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Might listening across scales help us understand, map and protect wild spaces? This chapter considers the potential for listening methods to integrate ethnographic, cartographic, geological and ecological perspectives toward more inclusive map-making. Effective conservation policy and planning must be evidence-based and represent the needs of all species living, working, playing and otherwise becoming in wild spaces. However traditionally methods and frameworks are selected which intrinsically prioritise one perspective over another: satellite imagery maps macro vegetation and structures of the built environment; site-based ecological surveys for flora and fauna give some detail of which organisms dwell at particular sites; and participatory walking methods are increasingly being used to access the knowledge, perception and values of various human stakeholders. These methods stem from diverse disciplines between which there is little interaction or methodological integration, meaning perspectives are de facto incomplete. We need new ways to create maps which integrate empirical, ecological and geophysical data at scale, with personal, particular existences, experiences and knowledges of the myriad non-human and human species which both sustain and depend upon wild spaces. This chapter takes as its point of departure the multi-disciplinary project WILDSENS, which places the acoustic environment (or soundscape) as the locus of interaction of human and non-human actors and processes, biotic and abiotic processes. Set in the Arctic Lapland – one of Europe's largest remaining wildernesses – the project explores methods of listening at and across different scales as a means to integrate empirical and experiential methods, big and small data in the creation of maps of wilderness spaces, and participatory engagement in wild spaces. We describe the impetus, experience and initial insights from recent pilot field work in Abisko on the edge of Europe's largest remaining wilderness, in northern Swedish Lapland. With multi-disciplinary backgrounds in cultural anthropology, soundscape ecology, human geography and the environmental humanities, we carried out ethnographic and ecological methods to engage with the local landscape, wildlife and key local actors from the tourism sector, urban planning, climate research and communication. By figuring the soundscape as the locus of interaction, we consider possible ways to bring both social and ecological matters of concern into earshot for future generations.

Little is currently known about the possible benefits of using networked technology to enhance ensemble performance. This study explored whether the introduction of specially devised technology – networked tablets using traditional music notation – to a primary school orchestra would enhance the experience of ensemble music. Particular emphasis was placed on how the technology could help children to overcome practical problems associated with ensemble playing for early-stage musicians (e.g., keeping in sync with other players), thereby leading to better engagement with the music and ultimately greater enjoyment. Findings from a thematic analysis of responses from a focus group with eight young orchestra players aged 9–11 years and from an interview with the orchestra conductor, together with indications from the statistical analysis of 28 orchestra participants’ questionnaire responses, suggest that the technology did help to reduce the practical problems associated with ensemble playing. This appeared to interrupt the downward spiral of frustration and lack of confidence in playing for some young people, and enhanced the likelihood of feelings of enjoyment and belonging.

For all of humankind’s creative achievements, we in turn were made by a more powerful creative force: biological evolution. Since Darwin and Wallace’s great revelation (Darwin, 1861), it has become widely accepted that the astonishingly beautiful and complex structure and behaviours of the living world have taken shape through a remarkable process that is mechanical, blind and purposeless. This sublime beauty has inspired art since its primitive beginnings, but whereas we have always incorporated natural form in our paintings, sculpture and music, artists working with code now draw upon processes of the natural world. The arrival of general purpose computers in the middle of the last century transformed not only science, but compositional practice in ways that are documented throughout this book. Of importance to this chapter, it enabled us to harness behaviours inspired by natural systems, formalised by biologists and computer scientists into algorithms, in order to develop, perform and compose with software instruments. We now borrow from the designs of specific biological organisms, and the properties and processes of complex natural systems, as well as from the creative mechanism of evolution itself. In this chapter we examine a range of approaches to algorithmic music making inspired by biological systems. In doing so we cover topics that are located at the intersection of contemporary music and computer science and the study of creativity: optimisation and problem-solving using evolutionary methods; emergence, self-organisation and complexity; adaptive behaviour; and autonomy and self-determination. Section 1.1 provides a brief historical context of the core intellectual, musical and social movements which influence contemporary creative practice. Section 1.2 provides a primer in the concepts and tools developed for the study of systems which are foundational to the specific approaches described in the following sections. Endeavours in this field are often hybrid and idiosyncratic and cannot be neatly categorised. Nevertheless we organise an overview of the key musical motivations, concepts and computational methods of the field under four themes which map the topics above. Section 2, Evolutionary Search, outlines the application of evolutionary computation to design issues and opportunities associated with algorithmic music. In Section 3, Multi-Agent Compositions, we look at the ways in which agent-based modelling has been used to compose emergent, self-organising music. Section 4, considers how the study of adaptive behaviour has inspired the design and realisation of Adaptive Collaborators – interactive software systems which begin to enable active electro-acoustic partnerships. Many of these ideas come together in Section 5, which describes the development of Creative Ecosystems inspired by ecological principles. We end with a discussion of some of the critical themes for future work.

The critical importance of wilderness areas (WAs) for biodiversity conservation and human well-being is well established yet mapping criteria on which WA management policies are based take neither into account. Current WA mapping methods are framed in terms of absence of anthropogenic influence, and created using visual satellite data, obviating consideration of the ecological or anthropogenic value of WAs. In this paper we suggest that taking the acoustic environment into account could address this lacuna. We report the first investigation into the potential for ecoacoustic methods to complement existing geophysical approaches. Participatory walks, including in situ questionnaires and ecoacoustic surveys were carried out at points along transects traversing urban-wilderness gradients at four study sites in the Scottish Highlands and French Pyrenees. The relationships between a suite of six acoustic indices (AIs), wilderness classifications and human subjective ratings were examined. We observed significant differences between five out of six AIs tested across wilderness classes, demonstrating significant differences in the soundscape across urban-wild gradients. Strong, significant correlations between AIs, wilderness classes and human perceptions of wildness were observed, although magnitude and direction of correlations varied across sites. Finally, a compound acoustic index is shown to strongly predict mapped wildness classes (up to 95% variance explained MSE 0.22); perceived wilderness and biodiversity are even more strongly predicted. Together these results demonstrate that the acoustic environment varies significantly along urban-wild gradients; AIs reveal details of environmental variation excluded under current methods, and capture key facets of the human experience of wildness. An important next step is to ascertain the ecological and anthropogenic relevance of these differences, and develop new automated acoustic analysis methods suited to mapping the environmental characteristics of WAs. Taken together, our results suggest that future management of WAs could benefit from ecoacoustic methods to take the biosphere and anthroposphere into account.

In line with the development of socio-ecological perspectives in conservation science, there is increasing interest in the role of soundscape perception in understanding human-environment interactions; the impact of natural soundscapes on human wellbeing is also increasingly recognized. However, research to date has focused on preferences and attitudes to western, urban locations. This study investigated individual emotional associations with local soundscape for three social groups living in areas with distinct degrees of urbanization, from pristine forest and pre-urban landscapes in Ecuador, to urban environments in UK and USA. Participants described sounds that they associated with a range of emotions, both positive and negative, which were categorized according to an adapted version of Schafer’s sound classification scheme. Analyses included a description of the sound types occurring in each environment, an evaluation of the associations between sound types and emotions across social groups, and the elaboration of a soundscape perception map. Statistical analyses revealed that the distribution of sound types differed between groups, reflecting essential traits of each soundscape, and tracing the gradient of urbanization. However, some associations were universal: Natural Sounds were primarily associated with positive emotions, whereas Mechanical and Industrial Sounds were linked to negative emotions. Within non-urban environments, natural sounds were associated with a much wider range of emotions. Our analyses suggest that Natural Sounds could be considered as valuable natural resources that promotes human wellbeing. Special attention is required within these endangered forest locations, which should be classified as a “threatened soundscapes,” as well as “threatened ecosystems,” as we begin to understand the role of soundscape for the wellbeing of the local communities. The methodology presented in this article offers a fast, cheap tool for identifying reactions towards landscape modification and identifying sounds of social relevance. The potential contribution of soundscape perception within the current conservation approaches is discussed.

Music is often seen as a very direct form of human expression—with personal creativity as the conceptual omphalos and primary origin of the compositional process. The interest here is in using the computer as an expressive, collaborative partner, one that answers back, interacts, and responds intelligently. This article examines special kinds of processes that give rise to outcomes beyond those that would appear possible from the individual parts that define them. It looks at processes inspired by nature and how they can be transformed to offer the musician or sound artist both new compositional tools and a foundational philosophy for understanding creative practice. Its approach comes largely from the systems sciences of general systems theory, cybernetics, and most recently artificial life. These disciplines have sought to understand the world in ways that favor process dynamics over the static, structural relations of objects, leading to a perspective defined by mechanisms rather than materials.