I had noticed when we had company at our home and there was music and laughter our cat would come into the room, pointedly curious. The dogs would lay on the floor and their tails would thump and wag
The first I knew how much animals love music was when Fletcher Day turned 75. His wife, Sherry, had a surprise-party barn dance for him. While he sat in the corral by a campfire my daughter, his good friend Jenny Lester, played him a few fiddle tunes.
The horses in the nearby field started coming up, from a distance, to listen. Jenny crossed the corral fence into their field and three horses came in as close as they could. One even put its nose on her fiddle.
Not only land animals are drawn to the sound of music. While sitting on the edge of his boat in the Douglas Channel my son, Larry Lester, was singing and playing a few tunes on his guitar for his friend, Len Worhl. We watched as four killer whales came alongside as though curious and listening,
This year in Kenya, while at my son Rich Lester's place, throughout the day we had been watching herds of buffalo, elephants, zebras and impalas. The land surrounding our cabin and seven acres is cornered by the Borana Wildlife Conservancy. We are separated by an electric fence about 20 meters away from the cabin.
In the quickly growing dark, while still sitting at the outside dining table, the brothers and sister got out a guitar they bought together upon their arrival in Nairobi. It was Jenny’s turn with the guitar and during a short, hard Kenya rain that was pouring down, she sang Creedence Clearwater Revival’s, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain."
A herd of elephants must have been listening to the music too and walked almost single file alongside the electric fence separating them from us.
Unfortunately, I had just turned on my flash to catch a photo of the kids singing. The photo I tried to get of the elephants turned out black.
But fortunately, the flash gave me an opportunity to see a baby elephant with its mom, within the herd.
The sound of music is a balm to nature’s soul too.
