ElectroMagnetic Music: a new tool for attracting people's interest in Geosciences, while sensitizing them to planet sustainability

Abstract

In recent years, different sonification methods used to organize scientific work have come out of the scientific realm and crossed into other areas for purposes other than those pursued strictly by scientific research. ElectroMagnetic Music (EMusic), a project born in Italy, fits fully into this area. By transforming into musical pitches the voltage response collected by the transient electromagnetic method (TEM), a well-known geophysical tool for subsurface exploration, this novel approach enables us to extract musical pieces reflecting the geological setting and to provide a soundtrack (i.e. the soundscape or the audio component of a landscape). The soundscape becomes the basis from which a dedicated band improvises jazz music. Besides being a new method for creating music, the project not only has the ambitious goal of attracting people to Earth sciences and their investigative methods but also of raising awareness of the environmental problems that characterize geological sites through the music. In this work, we explore the EMusic experiences gained as a live band travelling around the world. We also report some preliminary data on people's reactions and anticipate some future plans to better assess the potential of the method as a good science communication tool.