.com/.  For more information, contact the Department at P.O. Box 90778, Henrico, VA 23228-0778; phone: (804) 367-1000 (VTDD); main Web page is https://dwr.virginia.gov/; to send e-mail, visit https://dwr.virginia.gov/contact/.  Lang Elliott’s work is available online at the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/.  This sound was used in Episode 649, 2-20-23, a medley of frog and toad calls.

The Humpback Whale sound was from the National Park Service ‘Sound Gallery,” online at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/sound/sounds-humpback-whale.htm, as of 12-22-23.  This sound was used in Episode 651, 3-20-23, on ocean and  marine biodiversity.

The Hooded Merganser sound was from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs-Eastern Region CD set, by Lang Elliott with Donald and Lillian Stokes (Time Warner Audio Books, copyright 1997), used with permission of Lang Elliott.  Lang Elliot’s work is available online at the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/.  This sound was used in Episode 670, 12-11-23, a duck names quiz.

4.  The waterfall sound was recorded by Virginia Water Radio at the Cascades waterfall in Giles County, Va., on September 28, 2023.  This sound was used in Episode 666, 10-16-23, on waterfalls in Virginia.

5.  The sounds of Gray Tree Frogs, an Eastern Screech Owl, and an Eastern Wood-Pewee, with the less prominent sounds of a Wood Thrush, were recorded by Virginia Water Radio at a pond in Blacksburg, Va., at about 8:30 p.m. on July 27, 2023.  These sounds were used in Episode 661, 8-7-23, on the sounds between dawn and dusk on a summer day at a Virginia pond.

Musical Selections Used and Their Previous 2023 Virginia Water Radio Episodes (listed in the order heard in this episode’s audio)

“The Foggy Dew,” a 2023 single release, is copyright by Timothy Seaman, used with permission.  It features Ann Robinson on Celtic Harp.  More information about Timothy Seaman is available online at https://timothyseaman.com/en/.  “The Foggy Dew” is a traditional Irish song, whose lyrics talk about the 1916 Easter Uprising, part of the Irish Revolution and War of Independence (1919-1921) against Great Britain.  The song describes scenes of battle on Easter morning taking place amidst “the foggy dew.”  Information about the song is available online at https://www.o-em.org/index.php/fieldwork/62-the-foggy-dew-processes-of-change-in-an-irish-rebel-song.  This music was used in Episode 662, 8-21-23, on the dew point.

“I Walk in Beauty” is from Madeline MacNeil’s 2002 album “Songs of Earth & Sea”; copyright held by Janita Baker, used with permission.  More information about Madeline MacNeil is available from Ms. Baker’s “Blue Lion Dulcimers & Guitars” Web site, online at https://www.bluelioninstruments.com/Maddie.html.  This song is in the tradition of a Navajo prayer and song; information on the Navajo prayer/song is available online at https://uuwestport.org/i-walk-in-beauty-navajo-prayersong/, and at https://www.walk-in-beauty.org/.This music was used in Episode 655, 5-15-23, on Virginia’s state parks.

“Driftage,” from the 2004 album of same name, is copyright by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand and Great Bear Records, used with permission of Andrew VanNorstrand.  More information about Andrew and Noah and their bands is available online at https://andrewandnoah.bandcamp.com/music.  This music was used in Episode 651, 3-20-23, on ocean and  marine biodiversity.

“Frog Level Yacht Club,” from the album “Generational Things,” is copyright by Trevor McKenzie, used with permission.  More information about Trevor McKenzie is available online at http://www.trevormckenzie.com/.  This music was used in Episode 659, 7-10-23, on Frog Level in Tazewell County, Va.

“Backburner,” from the 2023 album of the same name, is copyright by The Faux Paws, used with permission of Andrew VanNorstrand.  More information about The Faux Paws is available online at https://thefauxpaws.bandcamp.com/.  This music was used in Episode 669, 11-27-23, on winter preparedness.

“World’s Too Big,” from the 2006 album “Two,” is copyright by Kat Mills, used with permission.  More information about Kat Mills is available online at https://katmills.com/ and at https://katmills.hearnow.com/.  This music was used in Episode 647, 1-23-23, on Virginia’s state budget process and some of the budget’s water-related items.

IMAGES

The last sunset of 2023 at the Virginia Tech Duck Pond in Blacksburg, taken on December 31 at 5:04 p.m. EST.  Photo by Virginia Water Radio.

An Image Sampler from Episodes in 2023

 From Episode 646, 1-9-23: Screen shot of the Virginia Legislative Information System’s online site for information about the Virginia state budget during the 2023 Virginia General Assembly, accessed at https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/, 1/9/23.

From Episode 649, 2-20-23: Upland Chorus Frog, photographed in Farmville, Virginia (Prince Edward County), February 16, 2023.  Photo by Ty Smith, made available on iNaturalist at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148942454 (as of 2-20-23) for use under Creative Commons license “Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)”  Information about this Creative Commons license is available online at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode.


From Episode 654, 5-1-23: Toms Creek at Heritage Park in Blacksburg, Va., April 25, 2023.  Photo by Virginia Water Radio.

From Episode 661, 8-7-23: A Blacksburg, Va., pond photographed at about 6:28 a.m. on July 27, 2023.  Photo by Virginia Water Radio.

From Episode 670, 12-11-23:  A Hooded Merganser male; location and date not identified.  Photo by Tim McCabe, accessed at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov; specific URL for the photo was https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/1085/rec/4, as of 11-8-23.

SOURCES

Please see the episodes mentioned and hyperlinked above under “Audio Notes and Acknowledgments” for sources of information about the topics of the individual episodes.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Overall Importance of Water” subject category.

Following are links to previous “year of sounds/music” episodes.

2022 – Episode 645, 12-30-22.
2021 – Episode 609, 12-27-21.
2020 – Episode 557, 12-28-20.
2019 – Episode 504, 12-23-19.
2018 – Episode 452, 12-24-18.
2017 – Episode 400, 12-25-17.
2016 – Episode 348, 12-26-16.
2015 – Episode 295, 12-21-15.
2014 – Episode 246, 12-29-14.
2013 – Episode 193, 12-23-13.
2012 – Episode 141, 12-17-12.

Following are links to previous episodes looking toward a coming new year.

New Year 2020: Episode 505, 12-30-19.
New Year 2019: Episode 453, 12-31-18.
New Year 2018: Episode 401, 1-1-18.
New Year 2017: Episode 349, 1-2-17.
New Year 2016: Episode 296, 12-28-15.
New Year 2013: Episode 142, 12-31-12.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episodes listed and hyperlinked above under “Audio Notes and Acknowledgments” may help with various Virginia SOLs in Music, Science, and Social Studies.  For specific suggested SOLs, please see the online show notes for each episode.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode 483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode 524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school through high school.
Episode 531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th grade.
Episode 539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources, for 4th and 6th grade.
Episode 606, 12-6-21 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.