Duets with nature : How natural acoustics affect the experience of performing Nordic herding music in outdoor settings

By employing an approach inspired by affect and theories on natural acoustics, this article explores how and what affects sound propagation outdoors and what role echoes and reverberation has in affective experiences of performing Nordic herding music outdoors. To study this, we traveled to eight summer farms (fäbodar) in Sweden together with seven herding musicians. We measured and described essential data of landscape, soundscape and airscape and instructed the musicians to try their vocal and instrumental sounds in different frequencies and timbres. We also asked them to evaluate their sounds and describe how they experienced the natural acoustics and how these experiences affected how they felt when they sang and played their horns. Putting together their answers with the data drawn from our measurements, the study shows that responses in nature is crucial for a positive experience of calling and playing horns. The results also tells us that when the aim of producing a sound is to reach far, and the musicians experience that they do just that, they experience emotions of joy, empowerment, satisfaction and being “one with nature” in a duet between the musician and the echoes of the forested mountains