I wrote Bee Kind as a means to reshape the false narrative that bees are dangerous pests when in fact they are our allies that are essential to the health of our global ecosystem.
With the exception of Africanized honey bees, bees are not aggressive unless they are provoked or perceive a threat, and they are generally harmless to humans who are not allergic to them. This track aims to transform any reflexive or instinctual fear associated with the distinctive buzz sound of bees into a reflex of joy and celebration.
Bee Kind is the second movement of a multi-movement project, titled Through the Sonic Glass, that explores various sonic phenomena that would be perceived as dangerous in real life made safe by putting it into a virtual and musical context. It was written as a part of my fellowship with the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
All samples used were obtained from freesound.org under a Creative Commons license. Full attributions (“sample title” – username):
“Footsteps” – crooner
“Bees” – eartrumpet
“Bee01” – iainmccurdy
“Bee02” – iainmccurdy
“calm forest April NL Kampina 03 200401_0141” – klankbeeld
“Bee” – w0lfgang1
This track is available for digital download purchase on Bandcamp.