Hi,
There are several things which really help people learn the bird and other
natural vocalizations.
Put a short piece of the song BEFORE the narration. That gives them a
"little quiz" before hearing the answer. It also helps the name of the bir=
d
"flow" from the vocalization like the words to a song flow once you get it
started. I know there is the old debate about whether the narration should
come first of after the song. Basically if the narration is after the song
the beginner gets very frustrated and starting the learning of bird songs i=
s
the hardest part. For those part of the way to learning the song or those
refreshing their memory narration last works. I find that the narration in
the middle is the best of both worlds. Some who already know their sounds
or almost know them well still do not like narration at the end.
Put the narration on only one track. That way they can shut off the
narration and just listen to the birds. If you have the time and inclinatio=
n
put it over part of the song which precedes the narration.
Put in comparison tracks with the song or part of the. I often use three o=
f
bird one followed by three of bird two and repeat that two or three times.
Of course if the song is long use less repetition but the troublemakers are
usually quite short. It has also been effective hearing the syllables of
the western flycatcher song. In it I just repeat the syllable that is
different comparing the two "species" of flycatcher until the difference is
clearly remembered.
I teach a class in field identification and this is what my students
generally agree really works. They use my 3CD set Alberta Birding By Ear
which still is not commercially available because I have some tracks on it
(used with permission) from others. (and got essentially nothing done on it
last winter - still have shoeboxes through of my old cassettes to go
through) Having the CD format also allows them to program a few tracks int=
o
their player and repeat them over and over. According to my
students(victims) the CD set really works and I require them to learn a LOT
of vocalizations along with far too much other stuff in the class. I
basically say very little about the sounds in class relying on them to lear=
n
them on their own which they are doing very successfully. (They go throug=
h
all of the birds of Alberta in all plumages except juv, all of the
butterflies of alberta, amphibs and reptiles (that only takes half a
lecture - not many here). They are required to be able to key out our fish
in the field, and our mammals. The students coming in now have not got the
strong bird background they used to have so had to drop the dragonflies id
section.)
Barb
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Clark
Sent: April 19, 2004 11:21 AM
To:
Subject: [Nature Recordists] About CD formats
Doug's suggestion for reviewing the comments from users of bird CDs was
very worthwhile for me. I liked reading about the different ways that
people would like to hear recordings on bird CDs. Different choices are so
important because everyone has different expectations for what they expect
to accomplish by using the CD. I have produced a CD for Arizona birds that
places the name of the bird after the recording. I called this a "learning
CD" and people expect it to help them in this way. However, I also put
together groups of birds, in level of difficulty, so that the user could
practice on these groups until all the birds were familiar. I placed the
groups at the beginning of the CD. That way the person could hear the bird
that was still a problem and then wait for it to appear later on the CD.
Good for listening to the birds in the car, except that you have to read
the booklet to know which birds are in the groups. I was going to add some
cuts that had examples of birds in different Arizona habitats that were
singing at the same time, since this is typically what one runs into. But,
I never got around to doing that. I still think it's a good idea.
Greg Clark
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
Yahoo! Groups Links
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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