Finally today, the dictionary defines music -- in part -- as "the art of arranging tones in an orderly sequence."

You don't always need instruments to do that. Sometimes nature does the job -- without human intervention.

And Michael Peters likes to record the result. Peters is a musician living in Cologne, Germany. He recently went on vacation to Barbados -- in the Caribbean -- and took along his microphone.

Field Recordings from Barbados | Michael Peters
Gr 063 | Gruen CD-R
Field Recording Series by Gruenrekorder
Gruenrekorder / Germany / 2009 / Gr 063 / LC 09488
http://gruenrekorder.de/shop/

1. Whistling Tree Frogs (25:23)

Michael Peters writes: "Recorded in Bathsheba on the wild east coast of Barbados. Every nightfall is celebrated by a chorus of a million whistling tree frogs (Eleutherodactylus johnstonei), singing over a background of palm trees rustling in the wind, and the distant drone of the Atlantic Ocean. These tree frogs are tiny - on one night, I crawled around on a field with a flashlight, trying to find the frog that I heard whistling directly in front of me, but without success. The incessant, almost static, quite loud sound tapestry woven from ocean, wind, cicadas, and the pointillist tone cluster of the whistling frogs, going on for hours every night, conveyed to me a strong sense of timelessness."

2. Giant Bamboo

"Very large specimen of these magnificent bamboo trees can be found in many places on Barbados. Even on a moderately windy day, such a bamboo produces a wide range of sounds, from piano (leaving space for the occasional birdsong or frog whistling) to a sudden fortissimo, turning the bamboo stems into a clattering, rustling, squeaking percussion orchestra. This one was recorded in a magical tropical garden called “Flower Forest”. During the recording, I was drinking coffee while watching green monkeys having lunch in the top branches of a giant breadfruit tree."