Why don't more composers use birdsong?

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 10 Apr 18 - 03:34 AM



'onomatopoeia'

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 10 Apr 18 - 03:16 AM

The Irish 'Blackbird' air/set dance is an allegory for Bonnie Prince Charlie, not so much the bird.

But there are tunes like the 'Morning Thrush' which James Ennis composed based on the song of a thrush in the ivy outside his window. His son Séamus made a nice job of playing it.

There is also the recording 'The Grouse in the Heather' by PJ and Marcus Hernon that is a collection of tunes they composed :

The Grouse In The Heather
The Hunted Pheasant
The Snipe In The Marsh
The Curlew’s Cry
The Invisible Corncrake
The Peeping Plover
The Squeaking Woodcock
The Chattering Stormcock
The Musicial Thrush
The Herring Gull
The Diving Gannet
The Golden Plover
The Bobbing Sandpiper
The Linnet’s Chorus
The Beautifull Goldfinch
The Hovering Kestrel
The Lady’s Falcon
The Lonely Bittern
The Nesting Goldcrest
The Warbling Robin
The Kingfisher’s Delight
The Dark-eyed Raven
The Barefaced Crow

There's a bird theme there I think.

Tunes like The Gander in the Pratie Hole, The Geese in the Bog (and the Dogs among the Bushes) have an arguably an optional element of onamonapia when played on the pipes.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 10 Apr 18 - 03:13 AM

It would make live performances interesting.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: BobL
Date: 10 Apr 18 - 03:05 AM

Dogs (and wolves) also howl. I was told as a kid that this is the dog equivalent of singing: nearer the mark, community singing is the human equivalent of a group howl.

Hasn't musical use also been made of dolphin/whale sounds?

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 10 Apr 18 - 12:34 AM

Why do you think birds have "song" and dogs only have "bark"?

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Helen
Date: 10 Apr 18 - 12:00 AM

Hi Joe,

My original question was about birdsong, but hounds, or other animals are good too, just maybe not as beautiful as a butcherbird.

Some didgeridoo players can incorporate dog barking sounds into their music. Clever people!

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 10:56 PM

I don't want to divert from the original question, but are there compositions that use the sounds of dogs baying and barking and howling and whatnot? There is that one Loreena McKennitt song that uses the baying of hounds [The Stolen Child, lyrics by Yeats], but I'm thinking the original question is thinking of bird sounds reproduced by instruments or voices.
-Joe (who is partial to dogs)-

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Andy7
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 09:30 PM

That was VERY clever writing from Beethoven!

Although most bird songs are not so easily represented by notes on human musical instruments.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 08:26 PM

Don't forget the famous birdsong sequence from the second movement of Beethoven's 6th:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0QfstT-2TE

Wikipedia says: "Beethoven helpfully identified the bird species in the score: nightingale (flute), quail (oboe), and cuckoo (two clarinets)."

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 07:50 PM

Some butcherbird videos.

Grey Butcherbird song


About 2 minutes into this video there are four birds singing.

Pied Butcherbird chorus

Butcherbird solo

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Will Fly
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 06:18 PM

One of the reasons for non-use of birdsong may have been the difficulty in analysing it in eras before sound recordings became available.

There are lots of slowed-down videos of birdsong on YouTube - well worth a listen.

And there's the Finnish composer who incorporates bird recordings into his compositions.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 06:06 PM

Tattie Bogle,

It seems to me to be an amazing resource for musical inspiration. In fact, I wonder whether bird song may have been a major factor to inspire humans to create their own music, way back in the dim, distant past of humankind.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 05:55 PM

Messaien, yes. And my son: he went out and recorded curlews and other birds to put in his compositions.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 04:37 PM

Thanks Will.

I thought of the Irish tune called The Blackbird, after I posted this thread. I haven't heard blackbird song, either, but I just listened to it on an internet video.

I'll listen to all those works and I think I might have to retract my thread question.

The notes for the sixth piece by Olivier Messiaen is what I am getting at. He notated birdsong and then incorporated some of them into his works.

I'll have to hunt it down, but I have heard a birdsong related Australian orchestral work, however it seemed to be simply playing audio of birds singing while simultaneously playing "pretty" orchestral music. I only heard it once, and I might have to retract THAT statement as well, if I can find it again. LOL

Helen

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Jos
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 04:35 PM

Pablo Casals's El cant dels ocells (The Song of the Birds).
A Catalan song/tune that he made widely known.

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Will Fly
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 04:18 PM

And there's this...

http://www.classical-music.com/article/six-best-birdsong-pieces

Subject: RE: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Will Fly
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 04:14 PM

There was an English composer who, some years ago, made recordings of a skylark which he slowed down, analysed and then used as the basis of a composition. I'll do some digging...

Subject: Why don't more composers use birdsong?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 03:45 PM

Hi all,

I've been thinking about this for some years, especially when I listen to the birdsong virtuoso of Oz, the grey butcherbird. These birds have an amazing repertoire and I have read that they can pick up on sounds around them, e.g. ringtones on phones, and incorporate them into their songs. Search for videos online for more examples of their songs.

I keep wondering why composers of music don't use birdsong more as an inspiration for their music.

Top 40 Bird Songs - Australia

In fact, I started thinking about it again recently after listening to the tune called
The Wagtail , referred to in this Mudcat thread
Name this tune

I know there are some tunes, which I imagine are based on the birds named e.g. The Lark in the Clear Air, or The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams (I haven't ever heard a lark except maybe on TV), but how many more do you know about? Are there more tunes out there that I am just not aware of?

Helen