100 years of peonies sounds like

U-M doctoral candidate creates sonic interaction with legendary floral garden The newly minted W.E. Upjohn Peony Garden is celebrating 100 years of peonies, approaching the end of their season at the University of Michigan's Nichols Arboretum. But now, thanks to Alexis Lamb, a U-M Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition candidate, a visit to the peony garden engages not only the senses of sight and scent, but also sound. "Hybrid Cultivars,” created by Lamb, consists of 27 single-pipe chimes installed throughout the garden. Each chime plays a similar pitch, so as you walk among the flower beds you are immersed in a drone-like sound of the collective chimes as they interact with different natural elements and humans. This is Lamb's way of encouraging people to "open their ears to what is already around them.” "I love spending time outside and just listening to what is happening around me, so I have been trying to find ways in which I can use music to compliment that, rather than get in the way of it,” she said. By foraging natural elements from the arboretum where the installation is set, Lamb assembles what she calls a "nature orchestra” of rocks, acorn tops, pinecones, pine needle brushes, sticks, and even deer bones. These pieces are attached to the chimes amplifying the sounds that the natural world is always creating with the materials around us.