Playing Ocarina for the Cows
April 8th, 2007 by vincebates
I walked over to my office this evening to catch up on a few things and stopped on the way to play my ocarina for the cows. I pass by the pasture on my way and I just happened to have my recently acquired ocarina with me. But, why would I play it for the cows? Well, why not? Actually, one of my college students recently took issue with David Elliott’s book Music Matters; she complained that it is focused on human well-being and proposed that music might be satisfying for animals as well. So, I stopped and walked over to the fence and began to play from my somewhat limited ocarina repertoire, Barbra Allen. The cows, about 10 or so, were sitting out in the middle of the pasture. They looked my way immediately and then, one-by-one, they stood, hesitantly. I wondered if they were getting ready to bolt. I finished Barbra Allen and moved on to O Susanna. The cows walked over to the fence directly in front of me and watched and listened intently as I played Amazing Grace and then Barbra Allen again, then Simple Gifts. Strange, I thought. I wondered what kind of experience they were having. Aesthetic? Could they have recognized in my music the underlying forms of bovine feelingfulness? I was out of tunes so I said good-night and went on my way into the night. The cows ran along the fence after me for a time and then dispersed. True story…
