Crickets will change their pitch to harmonize with you.
As I was reading on my patio one evening, the first crickets of the year began to tune up. I won’t expound here now on my joy at their return. I’ll just present a music theory.
When the crickets began to sing, their rhythm, tempo, and cheery chirping sounded just like Jerry Dale McFadden’s keyboard intro to the Mavericks’ “Back in Your Arms Again,” which, for ease of reference, I transcribe here:
Jump to much later, after midnight.
I’m inside now, playing guitar and singing some other song. I realize that all the crickets sing in the same key. Let’s say it was A.
I changed, experimentally, to C, sang a bit, and paused.
They had all joined me.
A big glass window separated us now, but they heard me just as clearly as I heard them. We harmonized.
Oft-repeated tests prove the scientific truth of this theory. I researched what my bandmates do besides sing, but who cares? Permit me, though, to state that the theory of my entomologist peers that crickets sing by rubbing their buggy parts together is utter bullshit.
Some corollaries: Many crickets commence singing all at once, as if by magic, or more logically, conducted by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, their tempo rapid, initially. As night plods on, the tempo slows, and singers drop away, though one or two will serenade you all night long and ensure your dreams are sweet.
Crickets change their pitch to harmonize with you.
Ee ee ee ee Ee ee ee eeSo I sang some lines, although I didn’t know what key my singers had chosen. I did it to show my gratitude at having a new band, and to celebrate their return, thereby establishing the basis of my theory:
Ee ee ee ee Ee ee ee ee
“Once I said I’d never want your love again!”
Ee ee ee ee Ee ee ee ee, et cetera
“You showed up tonight and proved me wrong.”
Jump to much later, after midnight.
I’m inside now, playing guitar and singing some other song. I realize that all the crickets sing in the same key. Let’s say it was A.
I changed, experimentally, to C, sang a bit, and paused.
They had all joined me.
A big glass window separated us now, but they heard me just as clearly as I heard them. We harmonized.
Oft-repeated tests prove the scientific truth of this theory. I researched what my bandmates do besides sing, but who cares? Permit me, though, to state that the theory of my entomologist peers that crickets sing by rubbing their buggy parts together is utter bullshit.
Some corollaries: Many crickets commence singing all at once, as if by magic, or more logically, conducted by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, their tempo rapid, initially. As night plods on, the tempo slows, and singers drop away, though one or two will serenade you all night long and ensure your dreams are sweet.
Crickets change their pitch to harmonize with you.
| Copyright © 2023 by Pat Hamilton Pat Hamilton has written three novels, hundreds of songs, and a handful of book reviews for the papers. He taught College English for 30 years, which helps him blend popular and classic literature in his writing. As an Army brat, he traveled the USA and Europe before settling into the beauty of Tennessee, but the rock star he used to be still lives on inside him. |
Charming and enjoyable, Pat. Love this.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind praise, Bettina.
DeleteDude this is totally cool. I was in the bug business for over 40 years, but did not know this. Normally guys like me focus on periodomestic economic species, home-infesting bugs someone will pay you to kill. But I studied insect behavior in college, so I'm not the average bugs guy, and insects have always fascinated me. What I do know is that the rate at which crickets chirp rises with the temperature, and there are formulas that can tell you the approximate temperature in both F and C. Their chirping isn't their legs but their wings, the top of which are called "scrapers" and the bottoms "files". Them scraping along the file ridges produces the sounds we love, that I grew up hearing in my sleep, before air conditioning. I am also a musician, and to know they tune up with you is so utterly fascinating. And well and effectively written. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, musician friend! I hope you'll put my theory to the test sometime.
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