The BirdSongSessions. Alive & Blended.

20-24 September 2021, and beyond...

The making of a piece including the concept of sound scores.

For the Bird Song Sessions, the inspiration and most of the sound materials are coming from field recordings in nature. For centuries the arts were interested in the non-human expressions around or communication and phenomena that we faintly or hardly understand. Think of Paul Demarinis who once said: “Music is sound to my ears” and you will laugh about the non-sensical and clueless explanation dictionaries give for 'Sound Score': “A musical score that consists of sounds rather than traditional music”.

What the hack is a sound score?
A score is a specific musical piece or incidental music that accompanies a scene or moment... A score is usually written down (from 1 line to an encyclopedia-size document full of instructions, signs and calculations). So a sound score is a soundfile you can use as a background guide for singing or playing another instrument. Nothing more than that. Oh yes, better not let your soundscore be heard in the end-mix. After all it is only a score.

The sound scores below will give you an indication of discrete and continuous time, pitches and amplitudes, complexities and silences, some combinatory ideas, etc. in the form of sounds you can listen to, sing/play along with or counter, imitate or enrich... The expressivity and performativity aims at providing a realtime interpretation of the sound score. The most important thing is to listen, be inspired, and sing or play along. Become natural and free, engaged in contageoous chorusing, emotional and non-linear, noisy, ... like a bird?

The method = now 100% online. But if you want it do it differently...

As a preparation, but not necessary at all... Listen to the track, open your mouth or pick an instrument. Listen till the end and as many times as you feel is comfortable or needed.

Use headphones and your usb soundcard of choice, start up Sonobus, configure it. Find some friends to join you, give them time to prepare a little too. Sonobus may be limited to 3-4 peer-2-peer musicians, depending on topology and connections. Set the recording to (1) Full mix, (2) Yourself and (3) Each Connected User. Then simply hit the button to record, play/share the sound score and let all join in!
Please send the result to hinterland@kra.land.

Some warnings:

perhaps start with the shorter scores (they are 1-3-6-10 mins)

give yourself time to get accustomed with the overlapping sounds

concentrate on specific sounds and rhythms in the score

identify for yourself the types of sound, pitches and noises in the back

adjust how you want to sing or play, the character of your instrument, don't impose yourself or your artistic history

for the recordings, take care of the timings, first start the recording and then the soundscore (otherwise it is too hard to combine with other groups' recordings)

You can do this as many times as you please, with the same or promiscuously with other people, or with pets plants water wind stones wild animals. No silence allowed, unless there is a technical problem!

The final pieces

These little groups, live sessions, or bedroom recordings form an expandable piece, inspired by nature, and will be at one stage combined into an open-ended whole (is a hole?). The resulting at hoc band could be called “Harmonia Ruina, or The-Far-From-Equilibrium-Choir”?

Some inspiration

Playing Music with Animals: Interspecies Communication of Jim Nollman with 300 Turkeys, 12 Wolves and 20 Orcas.
Folkways Records and Released 1982-01-01

David Rothenberg's works and writings, like Survival of the beautiful.
For an interview see: https://www.whenwetalkaboutanimals.org/2019/09/23/ep-23-david-rothenberg/

The BirdSongSessions Sound Scores

Below are the several sound scores (sndskrz).
They are provided in ogg format.
Ask hinterland@kra.land for .WAV versions if needed.

TMA-sndskrz#1 ogg format, 2 channels, 06 mins
TMA-sndskrz#1 ogg format, 2 channels, 03 mins
TMA-sndskrz#1 ogg format, 2 channels, 01 min
TMA-sndskrz#1 ogg format, 2 channels, 10 mins
TMA-sndskrz#1 ogg format, 2 channels, 10 mins