Rebekah Driscoll

Testing the Second Breath

Year: 2014

Duration (in minutes): 9'39;

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: electronic and computer works, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, woodwind ensemble

Instruments: any woodwind, bassoon, electronics, flute, tape

Publisher: Rebekah Driscoll Music

Description: Testing the Second Breath refers to the maxim that half the Earth’s oxygen is generated by marine life. “Take two breaths,” conservationists say. “The second comes from the ocean.” Of course, we could attribute the first breath to the ocean’s phytoplankton and the second to trees and other land plants; the sentence structure illustrates our tendency to prioritize the things we can most easily see, and the environment where we spend the most time.
The voices on the recording describe various ways human beings have affected the ocean: overfishing, acidification, plastics pollution, contamination from construction, oil and nuclear spills. These activities have created a “quiet crisis” which endangers many lifeforms, on land as well as in the sea, and yet is not obviously felt by most people in developed countries. Solutions will require sustained attention to the consequences of our lifestyles—especially in areas that are difficult to see.