From a musical theater to listening, to ecological activism

Abstract

The ecological movement and scholarship have criticized human superiority over other species and advocate for a shift towards a more ecological and truly ethical worldview (Kuhn, 2001; Dillard-Wright, 2009). Attentive listening to the human and other-than-human world can be an act that brings awareness of the self, the society, and its varied soundscapes (Westerkamp, 2001). Training individuals to listen emerges as an educational, ecological, and social necessity (Etmektsoglou, 2019). On this basis, a musical theater play was created and performed in 2019 to raise awareness of the local soundscape of the old town on the Greek island of Corfu. During the summer, the Swifts nest in the house roofs and fly in flocks producing a shrill sound, which can be considered as a soundmark (cf Schafer, 1977) of the place. This presentation discusses the results from a study which took place in 2022, two years after the initial play. The researchers investigated whether the co-creators of the performance acknowledged any changes in the ways they listened to their local soundscape before and after the performance. The research question was explored through a focus group interview. Eight individuals out of 12 who were actively involved in the performance participated in the study voluntarily. The thematic analysis of the interview data (Braun & Clarke, 2006) showed that the performance activated participants’ past aural memories, changed the way they listened to their environment, and created identifications between them and the Swifts. For the participants, first-hand experiences with nature are valuable and such opportunities should be provided to younger generations. The musical theater play provided ecological knowledge, which, along with the pre-existing indigenous knowledge, led to aural perceptual specificity. Such skilled listening, reinforced by the emotions which the music and story aroused, appeared to act as a powerful motivator for local ecological activism.