Music Inspired by Wisconsin Wildlife
“Sounds Wild: Music at the Zoo” is a curated playlist to help you think about Wisconsin wildlife in a whole new way!
Each piece has been selected by WPR Music staff to show you something about an animal’s personality!
AT THE ZOO
Scan a QR code at the Wildwood Park & Zoo in Marshfield to hear songs matched to your favorite animals.
ON THE WEB
Scroll through the list below to find your favorite animal and the music it inspires!
American Bison
Piece: Pioneer Dances, Opening Movement
Composer: Peggy Stuart Coolidge
Curator: Stephanie Elkins, host of “Morning Classics”
This music was inspired by the 19th-century American settlers, who encountered many new animals – including American bison – as they ventured west. Imagine the stamping hooves of a massive American bison herd in the opening notes of the piece.
American Elk
Piece: Elk’s Courting Song
Composer: Traditional (flutist: Scott With Horn, Lakota from Crow Creek, South Dakota)
Curator: Síle Shigley, host of “Simply Folk”
During the breeding season, male American elk woo potential mates with flutelike calls, known as “bugling.” Inspired by these calls and guided by their spiritual leaders, young men of the Lakota people serenaded their sweethearts by playing melodic imitations of elk call, such as this traditional courting song, on special flutes known as “courting flutes.”
Bald Eagle
Piece: Soaring Eagle/Setting Sun (5th Movement) from the Americana Symphony
Composer: Mark O’Connor
Curator: Stephanie Elkins, host of “Morning Classics”
Mark O’Connor, the composer of this piece, imagined climbing the Rocky Mountains to see the setting sun, with bald eagles soaring high above. Listen for a sense of elation as the hiker reaches the peak and the eagle flies joyously overhead.
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
Piece: Enigma Variations – No. 2, HDS-P
Composer: Edward Elgar
Curator: Stephanie Elkins, host of “Morning Classics”
Prairie dogs are busy creatures, ducking here and there, foraging for food, sharing and squabbling with their fellow colony members and scolding potential predators. This humorous piece pops up and scurries around, always busy, just like a prairie dog colony.
Canadian Lynx & Northern Bobcat
Piece: Cat Fugue Kk30
Composer: Domenico Scarlatti
Curator: Jason Heilman, host of “Drivetime Classics”
Scarlatti wrote this piece about his cat, but it describes the nocturnal lynx and bobcat just as well. The piece alternates between slow, prowling notes and fast, scampering phrases that embody everything feline about these shy, sinuous wildcats.
Common Chuckwalla
Piece: Verano Porteno
Composer: Astor Piazzola (arr. Pius Cheng)
Curator: Joy Ratchkramer, Central Region Outreach Specialist
The common chuckwalla spends most of its time absorbing the sun’s rays, but it isn’t lazy! When it wants to, it can run surprisingly fast. As you listen to Pius Cheung’s marimba arrangement of Piazzola’s “Verano Porteno,” picture the chuckwalla sunning itself on a rock, then taking off across the desert sands.
Cougar
Piece: Sonata Cougar Mountain, Op. 390: IV. Cougar Mountain Dance
Composer: Alan Hovhaness
Curator: Síle Shigley, host of “Simply Folk”
Cougars are stealthy predators. They hunt by night and lie in wait to leap onto their unsuspecting prey. As you listen to this piece, imagine a precarious chase between the cougar and its prey, now stalking, now sprinting, now leaping from above to capture a meal.
Eastern Hognose Snake
Piece: Prairie Song
Composer: Carl Strommen
Curator: Joy Ratchkramer, Central Region Outreach Specialist
Western hognose snakes inhabit sandy, gravelly areas, especially sand prairies. Picture the snake stretching and sunning itself in the opening notes of this piece.
Eastern Tiger Salamander
Piece: On Safari: IV. Lizard. Moderato
Composer: Paul Harris
Curator: Katy Lang, Central Regional Manager
Eastern tiger salamanders are masters of camouflage. As you listen to this piece and look for the salamander in his habitat, imagine him burrowing into loose soil and disappearing from the view of both predators and the tasty insects he hunts.
Great Horned Owl
Piece: The Owls
Composer: Peter Jenkyns
Curator: Síle Shigley, host of “Simply Folk”
Great Horned Owls are not nest builders – instead, they choose nests abandoned by other large birds, cliff ledges or hollow trees like the one described in this song. Their hearing is so specialized that they can tell the difference between their visitors’ heartbeats and how far away different heartbeats are, all without looking. You can hear one of these heartbeats reflected in the rhythm of the song.
Kodiak Bear
Piece: Der alte Brummbaer (The Grouchy Old Bear)
Composer: Julius Fucik
Curator: Jason Heilman, host of “Drivetime Classics”
Like us, Kodiak Bears have a complex language and social structure that they use to express their feelings and avoid dangerous fights. Listen for the bears’ many moods in this piece, from the grouchy and grumbly bassoon at the beginning to playful wrestling and frolicking in the polka section.
North American Porcupine
Piece: Nocturnal, after John Dowland
Composer: Benjamin Britten (arr. Julian Bream)
Curator: Lori Skelton, host of “Afternoon Classics”
Listen for the nocturnal porcupine’s unusual, waddling gait in the “march” section of this piece, and consider how the plucked guitar strings might remind you of the porcupine’s signature quills.
Ornate Box Turtle
Piece: Bossa Jazz Rhythm of the Turtle
Composer: The Myth of the Turtle
Curator: Joy Ratchkramer, Central Region Outreach Specialist
Ornate box turtles love to roam, burrow and even climb! As you listen to this piece, imagine the turtle waking in the spring and digging his way out of an underground burrow to explore a habitat filled with oak trees and delicious snacks, like beetles, caterpillars and berries.
Peregrine Falcon
Piece: Perpetual Motion (Perpetuum Mobile)
Composer: Johann Strauss, Jr.
Curator: Lori Skelton, host of “Afternoon Classics”
With a diving speed of more than 200 mph, the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on earth. Like a falcon speeding after airborne prey, the orchestra doesn’t stop in this rapid musical chase.
Red Fox
Piece: Mr. Fox in the Fields
Composer: Alexander Desplat
Curator: Peter Bryant, WPR Music Program Director
Red foxes are inquisitive, creative, high-energy problem solvers. The light, rapid notes of this piece reflect the fox’s cleverness and agility with a sense of mischief and fun.
Red-Tailed Hawk
Piece: Lark Ascending
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Curator: Joy Ratchkramer, Central Region Outreach Specialist
Like the lark in Vaughan Williams’ piece, red-tailed hawks soar above farm fields, riding currents of warm air high in the sky. Picture them swooping, soaring and diving high above the Wisconsin landscape along with the melody of this piece.
Sandhill Crane
Piece: Crane Song
Composer: Tenzin Choegyal
Curator: Síle Shigley, host of “Simply Folk”
Like the lark in Vaughan Williams’ piece, red-tailed hawks soar above farm fields, riding currents of warm air high in the sky. Picture them swooping, soaring and diving high above the Wisconsin landscape along with the melody of this piece.
Screech Owl
Piece: Erik Satie – Gnossienne No.1
Composer: Erik Satie
Curator: Joy Ratchkramer, Central Region Outreach Specialist
Despite their name, screech owls don’t actually screech. Instead, they trill and whinny like horses! The melodic sections of this piece have a similar tremolo, with a touch of nocturnal mystery appropriate to the night-hunting screech owl.
Stick Insects
Piece: Grasshopper’s Dance
Composer: Ernest Bucalossi
Curator: Stephanie Elkins, host of “Morning Classics”
Like grasshoppers, stick insects have an insatiable craving for leaves and a peculiar form of locomotion. As you listen to this jaunty early recording, consider how the stick insect sways and dances as it walks, pretending to be a twig in the wind.
Striped Skunk
Piece: Foggy Mountain Special
Composer: Jeff Autry
Curator: Joy Ratchkramer, Central Region Outreach Specialist
Mostly active at night, skunks are curious, playful and destructive creatures. They need constant stimulation. Quick, playful bluegrass matches their busy, inquisitive energy.
White-Tailed Deer
Piece: The Pines of Rome: “I pini del Gianicolo”
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Curator: Rick Reyer, retired Central Regional Manager
This peaceful nocturne – (a piece that evokes a nighttime scene – paints a picture of a full moon shining on a hillside forest. The gentle sway of the notes in this piece could easily accompany white-tailed deer grazing peacefully in a forest clearing or meadow.