Birdsong at the center of music research
The recently published special volume of the Swiss Yearbook of Musicology reflects on birdsong, music and silence.
For the first time since its digital reorientation, the Swiss Yearbook of Musicology is presenting a special edition guest-edited by the two ethnomusicologists Helena Simonett and Patricia Jäggi from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) and resulting from their research project Seeking Birdscapes. Four main articles and two artistic contributions approach birdsong from different perspectives.
In their introduction, Helena Simonett and Patricia Jäggi introduce the topic of "Birdscapes" and present the Lucerne research project. In his essay "The Anatomy of a Benign Failure", Gergely Loch deconstructs Péter Szőke's anthropocentric assertion that both birdsong and human song are the result of identical neurological and physiological processes. Andrew Whitehouse's essay "Inquisitory Birds" questions the ethics of the method of playback of birdsong when it comes to luring rare bird species out of hiding for research purposes. A walk through the Swiss sound forest Tùn Resùn forms the basis of the article by Nathalie Kirschstein and Helena Simonett, which documents and categorizes the multisensory experiences of various witnesses.
Emily Doolittle introduces her compositions Gannetry, a multimodal work inspired by the sounds of Scottish gannets and created in collaboration with the poet Dawn Wood. Finally, Matthias Lewy and Helena Simonett will present the exhibition Birdscapes, which is closely linked to the research project at HSLU and was on display at Naturmuseum Luzern in 2022.
Animals making music?
It seems no coincidence that the "music-making" of animals is now the focus of a musicological publication. The growing concern about our environment - caused by the current climate crisis and the increasingly dwindling and changing natural habitat and associated soundscapes - calls for a closer look and listen, a radical rethink about the role of the Anthropocene and the search for new ways of dealing with our world.
Musicological research, particularly in human-animal studies, sound ecologies and ecomusicology, is becoming increasingly important, which led to the establishment of an international research group in Nuremberg last October dedicated to the research focus "Multispecies Sound and Movement Studies". With its focus on birdsong, the special volume of the Swiss Yearbook of Musicology fits in well with the current research debates.
