birdsong as a compositional resource

can anyone direct me to any compositions based on birdsong on any level?

for example:

pieces that use direct or somehow manipulated recordings of birdsong
pieces that use birdsong as inspiration, that is, mapping what they hear
in birdsong to some kind of system of rhythm and pitch.
any other kind of interaction between sound art and birdsong that you
may have encountered!

i know this question was partially addressed in a previous posting, but
i could use a lot more examples - as well as a reposting of the previous
examples (i'm doing a final project (graduate study) on birdsong as a
compositional resource).

merlyn wrote:
>
> can anyone direct me to any compositions based on birdsong on any level?
>
> for example:
>
> pieces that use direct or somehow manipulated recordings of birdsong
> pieces that use birdsong as inspiration, that is, mapping what they hear
> in birdsong to some kind of system of rhythm and pitch.
> any other kind of interaction between sound art and birdsong that you
> may have encountered!
>
> i know this question was partially addressed in a previous posting, but
> i could use a lot more examples - as well as a reposting of the previous
> examples (i'm doing a final project (graduate study) on birdsong as a
> compositional resource).

One of the cool features of EGroups.com is how each list
has it's own search engine.

Check out Birdhouse at http://microtones.com

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* 49/32 R a d i o "all microtonal, all the time"
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

> can anyone direct me to any compositions based on birdsong on any level?

Trevor Wishart in the UK has done quite a bit with digital processing of
birdsong. He's written two books, "On Sonic Art" and "Audible Design", both
of which come with CDs. "Audible Design" is hard to find, but I managed to
get a copy from http://www.cdemusic.org/. Wishart's home page is
http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/music/mus_pub/wishart.htm. "Red Bird" is one
composition of his that I know uses birdsong.
--
M. Edward Borasky
mailto:znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com

Cold leftover pizza: it's not just for breakfast any more!

I'm very interested in idea of using pitches transcribed from birdsong.

There's lot's of material in 12-tet, including a few modern exs with lots of fast
grace notes, but I think that is rather a strange system to use for transcribing
bird song! Then there is use of actual bird song recordings, which is interesting,
but doesn't really count as transcription of it.

Then there are sonograms by the hundred, but they have little in the way
of pitch resolution, you can't even easily tell nearest 12-tet note.

So I'm still on the search for any material on the subject, with no success so far.
Would be interested to hear if you have found anything, or turn anything up at a
future stage!

Bird-song waves look pretty much sinusoidal a lot of the time. So I'm planning
to make my previous attempts at transcribing by ear more accurate by actually
counting waves, and calculating the frequency for a particular number of waves.

In order to do this, I plan at some time to make a small Windows App to count
waves - idea is you show the wave form, can play any section of it, then ask it
to find the average frequency for that section exactly by counting waves and
measuring the time for the whole waves it found.

One could also mark out a number of sections by hand in one go (click and drag markers,
play button will play which ever section you click on, etc.), and get it to show all the
pitches and times for them, plus rests for the ones in between, and so automatically
transcribe the entire phrase for you.

It's still v. much at the planning stage, and also, I wonder if there is any tool
available that will already do this, or something like this, to high pitch resolution.

Anyone know?

I found while transcribing by ear that often what seems like a single note is actually
made up of a number of discrete microtones when you listen to it carefully, and play
one section at a time. For instance a held note might end with a tiny one-hundredth
second note in a new pitch.

Fascinating subject,

Robert Walker

In a message dated 10/29/00 1:13:10 AM !!!First Boot!!!,
robert_walker@rcwalker.freeserve.co.uk writes:

> It's still v. much at the planning stage, and also, I wonder if there is
any
> tool
> available that will already do this, or something like this, to high pitch
> resolution.
>
> Anyone know?

Maybe Matlab. Can anyone who uses Matlab tell us if it has this capability?
I've heard that it does but I don't own Matlab and can't say for sure.

--- In tuning@egroups.com, AMiltonF@a... wrote:
> In a message dated 10/29/00 1:13:10 AM !!!First Boot!!!,
> robert_walker@r... writes:
>
> > It's still v. much at the planning stage, and also, I wonder if
there is
> any
> > tool
> > available that will already do this, or something like this, to
high pitch
> > resolution.
> >
> > Anyone know?
>
> Maybe Matlab. Can anyone who uses Matlab tell us if it has this
capability?
> I've heard that it does but I don't own Matlab and can't say for
sure.

Matlab can perform very sophisticated frequency analysis when you
augment it with some of the optional toolboxes, like the signal
processing toolbox and the wavelet toolbox. These can be pretty
pricey, though. On its own, Matlab can do garden-variety ffts and
such, but that might not be the tool of interest when trying to pick
up on rapid frequenc

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Walker [mailto:robert_walker@rcwalker.freeserve.co.uk]
> Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2000 6:11 PM
> To: tuning@egroups.com
> Subject: [tuning] Re:birdsong as a compositional resource
>
> It's still v. much at the planning stage, and also, I wonder if
> there is any tool
> available that will already do this, or something like this, to
> high pitch resolution.

You might look at CDP (Composers Desktop Project), developed by, among
others, the Trevor Wishart I referred to in an earlier message. The URL is
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masjpf/CDP/CDP.htm. CDeMusic has something that looks
similar, called GRM Tools. They sent me a free CD supposedly containing demo
versions, but my CD reader didn't see anything there. The URL for this one
is http://www.cdemusic.org/special/grm/index.html.
--
M. Edward Borasky
mailto:znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com

Cold leftover pizza: it's not just for breakfast any more!

>can anyone direct me to any compositions based on birdsong on any
level?

check out the film score to "Heimat" by Edgar Reitz (director) and
Nikos Mamangakis (composer). Late in this 10 hour film, a young
composer, Hermann,
(who later becomes the central figure of the far longer sequal, "Die
Zweite Heimat")
is experimenting with electronically maniplated birdsong. It must be
the 2nd or
3rd episode from the end. I don't really remember the music, but it
is there,
and Hermann is dissatisfied with his effort, which involves
expensive
new electronic equipment he is just learning his way around. "No,
the sound
must be destroyed more," he exclaims at one point.

The musical piece sets up a dramatic twist, for when it is
performed, only the
meta-narrator of the whole movie, Glasisch, recognizes the local
birdsong for what it
is. In other words everyone else in the home village thinks of
Hermann as now
completely alienated, but Glasisch recognizes the influence of home
sounds in the
rebellious music.

BTW, there is a LOT of interesting music in both Heimat and Die
Zweite Heimat.
In this case, the actual electronic distortions of birdsong are
heard for probably less
than a minute, so it's not really a complete piece, I reckon.

Brendan Frost
Washington, D.C.

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "Robert Walker" wrote:

> http://www.egroups.com/message/tuning/15133
>
> I found while transcribing by ear that often what seems like
> a single note is actually made up of a number of discrete
> microtones when you listen to it carefully, and play one
> section at a time. For instance a held note might end with
> a tiny one-hundredth second note in a new pitch.

I've noticed this effect in a great many 'natural' sounds,
most fascinatingly of all, in human speech. By making a
digital recording of someone speaking and slowing it down
a great deal, you can hear all sorts of amazing sonic
transformations. I was stunned to find out that the
'subharmonic' singing technique (i.e., Tuvan throat singers)
is a normal part of everyday American speech.

One sound that I heard in back of a gas station along a desolate
stretch of US-13 in Delaware, back around 1994, was a sonic
experience I'll never forget. The members of some group of a
certain insect or other animal (my guess is crickets) were
'singing' an array of repeated pitches that had microtonal
relationships between the frequencies as well as a polymetric
rhythm. I can still hear the sound in my mind as clearly as the
day I heard it with my ears, but I sure do wish I had a tape
recorder with me that night!

-monz
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html

Monz wrote,

>I was stunned to find out that the
>'subharmonic' singing technique (i.e., Tuvan throat singers)
>is a normal part of everyday American speech.

Not to mention everyday American singing (i.e. rock singing) -- Janis Joplin
especially.

> By making a
> digital recording of someone speaking and slowing it down
> a great deal, you can hear all sorts of amazing sonic
> transformations. I was stunned to find out that the
> 'subharmonic' singing technique (i.e., Tuvan throat singers)
> is a normal part of everyday American speech.

Hmmm ... when I get my copy of CDP, I'll have to try this. Can you do it in
CoolEdit??

> The members of some group of a
> certain insect or other animal (my guess is crickets) were
> 'singing' an array of repeated pitches that had microtonal
> relationships between the frequencies as well as a polymetric
> rhythm.

If it was early in the Spring, it was most likely tree frogs. Here in
Oregon, when it warms up (sometimes even in January :-) the little guys
chirp their heads off for a few weeks. If it was mid-Summer or later, it was
probably crickets. Most other insects only rasp or buzz -- quite pleasant
but mostly unpitched.

I'll bet you that someone with a little experience with synthesizers could
sit down with you and re-create this sound from your memory. I used to be
able to do this, but it's been 25 years since I tried it.

Microtonal musique concrete ... I *like* that thought!! Actually, it
wouldn't be that difficult to start with natural pitched sounds and shift
their frequencies a little to conform them to any scale you wanted. You
could adjust the spectra like Sethares does and make them harmonizable as
well. Hmmm ... Spring is only a few months away :-)
--
M. Edward Borasky
mailto:znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com

Cold leftover pizza: it's not just for breakfast any more!

Ed Borasky asked...

> > By making a
> > digital recording of someone speaking and slowing it down
> > a great deal,

> Can you do it in CoolEdit??

Yes, it's easy. There's a menu called time/pitch shift that brings up a panel allowing you to change the pitch and/or the time, or both together. It's pretty cool and useful. You can get it to slow something down by re-sampling to preserve (more or less) the original wave-form.

Rick

I just spotted this in "rec.music.compose". Check it out :-)

http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/10/26/science.birds.reut/
--
M. Edward Borasky
mailto:znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com

Cold leftover pizza: it's not just for breakfast any more!