We already know birds are musical, but how do they compare with our idea of music as we know it today? Can bird calls be used as musical elements, or be used to compliment musical elements? We experiment briefly with what is possible with birds, their calls, and of course, music.
The tracks composed for this episode can be played separately and downloaded - please go through this post for the music widgets/players and look for the download link.
Transcript, links to bird calls used in the podcast, and all other relevant information (including sources) below. We welcome feedback and critique, do let us know in the comments section.
Transcript
Intro: Welcome, you’re listening to Having a Lark. A podcast by Ramit Singal and Preetham Meher.
Preetham: Hello, this is Preetham. Welcome to another episode of Having a Lark.
Ramit: Hi everyone, this is Ramit. Before we kick things off, we wanted to thank all of you for the warmth and love this podcast has received over the past week. At the back of my mind, I was a bit nervous that this podcast may become like the proverbial tree in the forest - if no one listens to it, does it even exist? But, thanks again to all of you, that may not be the case after all!
Yellow-browed Bulbul
However, if no one did listen to it, I would probably turn to a bird that can cheer me up. One of the birds whose sound I find very uplifting is the Yellow-browed Bulbul. <Yellow-browed Bulbul calls> What a delightful little bird. Wouldn’t you agree, Preetham?
Preetham: Yes, I really like the joyous call of this Bulbul and in fact, listening to it made me think of an upbeat rhythm with which its call would sound quite nice. So I put this rhythm down... but by itself, it sounded quite repetitive.
So, to this rhythm, I added the song of a species called Puff-throated Babbler <Puff-throated Babbler song>, which has a similar tone. Together the calls of the babbler and the bulbul present a nice contrast - like an intro and a verse
Ramit: An interesting contrast indeed - the babbler also sounds like it’s saying “We’ll beat you” compared to the cheerful greetings of the bulbul. So some weeks ago, on a Monday, I received an email from Preetham in which he said he’s beating the morning blues with this track he had just come up with.
Ramit: I really enjoyed it. But my attention was captured by one particular part of the song. Right in the beginning, there was this riser <riser plays>, and to me it sounded a lot like a White-throated Kingfisher <call of the White-throated Kingfisher>.
So, of course, we replaced it on the track.
Ramit: And this was the genesis for this particular episode…
Preetham: Similar to how Ramit could find similarities in the riser and the kingfisher, I also see similarities in rhythm, melody, and several other elements in birds and music. Some birds sound like a musical element and some have a good beat to their song. Like the Greater Coucal sounds like a great bass <Greater Coucal call>, or the Blyth’s Reed Warbler sounds like the high hat of a drum <Blyth’s Reed Warbler call>.
Ramit: I completely agree. For example, whenever I listen to the White-browed Bulbul, it always reminds me of a tabla. <White-browed Bulbul call>
Preetham: Exactly. In fact it can even be a great accompaniment to a tabla.
Ramit: Wow! How cool is that?! One thing led to another and we ended up experimenting with a number of bird sounds. For example, last year, in Scotland - I was listening to some Common Guillemots <Common Guillemot calls>. It’s a little seabird that nest in these big colonies in these cliffs right next to the sea. And they make this call in unison that reminds me of a weird dubstep-like sound. So I handed this sound over to Preetham to see what he makes of it.
Colony of Common Guillemots
Preetham: Well, I listened to it and could relate the tone to a dubstep element. So I took one small part of the bird call, and transformed it into something that’s used in dubstep tracks. Then, I layered the original on top of it, and this was the result.
Ramit: Wow that sounds different. Now, we wanted to make this bigger and we began thinking about how we can create a short track that combines all of these ideas - like using bird calls to replace musical elements, or using the calls as musical elements themselves.
Preetham: The first step was to create a track. I chose something with these elements - there is the high hat, the bass, the drum beat, a bell, a synth, and some others.
This was the result:
Ramit: So now we had a track. The next step was to decide which elements in this track could be replaced or made better using bird calls.
Preetham: So in the actual track, the bass sounds like this <Bass plays>. So I took a Greater Coucal <Greater Coucal call>, and transformed it to this <Bass-Coucal transformation plays>.
The next element is the hi-hat <Hi-hat plays>.
Ramit: For the hi-hat, we used 2 different sounds - a bird i heard often in Manipal, the Nilgiri Flowerpecker <Nilgiri Flowerpecker calls> and a bird I hear often in Tasmania, the Tasmanian Scrubwren <Tasmanian Scrubwren calls>.
Preetham: And then we have the snare <Snare plays>.
Ramit: Well the snare was interesting. The moment I heard it, I immediately recalled this American bird that I have never seen before… and its fantastic sound, this is the Sage Grouse <Sage Grouse song> and I thought one particular part of its call would be a particularly good fit for a snare.
Preetham: We also have the bell <Bell plays>.
Ramit: To me, this sounded a lot like a skulking bird we have here in Tasmania, called the Olive Whistler <Olive Whistler call>.
Grey Fantail
We also had to think about what bird calls can be added to further enhance the overall track. We played around with a bunch of sounds before deciding on some.
Preetham: We chose an element of the Grey Fantail’s song as the run <Grey Fantail calls>, and the Black-faced Laughingthrush as a small melody, or a melody chop <Black-faced Laughingthrush calls>.
Ramit: We also used the unique descending notes of another Australian bird, the White-throated Gerygone, as an element <White-throated Gerygone calls>, and I couldn’t help but use a bit of the Common Guillemots in there <Common Guillemot calls>.
After all of that, it was a matter of just putting all of these elements into the track. We haven’t given this track any name yet - it is just an experiment. Have a listen.
Ramit: So what do you think? We are limited by the birds we know and can recall at the time we are recording or conceptualising this entire track. Perhaps you can think of bird calls that can replace some of the sounds in our track, or do a better job than the ones we used? Maybe you can tell us about the bird calls that you associate with some of the instrument sounds around you or any other musical element you can think of? We would love to hear your thoughts. Do send in a message, comment on the episode post, or get in touch in any other way you can get to us.
Credits and notes: You can download all the tracks used in this podcast using the link in the episode notes, where you will also find the transcript, images, links to other sounds, and other useful information. The sounds of the Sage Grouse belong to Sue Riffe and the sounds of Common Guillemot belong to Patrik Åberg, both of which have been taken from the sound sharing platform Xeno-Canto. We want to thank Savithri Singh for letting us use her image of the Oriental Skylark for the podcast logo. And lastly, thank you for listening. Feedback and comments are welcome.
Birds in the podcast (with links to calls):
Intro tune: Oriental Skylark
Narration: Yellow-browed Bulbul, Puff-throated Babbler, White-throated Kingfisher, Greater Coucal, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, White-browed Bulbul, Common Guillemot, Nilgiri Flowerpecker, Tasmanian Scrubwren, Sage Grouse, Olive Whistler, Grey Fantail, Black-faced Laughingthrush, White-throated Gerygone.
Sources and links
No sources to cite but we would encourage you to look at other artists’ work on YouTube.
We also wanted to point you in the direction of Bird Note Presents for an excellent podcast series on the Greater Sage-Grouse.