If someone asked you to name creatures other than humans that make music, you’d likely say birds, birds, and more birds. It’s true that birds are the great music-makers of the non-human world. But insects sing and make music, too.
Bugs? Sing?
Some of them do. Some of them play percussion, as well. They could have a whole band, if they wanted to (but what would they call it? … … …)
Some of them sing so softly that you can hardly hear it — but I bet other insects of their type hear it, or at least pick up the message and understand it. That’s the whole point, after all. Their songs are their way of communicating with each other.
Others believe in volume, and lots of it. If you’ve ever heard a chorus of crickets on a calm night (or in your porch — I had many, many crickets in one little house I lived in) you’ll know that they can’t produce as varied a song as humans do, but they sing with gusto!
Although the insects aren’t thinking about creating music or singing together in a concert, we get to enjoy their songs without having to decode what they mean — sort of like listening to songs where you don’t know the language the words are written in: you can still appreciate the beauty of the music if you open your ears, your mind and your heart.
That’s a lot like life. We get all kinds of opportunities to open our ears, eyes, minds, and hearts to experiences that are different than our own way of doing things, but that add something unique to the whole of life.
So next time you’re outside, listen for one of those small singers, and enjoy its music. There are cool things out there!
To learn more about Insect songs, check out this video from Cornell University’s Naturalist Outreach, and the video and sound snippet on this site about “Our Insect Musicians.”