During the spring and summer months, we have been entertained by nature’s concerts. Now, with the August heat, we are coming to the end of the concerts given by the birds and frogs. The birds have finished their nesting season, which means there is no reason for the males to protect their territories, and the singing has practically stopped.

The frogs are burying themselves in the mud to escape the heat, and their concerts.

However, this is the time for our late summer and fall concerts to begin. The high-pitched songs of the crickets, katydids, grasshoppers and cicadas are the stars of these concerts. It’s the male insects serenading the females, with a mixture of chirps, trills, ticks, scrapes and buzzes. These concerts will continue until a heavy frost brings the concerts to a close.

Humans listened to nature’s music, learning the beat, pitch, rhythm and harmony. We began to imitate the birds, frogs and insects. Instruments were made from items in nature to help man in creating this music.

Insects have inspired man in composing music. There have been seven pieces of classical music that have been inspired by insects. Possibly, the only classical piece that I would be able to identify is “The Flight of the Bumblebee.”

The chorus of insects has always intrigued humans. Many famous composers have written classical pieces about insects. Rimsky Korsakov’s “The Flight of the Bumble Bee” has been transcribed for just about every orchestral instrument.

Other well-known pieces are Josquin Des Pres. El Grillo, the Cricket; Chopin, The Bees; Mussorsqky, Song of the Flea; Bartok, The Diary of a Fly; Vaughan Williams, The Wasp and Shostakovich, The Gadfly.

There are several songs about insects and animals that I remember, and one is “The Blue-Tailed Fly.” When I was a young boy, our family sang this song repeatedly while in the car. It wasn’t until I looked up the lyrics to this song that I learned that it was a minstrel song and a favorite song of Abraham Lincoln because it reflected a slave’s attitude towards his master on a Southern plantation. It was said that Abraham Lincoln played his harmonica along with the song to imitate the buzzing of the blue-tailed fly.

“Jimmy, crack corn, I don’t care

Jimmy, crack corn and I don’t care

Jimmy, crack corn and I don’t care

My master’s gone away”

The last verse: “One day, he ride around the farm

The flies so numerous, they did swarm

One chanced to bite him on the thigh

The devil take the blue tail fly”

A blue-tail fly bites the horse, causing it to buck, and the master to be thrown and killed.

The other song was a nursery rhyme, in which the lyrics were to aid memory retention. How many of you remember singing the song. “I knew an old lady, who swallowed a fly,” with each verse swallowing a larger animal? The last verse is a memory tune.

“There was an old lady who swallowed a cow

I don’t know how she swallowed a cow.

She swallowed the cow to catch the dog

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly

I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – Perhaps she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse…

She’s dead – of course!”

The pitched songs of crickets, katydids, grasshoppers and cicadas are a prominent element of summer’s end and early fall in most of North America. These wonderful musicians chirp, click, zip, rattle, and lisp from trees, shrubs, lawns, fields, woodlands — from just about all habitats, and sometimes from inside our home.

The following are songs written about insects: Itsy Bitsy Spider; I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly; The Blue-tailed Fly; I’m Scooping Up a Baby Bumble Bee; Lucky Little Cricket; Inch Worm; The Death of Mister Fly; Never Argue With a Bee; If I Was a Butterfly; I Wish I Was a Little Musky-Toe (mosquito).

Our most musical insects are the katydids. Their call is more familiar to us than their appearance. The reason for this is that not many people are curious enough to take the time to locate where the calling is coming from.

The katydid is known as the “true katydid” because it was the first species to have its call transcribed.

The common true katydid produces the repetitive song for which katydids are named; the song sounds as if the grasshopper is saying “katy-did, katy-didn’t.”

However each species of katydid has its own rasping song, which is produced when the forewings (one of which is ridged) are rubbed together. Although katydid songs are species-specific, different species can hear one another’s calls.

Songs differ as to their purpose, which could be reproductive, territorial, aggressive or defensive in nature.

The katydid’s call is not actually a call because it is made by the insect rubbing its wings together. This built in fiddle can play only one monotonous two or three-note tune “Katy-did or Katy-didn’t” all depending on what you want to hear. My insect book tells me that the three note “Katy-didn’t” is heard less often.

The second-best singers are the crickets. However, if you have a cricket in your house, it’s singing will drive you crazy until you can locate and catch the insect. Of course, you’ll have to release it outside because it is said to be bad luck to kill a cricket.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.