Music & Plants

Best wishes to everyone! Here is a little plantastic escapism to entertain you. [We recorded this episode on 2/28 and added a little coronavirus check-in intro on 3/21. Episode begins around 4:19.]

Can plants “hear” music? What would plant-generated music sound like? On this episode, Leah and Colleen attend “The Secret Song of Plants,” the release party for an album of the same name by music therapist Andrea Cortez. Accompanying Andrea is cellist Henna Chou and… a pothos ivy?!?! 

Join us as we dive deep into the world of plant music, plant sentience, and philosophy, from the Plant Wave, to The Secret Life of Plants, to Mort Garson’s “Plantasia,” and beyond. 

Watch the Secret Life of Plants documentary here.

Also mentioned in this episode:  

“Inside the Spiritual World of Plant Based Instruments” (Vice magazine, 2016); “Data Garden Quartet” at Philadelphia Museum of Art (2012); Multiple intelligences; “Rock or Bach an Issue to Plants, Singer Says” (New York Times, 1971); In Search of … Other Voices with Leonard Nimoy (TV series, 1977)

PS. In our research, we found several great podcast episodes on the topic of plants and music and tried not to rehash too much territory. Highly recommend you check out: “Smarty Plants” (Radiolab, 2018); “Plants That Sing” (Twenty Thousand Hertz, 2019); “The Secret Life of Plants” (The Organist, 2018), “Are Plants Listening?” (Sound Meditation Radio, 2020).