The Genius of Animals: Transcribed Beasts Crying for Beats

Why is this happening only now? A composer transcribes birdsong and the result is strikingly similar to the quirky 12 tone mannerisms of Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg of a hundred years ago. Why hasn't a hip hop producer put bird loops or whale song (see below) to beats yet?

Pete Wyer is British so his bird melodies will have a particularly limey bent – blackbirds, robins, chaffinches, goldfinches, wrens, song thrushes, and maybe an odd parakeet in the mix. The piece was created by working from recordings of birdsong, slowing them down, and transcribing them for human voices.

The actual singing begins at 1:20:



John Cage took a similar swing at whale music in 1980. The piece is described as a 25-minute monody with two uncannily similar voices (Alan Bennett and Paul Elliott) using only five notes in antiphonal phrases. The piece will require patience. It sounds much like a Gregorian chant or other early music.

As Long as Someone Is Doing It

Avant-garde music is sort of research music. You're glad someone's done it but you don't necessarily want to listen to it.

Brian Eno