Birdsong Resembles Human Music

[FamTimes reporter Lee Kyung-han] Musicians and scientists have recently begun paying attention to birds. They noted that birds’ calls and songs, particularly those of nightingales, actually use the same methods found in the way humans perform music.

Tina Roeske and her colleagues at Germany’s Max Planck Institute began studying this phenomenon using mathematical techniques.

Using mathematical techniques, they measured the beats and intervals in the sounds made by nightingales. The results resembled the musical style known as swing.

Musicians offered widely differing views on the study.

Hollis Taylor of Macquarie University in Australia is a musician who has studied butcherbirds. However, she said she disagreed with the view that nightingale calls resemble swing music.

Regarding butcherbirds, she added, “Some birds sing phrases that, for a moment, sound like swing music. They have a jazz-like feel.”

Other birds have similar abilities. Jazz composer and drummer Stuart Brown said he had witnessed birds singing in rhythms with jazz-like beats.

Composer Emily Doolittle also offered her perspective. After studying birdsong with scientists, she concluded that birds follow certain patterns when singing to attract mates and maintain consistency in their sounds according to their muscular abilities.

Doolittle said, “Whether or not we consider the sounds of some animals to be ‘music,’ some sounds have been shown to be sufficiently similar to human music, and musical and scientific analysis can help us better understand birds.”

Reporter Lee Kyung-han fam1@pcss.co.kr