Hollis Taylor

Musicology seems a perfectly obvious word—how better to describe the study of music? However, as it became apparent that the field dealt almost exclusively with European art music, ethnomusicology was pressed into service. First, it was an umbrella term charged with the task of surveying all the rest of the world’s music. Later, the field expanded, at least in the minds of some, to include all music, even European art music. There was still a feeling that something of consequence was omitted, and zoömusicology was the word scratching the itch.

Coined in 1983 by French composer François-Bernard Mâche, zoömusicology could be considered as the study of the musical aspects of animal sounds. According to Mâche, "If it turns out that music is a widespread phenomenon in several living species apart from man, this will very much call into question the definition of music, and more widely that of man and his culture, as well as the idea we have of the animal itself."

NightinGala 2008

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of this word, Professor Dario Martinelli convened the world’s first conference devoted to zoömusicology, which he defines as the "aesthetic use of sound communication among animals."

The event was co-hosted by the Sibelius Academy at the Kallio-Kuninkala estate about thirty minutes north of Helsinki. Martinelli invited both musicologists and biologists to participate, with the focus all on one species, the nightingale. NightinGala was an eclectic event comprising a concert and a series of seminars. The time of the festival coincided with the period when nightingales migrate to Finland and can often be heard in the night singing their songs. (This time of year, “night” consists of just a few hours of twilight.)

Harri Viitanen (pictured above with Hollis) is known as Finland’s Olivier Messiaen, both because he is a composer who uses birdsong in his music and because of his expertise as an organist (Helsinki Cathedral). In studying astronomy, ornithology, and the latest data technology, Viitanen has developed an impressive personal compositional language. Four mounted speakers surrounded the audience for his evocative taped piece, Katharsis. Other participants included Dario Martinelli, David Rothenberg, Dietmar Todt, Henricke Hultsch, Constance Scharff, Marc Naguib, Ofer Tchernichovski, Emily Doolittle, Hollis Taylor, Andrew Whitehouse, Ann Ward, Lina Navickaitė, and Helena Telkänranta.

Bibliography: Current Researchers in Zoömusicology and Related Fields

Current active researchers in zoömusicology and related fields include Emily Doolittle, Tecumseh Fitch, Bernie Krause, Dominique Lestel, François-Bernard Mâche, Dario Martinelli, Lina Navickaitė, Jim Nollman, Antoine Ouellette, Katy Payne, Alan Powers, Magnus Robb, David Rothenberg, and Andrew Whitehouse. Below is a selected reading list of key books and papers, followed by a list of classic publications.

Constantine, M. (2006). The sound approach to birding: A guide to understanding bird sound. Poole, UK: The Sound Approach.
Curtis, H. S., & Taylor, H. (2008). Olivier Messiaen and the Albert's lyrebird: From Tamborine Mountain to éclairs sur l'au-delà, International Conference of Messiaen Studies. University of Southern Queensland.
Doolittle, E. (2008). Crickets in the concert hall: A history of animals in western music, Transcultural Music Review, 12, 1-19).
Fitch, W. T. (2005). The evolution of music in comparative perspective. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1060(1), 1-21.
Fitch, W. T. (2006). On the biology and evolution of music. Music Perception, 24(1), 85-88.
Fitch, W. T. (2006). The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective. Cognition, 100(1), 173-215.
Krause, B. (1987). Bio-acoustics: Habitat ambience & ecological balance. Whole Earth Review, 57, 14-18.
Krause, B. (2002). Wild soundscapes: Discovering the voice of the natural world (First ed.). Berkeley: Wilderness Press.
Lestel, D. (2001). Les origines animales de la culture. Paris: Flammarion.
Lestel, D. (2002). The biosemiotics and phylogenesis of culture. Social Science Information, 41(1), 35-68.
Lestel, D. (2004). L'animal singulier. Paris: Seuil.
Lestel, D. (2006). Les animaux sont-ils intelligents? Paris: Le Pommier.
Lestel, D. (2007a). L'animalité. Paris: L'Herne.
Lestel, D. (2007b). Les amis de mes amis. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
Mâche, F.-B. (1983/1992). Music, myth and nature (S. Delaney, Trans.). Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers.
Mâche, F.-B. (1997). Syntagms and paradigms in zoomusicology. Contemporary Music Review, 16(3), 55-78.
Mâche, F.-B. (2000). La musique n'est pas le propre de l'homme. La Recherche, Hors-Série No. 4, 76-77.
Mâche, F.-B. (2001). Musique au singulier. Paris: Éditions Odile Jacob.
Mâche, F.-B. (2002). Les oiseaux musiciens. Sciences et Avenir, 131, 62-68.
Martinelli, D. (2001). Symptomatology of a semiotic research: Methodologies and problems in zoomusicology. Sign Systems Studies, 29(1), 1-12.
Martinelli, D. (2002). How musical is a whale? Towards a theory of zoömusicology. Hakapaino: International Semiotics Institute.
Martinelli, D. (2007). Zoosemiotics: Proposals for a handbook. Imatra: International Semiotics Institute.
Martinelli, D. (2009). Of birds, whales, and other musicians: An introduction to zoomusicology. Scranton: University of Scranton Press.
Navickaitė, L. (2008). Centuries of nightingale-inspired music, Symposium in Zoomusicology: The nightingale song between art and research. Jäärvenpää, Finland.
Nollman, J. (1997). Fowl play: Creating interspecies music. Orion, 16(2), 12-15.
Nollman, J. http://interspecies.com/
Nollman, J. (1999). The charged border: Where whales and humans meet. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Ouellette, A. (2008). Le chant des oyseaulx. Saint-Laurent: Triptique.
Powers, A. (2003). Bird talk. Berkeley, CA: Frog, Ltd.
Rothenberg, D. (2005). Why birds sing: A journey into the mystery of bird song. New York: Basic Books.
Soldier, D. (2002). Eine kleine naughtmusik: How nefarious nonartists cleverly imitate music. Leonardo Music Journal, 12, 53-58.
Taylor, H. (2008). Decoding the song of the pied butcherbird: An initial survey. Transcultural Music Review, 12, 1-30.
Taylor, H. (2009). Super tweeter. Art Monthly Australia, 225, 16-19.

Bibliography: Classic Books and Papers in Zoömusicology

Hall-Craggs, J. (1962). The development of song in the blackbird. Ibis, 104(3), 277-300.
Hall-Craggs, J. (1984). Inter-specific copying by blackbirds, Journal of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society (Vol. 4, pp. 1-19).
Hartshorne, C. (1953). Musical values in Australian songbirds. Emu, 53, 109-128.
Hartshorne, C. (1958a). The relation of bird song to music. Ibis, 100, 421-445.
Hartshorne, C. (1958b). Some biological principles applicable to song-behaviour. Wilson Bulletin, 70(1), 41-56.
Hartshorne, C. (1973). Born to sing: An interpretation and world survey of bird song. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Nice, M. M. (1964a). Studies in the life history of the song sparrow, Vol. 1. New York: Dover Publications.
Nice, M. M. (1964b). Studies in the life history of the song sparrow, Vol. 2. New York: Dover Publications.
Sotavalta, O. (1956). Analysis of the song patterns of two sprosser nightingales, Luscinia luscinia. Annals of the Finnish Zoological Society "Vanamo", 17(4), 1-31.
Szőke, P. (1963). Ornitomuzikológia. Magyar Tudomany, 9, 592-607.
Szőke, P., & Filip, M. (1977). The study of intonation structure of bird vocalizations: An inadequate application of sound spectrography. Opuscula Zoologica Budapest, XIV(1-2), 127-154.

Bibliography: Selected Key Books and Papers from Biologists and Others

Armstrong, E. A. (1973). A study of bird song (Second Ed.). New York: Dover Publications.
Armstrong, E. A. (1975). Discovering bird song. Bucks, U.K.: Shire Publications Ltd.
Baptista, L., & Keister, R. A. (2005). Why birdsong is sometimes like music. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 48(3), 426-443.
Benítez-Bribiesca, L., Gray, P. M., Payne, R., Krause, B., & Tramo, M. J. (2001). The biology of music. Science, 292(5526), 2432-2433.
Catchpole, C. K., & Slater, P. J. B. (2008). Bird song: Biological themes and variations (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Craig, W. (1902). Song in birds. Science, 15 (New Series)(380), 590-592.
Craig, W. (1918). Appetites and aversions as constituents of instincts. Biological Bulletin, 34(2), 91-107.
Craig, W. (1943). The song of the wood pewee Myiochanes virens linnaeus: A study of bird music (Vol. 334). Albany, New York: The University of the State of New York.
Craig, W. (1944). The twilight ceremonies of horseflies and birds. Science, 99(2563), 125-126.
Dowsett-Lemaire, F. (1979). The imitative range of the song of the marsh warbler Acrocephalus palustris, with special reference to imitations of African birds. Ibis, 121, 453-468.
Howard, L. (1952). Birds as individuals. London: Collins.
Jellis, R. (1977). Bird sounds and their meaning. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Kroodsma, D. E. (2005). The singing life of birds: The art and science of listening to birdsong (Book and CD ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Lemaire, F. (1974). Le chant de la rousserolle verderolle (Acrocephalus palustris): Étendue du répertoire imitatif, construction rythmique et musicalité. Le Gerfaut, 64, 3-28.
Lemaire, F. (1975a). Dialectal variations in the imitative song of the marsh warbler (Acrocephalus palustris) in western and eastern Belgium. Le Gerfaut, 65, 95-106.
Lemaire, F. (1975b). Le chant de la rousserolle verderolle (Acrocephalus palustris): Fidélité des imitations et relations avec les espèces imitées et avec les congénères. Le Gerfaut, 65, 3-28.
Marler, P., & Slabbekoorn, H. (Eds.). (2004). Nature's music: The science of birdsong. San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press.
Merker, B. (1999). Synchronous chorusing and the origins of music. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 1999-2000, 59-73.
Merker, B. (2001). Tuning in to a common beat. BBC Wildlife Magazine, 19(1), 60-64.
Merker, B. (2002). Music: The missing Humboldt system. Musicae Scientiae, VI(1), 3-21.
Merker, B. (2006). The uneven interface between culture and biology in human music. Music Perception, 24(1), 95-98.
Merker, B. (2007). Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: A challenge for neuroscience and medicine. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 63-134.
Merker, B., Madison, G. S., & Eckerdal, P. (2009). On the role and origin of isochrony in human rhythmic entrainment. Cortex, 45(1), 4-17.
Patel, A. D. (2003). Language, music, syntax and the brain. Nature Neuroscience, 6(7), 674-681.
Patel, A. D. (2006). Musical rhythm, linguistic rhythm, and human evolution. Music Perception, 24(1), 99-104.
Payne, R., & McVay, S. (1971). Songs of humpback whales. Science, 173(3997), 585-597.
Rogers, L. J., & Kaplan, G. (2000). Songs, roars, and rituals: Communication in birds, mammals, and other animals. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Skutch, A. F. (1996). The minds of birds. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press.
Stap, D. (2005). Birdsong. New York: Scribner.
Thorpe, W. H. (1961). Bird-song: The biology of vocal communication and expression in birds. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge at the University Press.
Wallin, N. L., Merker, B., & Brown, S. (Eds.). (2000). The origins of music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.