Well, not exactly.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course they need a little help from us humans with opposable thumbs. But who are we to say no? Little mushies have done so much for us already. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ok, we are still being a little silly. But it is true \u2014 a wave of musicians have recently begun to tap into the potential of mushrooms as a music making tool. We already reported on MycoLyco<\/a> (aka Noah Kalos) <\/em>who\u2019s shroom music exploded on TikTok, and even soundtracked a Stella McCartney catwalk presentation, featuring mycelium \u2018leather\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We were pretty bowled over by that. But, it turns out there are many more mushroom-virtuosos creating revolutionary bleeps, bloops and squelches \u2014 some of whom have been around for longer than you\u2019d think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One notable mushroom loving musician was the renowned composer and artist John Cage. Famous for his silent composition 4\u201933\u2019\u2019<\/em> and other avant garde pieces, he also co-founded the New York Mycological society. In 1959, he even won an Italian game show with his specialist subject \u2014 not music as you may expect, but mushrooms. He interspersed performances of his trippy compositions in betweens rounds \u2014 no doubt bamboozling the viewers at home. However, despite his mycological obsession<\/a>, foraging, studying, consuming, Cage was never moved to explore their sounds. In an essay in his publication A Music Lover\u2019s Field Companion, <\/em>Cage joked;<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would like to emphasise that I am not interested in the relationships between sounds and mushrooms any more than I am in those between sounds and other sounds.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, Gary Lincoff, a former president of the North American Mycological Society shared of his friend;<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCage believed he could hear the mushrooms in the woods, but I think [he said it] with tongue in cheek.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So as you see, mushrooms have intrigued some of the most creative musical minds. Perhaps it is their deep connection to the rhythms of the earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, one of the first musicians to actually make the mushroom an instrument was an artist called Mileece. Beginning her exploration over 20 years ago, Mileece was inspired by the importance of preserving biodiversity and halting climate change. This was long before climate change became a widely acknowledged threat. She told The Guardian; <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was called all sorts of bad words for being an environmentalist. And there is no difference between what Greta Thunberg says and what I said, but everyone kind of hated me for it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mileece learned sound engineering and coding when she was a teenager. She went on to be a resident artist at the London School of Economics, during which she developed a technique to transcribe electrical signals from plants into basic sound design elements. Early experiments included a pot plant kitted out with self-made hair clip-electrodes connected to a custom-made module and synth, linked to an old-school Mac computer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, Mileece has spent her career developing plant bio-emission translating software and hardware to create what she calls \u201caesthetic sonification\u201d. <\/em>In 2019 she created an installation at Tate Modern, London, that consisted of a pod full of plants and flowers that created music when they reacted to people entering and moving around the space. Her practice is still deeply concerned with highlighting the threat to our environment via climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tarun Nayar is another fungi-virtuoso. He started his exploration relatively recently, with his project Modern Biology only beginning last summer. However, he has already pulled in over half a million TikTok followers and 25 million views with his calming videos of mushrooms creating ambient sounds. A former biologist, he spends his summers in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia with mushroom royalty the Sheldrake Brothers. (You may know Merlin Sheldrake<\/a> as the author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures)<\/em> It was here, and via their influence he began to be a mushroom stan. He was foraging \u2014 but not always to eat them. Also to hear <\/em>them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n His first plant experiment took place while summering with his friends. He spotted a thimbleberry plant growing just outside his cabin. After connecting the leaves to a software synthesizer which could play the piano, he heard the music. The bioelectrical energy of the plants triggers note changes as it fluctuates. Nayar describes the process as \u201can environmental feedback mechanism. It\u2019s based on galvanic resistance \u2013 the same principle by which simple lie detectors work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/music-and-mushrooms.jpg\")
The Musicians Making Music With Mushrooms <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/magic-mushrooms-1.jpg\")
John Cage was a Mushroom Stan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/John-Cage.jpeg\")
Rhythms of the Earth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pot Plants and Home Made Electrodes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shrooms.jpg\")
Translating the Vibrations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/small-mushroom.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/17-3.png\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"