Archive for June, 2017

Jun

26

2017

The forgotten songs of Sydney’s birdsong

forgotten birds

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.

More info and images

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.”

Full article on wired.co

Climate Symphony

Jun

9

2017

Speakers for the September 2017 workshop

We’re delighted to announce the speakers and facilitators for our September 2017 workshop.

Despite being a small, independent organisation, we’ve managed to interest some high profile speakers across diverse areas of nature sound research and practice to attend and share their experience.

The Genius of Birds - Jennifer AckermanOur special guest will be American science author Jennifer Ackerman, who’s fascinating book ‘The Genius of Birds’ has been widely read and praised. She will be presenting the latest research on avian intelligence and how it informs communication and repertoire.

In addition to presentations from leading bioacoustic researchers across bird, frog, insect and bat studies, we have eco-acousticians talking about both field work and analysis. Citizen science projects will be discussed, and the arts featured with participatory and performance components.

But the core of the week’s events will focus on developing practical recording skills, in field sessions run by experienced recordists. Once indoors, we’ll also be demonstrating how to clean up, publish and archive recordings.

It’s looking to be an exciting week of both presentations and field workshops. We hope you can join us!

For workshop info and to book your place, please see:
http://awsrg.org.au/2017-workshop/

Please note – if you’d like to offer a talk (and we’d love you to!), we do have space available to include you in our program. Please get in touch with Andrew or Sue to discuss.
Andrew Skeoch: listen@netcon.net.au
Sue Gould: susanfgould@yahoo.com

 

Our speakers and facilitators:

David Paull – local ecologist, who will give us an overview of the Pilliga.
Dr. Leah Barclay – Researcher, artist and educator at Griffith University. President of the Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology, the vice-president of the World Forum of Acoustic Ecology. Director of Biosphere Soundscapes & River Listening Projects.
Jennifer Ackerman – science writer and author of ‘The Genius of Birds’.
Dr. Ros Bandt  – internationally recognised composer and sound artist, with a particular interest in environmental music and listening.
Julie Broken Brow – PhD student using Anabat for her research on bats.
Jessie CappadonnaAustralian Citizen Science Association, and research project using acoustic monitoring for Eastern Bristlebirds.
Alex Drew – CSIRO, Australian National Wildlife Collection – Wildlife Sound Archive.
Lucy Farrow – Research project on acoustic signalling of Noisy Miners.
Dr. Michael Mahoney – synchronous calling of frogs and what it may mean.
Dr. Sue Gould – Vocalisations of the Huon Bowerbird.
David Smith – Charles Sturt University, project using remote acoustic sensors.
Michael Towsey – Sonographic representation of long-temporal eco-acoustic data.
Andrew Skeoch – Using Izotope software to process and repair field recordings.