"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"

Strange Maps discovers all the world in a song.

The discussion thread is as fascinating as the map itself.  One reader observes that "the notes South of the Cape of Good Hope... sound like winds, blowing strongly where the oceans meet."

Discussing the map's creator, a musically literate reader comments;

"Mr. Plakovic does appear to have harmonized the various voices. The resulting music if played appropriately by an orchestra would no doubt be busy, but it’s unfair to suggest that it is not properly harmonic. (It opens on a strong C major chord, an F maj7 appears in the middle of Russia and China, repeated around the Great Lakes, etc.) The vertical bars, aside from roughly representing meridians, are essential in written music, and thus are quite appropriate visually and musically. Cheers to Mr. Plakovic for the extra effort that makes this something quite clever rather than a mere novelty."

Another observes; "It’s visual art. The artist writes that he is “not very knowledgeable about music theory.” The audio files on his site are not in any way realizations of the notation they’re sitting next to."

Not that that kept yet one more reader from reproducing the music as an eSnip Mp3.  Be patient with the download and hear for yourself.  The ending may seem abrupt, but remember that the score is in map notation, Mercator projection, no less.  It should ideally be played in a continuous loop, like the revolving sphere it represents.

Comments

[Jayson]

check out the story on http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/17/sound_earth/

Snippets of the score are played, and while busy, are not attractive.

[theo]

stockhausen probably got homework like this.