I recently watched The 11th Hour Leonardo di Caprio’s documentary. In the special features section at the end, where possible solutions to the urgent problem of climate change are discussed, Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature spoke about the concept of biomimicry.
She writes: “Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a new discipline that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example. I think of it as ‘innovation inspired by nature.’"
It occurred to me today that we can also use those principles to write better songs...in fact, I'm pretty sure it's something some of us do intuitively. It's nice to have a name for it.
Today, my challenge was to write two linked songs which would be played consecutively (kind of like Queen’s “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions”). One of the songs had to do with a bridge, and they both had to do with the relationship between land, water and sky. That really got me going on the idea of interconnectedness.
I’ve always viewed song elements as a series of connected elements, forming patterns within a larger structure. This seems in line with biomimicry. The stronger the connections between the elements of the song, the stronger the whole thing will be. In turn, that stronger song will contribute to a stronger connection between human beings, while mirroring and celebrating the natural world we need to protect. That's the kind of song that can help sustain life.
In The 11th Hour, Janine Benyus suggests that to find solutions to the world’s problems, we might ask ourselves: “What would nature do?” She points out that Nature’s methods have often proven to be stronger and more beautiful than the high tech solutions human beings have come up with so far.
So, how can I apply the principles of biomimicry to songwriting? Here are a few ideas:
- Build a web of interconnected elements
- Seek balance and harmony
- Make efficient use of all materials (every note & word counts)
- Create patterns…and patterns within patterns.
- Don’t overcomplicate
- Encourage growth (development of melody, of ideas) within a sustainable structure
- Take your time.
3 comments:
Lynn,
Very cool applications of biomimicry!
Not sure about your "Don't overcomplicate" only because life is actually very complex. Life is built on simple units but is very inter-connected in complex webs.
Maybe you were referring to one of Life's Principles in the biomimicry discipline "optimizing rather than maximizing?"
In any case, you can test your challenges against Life's Principles at the Biomimicry Institute website:
http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/biomimicry-a-tool-for-innovation.html
Cheers, Phytosleuth
Thank you for clarifying that point. I think "optimizing rather than maximizing" is a terrific principle for songwriters. We need to ask "how much complexity (how much detail, how many sections, how much melodic variation...) is needed to make this particular song effective? Sometimes less is more, sometimes more is more. That's also "Fitting Form to Function"...as is so accurately linked in the chart.
The more I read about biomimicry, the more I feel its principles can be applied to songwriting and other artistic endeavors (which, after all, are design challenges). It's very exciting! Thanks!
Post a Comment