by Brenda Ethridge

Created on: January 06, 2010

Listen

Listen to the concerts of crickets, tune in to the setting, to the unseen world that is alive with instruments playing, as male wings with their ridges produce their song. Play for us crickets, or as in France, they call you little creaker. In China your song is known as good luck. The thin papery portions of your wings vibrate as you rub them together, a song to your mate, to show your territory. Your calling song can be heard for miles, but once your mate comes near, you begin your courtship song, and finally a celebratory song. Your medley fills the night. While some never hear you, they only need to listen. Play for us crickets, you boisterous pleasant sounds that lulls us as a lullaby. The acoustics are fine in Earth's creation.

Listen to the aria of frogs, as they sing in harmony, a cappella. The squirrel treefrog with his vocal pouch which stretches like a balloon, a resonating chamber allowing him to sing, the large frogs with their deep voices and low frequencies, the small frogs with their high chirps and high frequencies, cold frogs with their slower rate as their muscles slow their tempo down, why do you sing? Your answer? - to attract a mate, mark your territory, show the weather is changing, or to show you are frightened or hurt. Sing for us frogs; sing in your ribbit fashion; fill the air with your comforting stay of song, your bebop of the cosmos.

Listen to the unison of the locusts, as they play their own unique style, rubbing their legs against their wings. Short pegs on the inner surface of hind legs drawn against the stiff outer layers of hind wings, make your soft sounds. Banned-winged locusts, you make your clicking and rattling sound as you fly, your wing snapping as your wing membranes are suddenly popped taut. Are you attracting your mate or simply frightened? Sing for us locusts, adding your percussion sounds; let us know nature is in unity, your chamber music of the countryside.

Listen to the accord of the cicadas with their loud songs. Your tymbals at the base of your abdomen are stiff but flexible with a stout membrane. Your muscles pull the tymbal inward causing it to pop, and pop again when the tymbal is released. As you rapidly contract and relax the tymbal muscles you fill the air with your loud buzzing song, amplified by the hollow in your abdomen. Play for us cicadas, loud and strong that the world is alive, with your classical environmental contributions.

Listen to the compatibility of the grasshoppers, as a row of

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