Arts and nature sound
Jan
18
2018
Huon Peninsula Soundscape, Papua New Guinea Rainforest
The Perspectives on Listening Symposium in Brisbane this last December gave me the incentive to edit up a soundscape from our recent trip to the Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea.
Leah Barclay invited myself (Andrew), Tony Baylis, David Stewart, Rod Thorn and Sue Gould to form a panel to discuss the trip and how we approached our sound recording. David, Rod and Sue were unable to attend, but Tony Baylis and I showed images and contrasted our individual field techniques and results. My impression of our one hour session was that many in the audience were particularly fascinated to hear of Tony’s bioacoustic field work.
Meanwhile, I edited this soundscape as an installation on multiple headphones so participants could immerse themselves in the rainforest during breaks in the symposium program.
The edit is compiled from seven sources, each about five minutes in duration, and representing aspects of the various altitude ranges to which we trekked and recorded.
Location sources are:
A – Hill forest (~1100m)
B – Mountain forest (Camp Astrapia) (~2000m)
C – Mountain forest (Midway Camp) (~2150m)
D – Cloudforest (Camp 13) (~2800m)
Timings are for approximate transitions.
0:00 1. Predawn insect chorus with Sooty Owl, Feline Owlet Nightjar and Papuan Boobook (B)
4:20 2. Dawn chorus with Regent Whistler, Lesser Melampitta and Ornate Fruit Doves (C)
10:10 3. Regent Whistler song (B)
16:40 4. Greater Ground Robin song (D)
21:30 5. Huon Bowerbird by its bower (D)
27:10 6. Emperor Bird of Paradise, with Cicadabird and Growling Riflebird (A)
33:40 7. Dusk cicada chorus, with Papuan Woodcock dusk flight calls (D)
I’ll be publishing extended recordings for free listening on our Listening Earth website in the near future, and will post specific links here.
Nov
22
2017
Perspectives on Listening Symposium – Brisbane
December 7-9, 2017
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Brisbane
Biosphere Soundscapes and the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University are hosting “Perspectives on Listening”, an international symposium and workshop bringing together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to explore the role of sound in understanding place and environmental changes.
“Perspectives on Listening” will introduce the interdisciplinary possibilities of acoustic ecology and highlight emerging fields including ecoacoustics. The event features keynotes from Steven Feld (USA) and Monica Gagliano (West Australia) in addition to panels, research presentations, live performances, immersive installations, sound walks and field trips across the rainforests of the Sunshine Coast and aquatic ecosystems in Noosa Biosphere Reserve.
more »
Jun
26
2017
The forgotten songs of Sydney’s birdsong
Forgotten Songs commemorates the songs of fifty birds once heard in central Sydney, before they were gradually forced out by European settlement. The calls, which filter down from the canopy of birdcages suspended above Angel Place, change as day shifts to night; the daytime birds’ songs disappearing with the sun, and those of the nocturnal birds, which inhabited the area, sounding into the evening.
This delightful installation was a collaboration between ecologists and sound artists, with the AWSRG’s Fred van Gessel providing the birdsong recordings.
This artwork was commissioned in 2009 and has now been retained as a permanent installation.
Jun
26
2017
Transforming climate change data into music
Ten years ago, old-school graphs and text-based data were the only way to communicate the growing problem of climate change. But when it comes to inspiring action, a relentless march of charts can disengage many. For Leah Borromeo, co-founder of Climate Symphony, it became clear a different approach was needed.
“Music makes us feel things,” she says. “It affects us physiologically, emotionally. Sound has always acted as a warning for us, we have this ingrained in our limbic system. This is a new way of expressing the climate change issue.”
May
29
2017
Hollis Taylor – ‘Absolute Bird’, CD review
Review by Andrew Skeoch
Music and birdsong have been entwined in mythology and artistic practice through the ages. It would be easy to dismiss the relationship as mere romanticism, yet there remain clear comparisons between birdsong and the way humans express themselves in music.
Hollis Taylor’s ‘Absolute Bird’ is a lavishly produced, double CD set and extensive booklet. It is part musical document, part memoir of her travels, and part musing on a bird’s capacity for aesthetic sound making. But above all it is a celebration of a remarkable single species of songbird; the Australian Pied Butcherbird. Their tonally rich songs are often considered among the most musical in the birdworld – not simply by being melodic and pleasing on the ear, but by the bird’s creative exploration of repertoire.
