This post supplements a seminar that outlines my doctoral thesis work. The main theme is the research process itself, including setbacks encountered along the way. The secondary topic is the material itself, particularly bird song and our relationship to audio taken from nature.
The following are some useful media links.
Ludwig Koch made the first ever animal recording when still a child, a captured bird of species White-rumped Shama (1889). Listen.
Koch later released the compendium Songs of Wild Birds in 1936. Listen.
An early commercial release was Karl Reich's "Song of a Nightingale" (1910). Listen.
Walter Tilgner has made thousands of field recordings, and was noted for his early compact disk releases in very high quality. Listen to "Woodland Stream" from Waldkonzert (1985)
We have shaped birdsong through extreme environmental changes. Those birds who remain in the city have altered their calls to be heard through traffic and other noises. This piece models this process. "Caged Birds (Augmentation)" was created in 2013 for the John Cage centenary, hence the punning title. Listen.
My installation "In that place, the air was very different" was documented in 2017 for the video that heads this post.
