birding-aus

John Young's Melbourne Night Parrot talk last night

To: James Mustafa Jazz Orchestra <>
Subject: John Young's Melbourne Night Parrot talk last night
From: Carl Clifford <>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2015 15:00:18 +1100
James,

Good work. I will keep my ears open for the JMJO on the steam wireless.

Carl Clifford


> On 3 Mar 2015, at 1:41 pm, James Mustafa Jazz Orchestra 
> <> wrote:
> 
> Thanks Russell,
> 
> Have written a few things. Majority of my music on my album last year was
> influence by nature and Australian bird song. Just finished a composition
> for wind symphony called "Windsong' that will premiered later in the year.
> That features direct transcriptions of 20+ Australian birds. Also just been
> commissioned to write a suite of music for the WAYJO in Perth to be
> performed at the Perth International Jazz Festival. This suite will
> represent migration and will once again feature bird song.
> 
> All the best
> 
> On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 12:15 AM, Russell Woodford <>
> wrote:
> 
>> Peter, a lot of musicians have attempted to transcribe birdsong for various
>> reasons. Some have just been fascinated by the songs, others have wanted
>> something more clearly defined than "sweet-pretty-little-creature."
>> 
>> Quite a few composers have used birdsong in their music - these range from
>> programmatic references used by early keyboard composers like Couperin, to
>> the incredibly complex works of Olivier Messiaen, who mimicked birdsong in
>> a large proportion of his works. He wrote an epic set of 13 piano pieces,
>> "Catalogue D'Oiseaux," each named after a bird, and including a range of
>> the birds calls and song. They are fiendishly difficult to play, but they
>> really do sound JUST LIKE the birdsong! The only one I've ever
>> attempted is *L'alouette
>> lulu* (Woodlark) and yes, if it's played properly, the listener hears the
>> song of a Woodlark (*Lullula arborea*). I'm not sure if I would have
>> managed to call in any Woodlarks when I played it ...
>> 
>> There was some discussion about Messiaen on birding-aus a few years ago.
>> Syd Curtis, who is known by many of you, took Messiaen to see and hear
>> lyrebirds.
>> 
>> James, do you put birdsong into your arrangements? Keen to hear some!
>> 
>> Russell
>> 
>>> On 2 March 2015 at 17:47, Laurie Knight <> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Thanks Peter.
>>> 
>>> That’s useful.  There probably aren’t too many other critters in the
>>> hummock grasslands that would be making a call like that in the evening
>>> hours, so it may help with the identification of Night Parrot
>> populations.
>>> 
>>> The bottom line is “what gets measured gets managed” ...
>>> 
>>> Regards, Laurie.
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On 2 Mar 2015, at 11:09 am, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I've made a mockup of the call, if anyone's interested to listen to it:
>>>> https://soundcloud.com/petershute/synthesised-night-parrot-call
>>>> 
>>>> John said they call very rarely, and might only call once, so you could
>>> listen all night and miss it because your foot crunched in the gravel at
>>> that moment.
>>>> 
>>>> Before anyone complains that this could be abused, it's actually two
>>> Bell Miner notes. If people want to try to get a Night Parrot to respond
>> to
>>> Bell Miner calls, I don't think they're going to have much luck.
>>>> 
>>>> Peter Shute
>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Birding-Aus
>>>>>  On Behalf Of Peter Shute
>>>>> Sent: Monday, 2 March 2015 8:28 AM
>>>>> To: 
>>>>> Subject: [Birding-Aus] John Young's Melbourne Night Parrot
>>>>> talk last night
>>>>> 
>>>>> 1. John mentioned that the description of the call in P&K is
>>>>> spot on - "A far carrying two note whistle". I was under the
>>>>> impression that we'd been told that this description wasn't
>>>>> correct, but I could be wrong. John said that we should
>>>>> imagine the call as two Bell Miner notes, about half a second
>>>>> apart, with the second note half an octave lower. I think he
>>>>> said half an octave - can anyone confirm that? John said
>>>>> there's also a four note call, but didn't describe it.
>>>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> All the best,
> 
> James Mustafa
> 
> 0400 951 517
> www.jamesmustafajazzorchestra.com
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