Composing 'Eaten Alive': Exploring the Intersection of Climate Change and Global Fish Production through Sonification

The climate crisis has become one of the most pressing existential issues facing humankind. In a past era, the connection between ocean health and life on Earth might have been less clear. Today, however, the evidence pointing to the ocean’s vital role in sustaining planetary life is undeniable. The mass extraction of fish since the burgeoning of the fishing industry in the twentieth century has had a devastating impact on the ocean’s biodiversity and ecosystem. The composition ‘Eaten Alive for String Quintet, Tape, and Electronics Processing’ sonifies the intersection of climate change and global fish production. The process of composing the piece unfolded though: (1) gathering existing research describing the relationship between these two phenomena, (2) developing the compositional concept and sourcing the relevant datasets, (3) programming a sonification tool that would both satisfy the requirements of the piece’s framework and support the expression of musical aesthetics, and (4) composing ‘Eaten Alive.’ The composition represents the author’s attempt at bringing awareness to the relationship between climate change and global fish production through musical sonification. The process and considerations behind the data sonification and composition of the work are detailed in this paper.