Birdsong in music
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Birdsonghas played a role inWestern classical musicsince at least the 14th century, when composers such asJean Vaillantquotedbirdsongin some of their compositions. Among the birds whose song is most often used in music are thenightingaleand thecuckoo.
Composers and musicians have made use of birdsong in their music in different ways: they can be inspired by the sounds; they can intentionally imitate birdsong in a composition; they can incorporate recordings of birds into their works, asOttorino Respighifirst did; or, like the cellistBeatrice Harrisonin 1924 and more recently thejazzmusicianDavid Rothenberg,they can duet with birds.
Authors including Rothenberg have claimed that birds such as thehermit thrushsing on traditional scales as used in human music, but at least one songbird, thenightingale wren,does not choose notes in this way. However, among birds which habitually borrow phrases or sounds from other species such as thestarling,the way they use variations of rhythm, relationships ofmusical pitch,and combinations ofnotescan resemble music. The similar motor constraints on human and avian song may have driven these to have similar song structures, including "arch-shaped and descending melodic contours in musical phrases", long notes at the ends of phrases, and typically small differences in pitch between adjacent notes, at least in birds with a strong song structure like theEurasian treecreeper.[1]
Influence on music
[edit]Musicologistssuch as Matthew Head andSuzannah Clarkbelieve thatbirdsonghas had a large though admittedly unquantifiable influence on the development of music.[2][3]Birdsong has influenced composers in several ways: they can be inspired by birdsong;[4]they can intentionally imitate bird song in a composition;[4]they can incorporate recordings of birds into their works;[5]or they can duet with birds.[6]
Imitations of birdsong
[edit]In classical music
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Sumer_is_icumen_in_-_Summer_Canon_%28Reading_Rota%29_%28mid_13th_C%29%2C_f.11v_-_BL_Harley_MS_978_%28detail%29.jpg/550px-Sumer_is_icumen_in_-_Summer_Canon_%28Reading_Rota%29_%28mid_13th_C%29%2C_f.11v_-_BL_Harley_MS_978_%28detail%29.jpg)
Composers have a variety of bird sounds to work with, from actual birdsong and calls to the appearance and movements of birds, whether real, fictional (like thephoenix) or indeed mechanical. They can choose to use these materials literally, imitating their sounds, as whenSergei Prokofievuses anoboefor the quacking of aduckinPeter and the Wolf;it may represent the birds symbolically; or it may give a general impression, as when Vivaldi paints a picture of birds moving and singing inThe Four Seasons.[4]Two especially popular birds are thenightingaleand thecuckoo.[4]The nightingale's song has been used by composers includingHandel,who quoted it in the aria "Sweet bird" inL'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,in the "Nightingale chorus" inSolomon,and in his Organ Concerto "No. 13", known as "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale". It appears in Rameau's operaHippolyte,Respighi'sThe BirdsandBeethoven'sThird Symphony.Nightingales can also be found in works byGlinka,Mendelssohn,Liszt,Balakirev,Grieg,Granados,Ravel,andMilhaud.[4]The cuckoo's distinctive call is used in the 13th-century English "Sumer is icumen in",probably the earliest instance of a birdcall in musical notation.[7][8]In 1650,Athanasius Kircherrepresented the calls of several birds in musical notation in his encyclopedicMusurgia Universalis.[9]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Kircher-musurgia-bird-song_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Kircher-musurgia-bird-song_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Heinrich Biber's c. 1669Sonata Representivais composed in sections labelled with the names of birds and other animals. It uses string scratching and detuned unisons to imitate thenightingale,cuckoo,cockerel and chicken.[10]Several composers have written works that portray multiple birds.Clément Janequin's 16th centuryLe Chant des oiseauxhas the singers mention birds by name, and then depicts the bird's songs with nonsense syllables.[4]Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1724Rappel des oiseauxindicates the presence of bird calls only in its title;[11]while John Walsh's c. 1715Bird Fancyer's Delightis a collection of short phrases labelled with bird names, which was intended to teach cage birds to sing.[12]
Among the major composers to imitate birdsong areBeethoven(Pastoral Symphony,2nd movement),Delius(On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring),Handel(The Cuckoo and the Nightingale), Respighi (The Birds),Rimsky-Korsakov(Snow Maidens),Dvořák,Saint-Saëns(Carnival of the Animals),Vivaldi(Concerto in A,The Cuckoo), andGustav Mahler(First Symphony,where the cuckoo singsperfect fourthsinstead of the usualmajor thirdorminor third).[13]
Less commonly imitated are thegreat tit(Anton Bruckner'sFourth Symphony), thegoldfinch(Vivaldi),linnet(Couperin,HaydnandRachmaninov),robin(Peter Warlock),swallow(Dvorak andTchaikovsky),wagtail(Benjamin Britten), andmagpie(in aMussorgskysong). Dvorak celebrated many other kinds of bird, including thestock dove,skylark,andhouse sparrow.[4]
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Among twentieth-century composers,Olivier Messiaenused birdsong extensively. HisCatalogue d'oiseauxis a seven-book set of solo piano pieces based on birdsong. His orchestral pieceRéveil des oiseauxis composed almost entirely of birdsong. Many of his other compositions, includingQuatuor pour la fin du temps,similarly integrate birdsong.[14]Messiaen noted that it was "especially difficult" to transcribe the timbres of birdsong for hisCatalogue d'oiseaux,as birdsong includes a wide variety ofharmonics;he found that he had to "resort to unusual combinations of notes", and that the piano "was the only instrument capable of speaking at the great speed and in the very high registers called for by some of the more virtuosic birds, such as thewoodlark,the skylark, thegarden warbler,theblackcap,the nightingale, thesong thrush,thesedge warblerand thereed warbler".[15]He added that only the piano could "imitate the raucous, grinding, percussive calls of theraven... the rattling of thecorncrake,the screeches of thewater rail,the barking of theherring gull,the dry, imperious sound, like tapping on a stone, of theblack-eared wheatear,and the sunny charm of therock thrush".[15]
Béla Bartóklikewise made extensive use of North American birdsong in hisPiano Concerto No. 3.[16]Carl Nielsenused representations of bird calls inSong of theSiskin,a rarely imitated bird,The First Lark,andSpringtime on Fyn,though much of the effect of birds on his work appears in his orchestral colours and time-patterns.[4]Jean Sibeliusclaimed that thecrane's call was the "leitmotivof my life ": it is imitated by clarinets in" Scene with Cranes "in his incidental music from Kuolema.[4]Sibelius'sSwan of Tuonelahas a sad melody on thecor anglais.[4]The music critic Rebecca Franks, listing six of the best pieces inspired by birdsong, praisesRalph Vaughan Williams's 1914The Lark Ascending,which begins with "A silvery solo violin line flutters and darts, reaching up ever higher above the orchestra's hushed, held chord. There's no other opening quite like it for instant atmosphere".[17]Hanna Tuulikki'sAway with the Birds(2013) is composed of traditional Gaelic songs and poems which imitate birdsong; its five movements represent waders, seabirds, wildfowl, corvids, and the cuckoo.[18]Other composers who have made extensive use of birdsong in their music includeEmily Doolittle[19]and Hollis Taylor.[20]
ThezoomusicologistHollis Taylor has charted the multiple techniques used by composers when appropriating the song of the Australianpied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis):[21]
In compositional design, pied butcherbird vocalisations have been the source in the parameters of melody, harmony, rhythm, gesture, contour, dynamic envelope, formal structure, phrase length (and the balance of sound and silence), scales, repetition, acoustic image, programmatic intent, and poetic or psychic inspiration. Their flute-like phrases have been assigned to piano and bass, clarinet and bassoon, xylophone and violin. They have been embedded in a stuffed toy.[21]
ComposerAlexander Liebermanntranscribes birdsong onto sheet music and incorporates bird calls into his compositions. Species he has transcribed include themusician wren(uirapuru), thecommon loon,thethrush nightingale,thewhite bellbird,theChinese hwamei,theJapanese bush warbler(uguisu), thecommon peafowl,theoropendola,thecuckoo,and theJavan pied starling,among others.[22]
In other musical traditions
[edit]The imitation of bird song was popular in stage performances in the United States, particularly during the era whenvaudevilleandChautauquawere popular. Gramophone recordings of whistling performances accompanied by instrumental music were also popular. Prominent performers in America includedCharles Crawford Gorst,Charles Kellogg,Joe Belmont,andEdward Avis;those in Britain included Alec Shaw andPercy Edwards.[23][24]
Amongjazzmusicians who have chosen to use sounds like birdsong arePaul Winter(Flyway) and Jeff Silverbush (Grandma Mickey).[25]TheimprovisatorysaxophonistCharlie Parker,known as "Bird", played fast, flowing melodic lines,[26]with titles such as "Yardbird Suite","Ornithology","Bird Gets the Worm",and" Bird of Paradise ".[27]
The scholar of folklore Imani Sanga identifies three ways that bird song is classified and perceived in an African context: that birds sing, are musicians, and are materials for composition. He notes that Western musicians likewise use birds in compositions. Sanga mentions that a 1982 study by Feld explained that inKalulimusic, birds are perceived as spirits that want to communicate with the living through their singing. He describes stories he grew up with in Africa, emphasizing that people made stories about birds to justify their presence around them. His perception of birds influenced his life daily, creating memories in which the common birds, ringed-neck doves and African ground hornbills, were important.[28]
The ethnographer Helena Simonett writes that theYoremeof northwestern Mexico play animal sounds including birdcalls on a "simple cane flute" in ritual performances withsinging, music,and dancing; theirsacred reality thus enactedinvolves transforming into the animals in their enchanted world.[29]
Use of recorded birdsong
[edit]The Italian composerOttorino Respighi,with hisPines of Rome(1923–1924), may have been the first to compose a piece of music that calls for pre-recorded birdsong. A few years later, Respighi wroteGli Uccelli( "The Birds" ),based onBaroquepieces imitating four different birds, one to each movement of the work after its prelude:[5]
- "Prelude" (based on the music ofBernardo Pasquini)[5]
- "La colomba" ( "Thedove",based on the music ofJacques de Gallot)[5]
- "La gallina" ( "Thehen",based on the music ofJean-Philippe Rameau)[5]
- "L'usignuolo" ( "Thenightingale",based on the folksong" Engels Nachtegaeltje "transcribed by recorder virtuosoJacob van Eyck)[5]
- "Il cucù" ( "Thecuckoo",based on the music of Pasquini)[5]
In 1972, the Finnish composerEinojuhani Rautavaarawrote the orchestral pieceCantus Arcticus(Opus 61, dubbedConcerto for Birds and Orchestra). It makes extensive use of recorded birdsong and bird calls from theArctic,such as the trumpeting of migratingswans.[30]
In the 1960s and 1970s, several popular music bands started to usesound effectsincluding birdsong in their albums. For example, the English bandPink Floydincluded bird sound effects in songs from their 1969 albumsMoreandUmmagumma(for example, "Grantchester Meadows"). Similarly, the English singerKate Bushused bird calls on her 2005 album,Aerial.[31][32]The well-known 1968song "Blackbird"bythe Beatlesincludes an actualEurasian blackbirdsinging in the background.[33]
The groupSweet Peoplereached theUK Top 5in 1980 with their track "Et Les Oiseaux Chantaient (And the Birds Were Singing)", which fused birdsong withambient music.Another track, consisting solely of acollageof different birdsong, was released as thecharity single"Let Nature Sing"in 2019 by theRoyal Society for the Protection of Birdsand reached number 18 on the UK chart.[34]
The French composerFrançois-Bernard Mâchehas been credited with the creation ofzoomusicology,the study of the music of animals. His 1983 essay "Musique, mythe, nature, ou les Dauphins d'Arion" includes a study of "ornitho-musicology", in which he speaks of "animal musics" and a longing to connect with nature.[35]
Other recent composers for whom recorded birdsong is a major influence includeR. Murray Schafer,Michel Gonneville,Rozalie Hirs,[36]andStephen Preston.[37]The Indian zoo-musicologist A. J. Mithra has composed music using natural bird, animal and frog sounds since 2008.[38]
Jonathan Harvey'sBird Concerto with Piano Song,premiered in 2003, makes use of the slowed-down song of American west coast birds including theorchard oriole,theindigo buntingand thegolden-crowned sparrow,so as to explore their complexity and ornamentation which are otherwise too rapid for the human ear to analyse.[8]
Stephen Nachmanovitch'sHermitage of Thrushes(released 2020) consists of ten pieces featuring the songs of a wide variety of birds, some of them slowed-down, in counterpoint with violin, viola, electric violin, and viola d'amore. The composer recorded the songs and created the music during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, all within a square mile of Virginia woodlands.[39]
Birdsong as music
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Nachtigall_%28Luscinia_megarhynchos%29-2.jpg/170px-Nachtigall_%28Luscinia_megarhynchos%29-2.jpg)
On 19 May 1924,Beatrice Harrison broadcastaBBCradio programme in which she played the cello in her garden inOxted,Surrey, alongside singingnightingales,attracted by her cello music.[b][6]This was the BBC's first everoutside broadcast.The duet was celebrated 90 years on by the violinist Janet Welsh inLincolnshire.[41]The philosopher andjazzmusicianDavid Rothenbergsimilarly played an impromptu duet in March 2000 with alaughingthrushat theNational AviaryinPittsburgh.[42]In the wild, male and female laughingthrushes sing complex duets, so "jamming" with a human clarinet player exploits the bird's natural behaviour.[43]The duet inspired Rothenberg's 2005 bookWhy Birds Sing.[44]Rothenberg has also recorded a duet with an Australianlyrebird.[42]InWhy Birds Sing,Rothenberg claims that birds vocalize traditional scales used in human music. He argues that birds like thehermit thrushsing on thepentatonic scale,while thewood thrushsings on thediatonic scale,as evidence that birdsong not only sounds like music, but is music in a human sense.[45]Rothenberg's ideas were explored in a 2006 BBC documentary with the same title as the book.[46][47]The claim that birds use fixedmusical intervals,as on a scale, is however contradicted by a 2012 study led by the ecologist Marcelo Araya-Salas. It showed that of 243 samples of thenightingale wren's song, only 6 matched the intervals used in scales.[c][48]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Pied_Butcherbird.jpg/170px-Pied_Butcherbird.jpg)
Luis Felipe Baptistaand Robin A. Keister argued in a 2005 paper "Why Birdsong is Sometimes Like Music" that the way birds use variations of rhythm, relationships ofmusical pitch,and combinations ofnotescan resemble music. They consider the theory that birds sometimes exploit variation in song to avoid monotony. They survey bird families that habitually borrow phrases or sounds from other species; theEuropean starlingis a well-studied borrower, and it inspired a composition byW. A. Mozart;seeMozart's starling.[50]
Adam Tierney and colleagues argued in a 2011 paper that the similar motor constraints on human and avian song drive these to have similar song structures, including "arch-shaped and descending melodic contours in musical phrases", long notes at the ends of phrases, and typically small differences in pitch between adjacent notes. They excluded birds like the European starling which use many buzzing or clicking noises that are inharmonic, working instead with birds with a strong pitch structure like the field sparrowSpizella pusilla(Emberizidae), the Eurasian treecreeperCerthia familiaris(Certhiidae) and the summer tanager,Piranga rubra(Thraupidae).[1]
Hollis Taylor argued in her 2017 book that the vocalizations of thepied butcherbirdare music, rebuttingmusicologicalobjections to this in detail. This was accompanied by birdsong-based "(re)compositions" based on avian transcriptions, paired with field recordings from the Australian outback.[51][52][49]
In ethnomusicology
[edit]Michael Silvers writes that multispeciesethnomusicology,especially of birds, can improve understanding of how music is produced and its purpose, and clarify what ethnomusicology is. He found some 150 ethnomusicology articles on birds. He noted thatBruno Nettl,discussingPersian classical music,stated that listening to the Nightingale was a metaphor; it never repeats its song, so listening to it signifies that that human music may not repeat either.[53][54]Laudan Nooshin uses Nettl's account of the nightingale to describekhalāqiat,musical improvisation, which however requires knowledge ofradif,the traditional repertory. The Nightingale is important culturally for its song, so musicologists must study its song to understand its improvisation, just as they must study human music to understand human musical improvisation.[55]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^The parrot is sayingχαίρε,chaire,'cheers', a familiar greeting in Greek.
- ^In the 1924 sound clip, Harrison is heard playing "Danny Boy"on the cello while the nightingales sing.[6]
- ^The Araya-Salas study did not investigate the song of species other than the nightingale wren, nor other aspects of musicality such as those explored by Adam Tierney.[48][1]
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