If the woods were a jam, the crickets would provide a high-pitched pedal point with their incessant chirping for the birds to solo over.
Crickets chrip all around a D tone. If you drag the mouse back and forth over the score above, you can get a sense of what a field of crickets sound like. They create a drone that encompasses the length of a semitone, centering around a D.
The lickety triplets of the katydid will serve to percuss the crickety chorus. Drag over this onomatopoeic insect’s slick little rhythm.
We can even throw a cicada solo on top to complete our North American insect jam. Rev up a few of these 64th-note shredder melodies that jump around chromatically (semitone by semitone).
Like any jammers, insects are engaged in a feedback loop. The natural amplification of their stridulations distorted our ears for centuries and probably motivated human beings to want to rock even louder. Along with lightning, they also heavily influenced the development of electronic music in the creation of simple sine wave timbres. Most importantly, insects provide the key note to birdsong, as well as minimalist percussion amidst the open-air ambience.
So please be kind to your insect brothers and sisters! Take a moment and jam, using the cricket drone, katydid triplets, and cicada solo. Happy dragging!
The insect kingdom, though commonly thought of as musically misogynous, features many female species that can also stridulate.