released August 14, 2022

Text compiled by Gero: record of process as it unfolded:

My invitation:

Dear all Oxford Improvisors,
 
I am quite enjoying the song of the morning birds in these Covid times.
They seem to stand out more without the noise of traffic which has ceased.
They create a remarkable sonic space at the beginning of the day.
They sing whilst keeping a lot of distance between them.
 
So, as a consequence of that joy and the thoughts it inspires, I´d like to invite every member of the Oxford Improvisors to create their own characteristic birdsong.
There is plenty of literature about this through the centuries, looking at the melodies, the speed of articulation, function, clever use of resonances and so on and so forth.
 
Those who want and have access to recording technology pls record your voice whilst a playback of the attached birdsong recording runs over your headphones.
There is a track attached which is recoded at high resolution wav with 96kHz24bit, so those interested in slowing it down or analysing its spectrum will find plenty of surprises and inspiration in it, I’m sure.
As an alternative I have attached as well a mp3 track good enough for plain playback.
 
All tracks sent back to me by next Saturday I´ll arrange for simultaneous playback with an emphasis to place every voice at a distinct location in sonic space.
The bird track will not be part of the final mix
This goes for mono files.
For those sending back stereo files I´ll assume you have chosen your sonic location by yourself and I won’t touch it.
I might look at levelling the volumes of the tracks to support the creation of the desired sonic space. 
 
Best, Gero

Comments before recording

This is not advice for OI but -
birds are also enjoying the silence so that they can hear themselves sing.
some birds are depleted because of increased noise ( theory for why sparrows are rarer in cities now!) best ws P
the most succesful birds at finding a mate are the one’s with the most invented detail and nuances in their song.
Look forwsrd to hearing


Very nice idea Gero. I’ve been out listening to bird song and trying to imitate or emulate it on clarinet. I’ll give yours a whirl.

Paul

Nice idea, Gero. I will have a go.

Jill

Hi dear all

Not really an invite to collaboration (unless you feel inspired and want?), this is just a reflection on the different sound contexts highlighted by these quarantine days…

I have been following comments in social media and here about the increase of bird sounds with the lowered down of human activity…

Well, there are situations and situations…

I live in a building of studio apartments in Brasília, and with all the inhabitants being at home these day, and not sharing the same approach to sound/listening/noise/silence, the resulting soundscape can be quite different… (although yes, we can hear a bit more of the birds, a bit on early morning hours).

soundcloud.com/kesia-decote/143-apartments-vizinhos-em-quarentena

(This was recorded just sticking my phone from my window, yesterday afternoon).

Xxxx

Késia

Dear Gero
found the morning birds
how fantastic
will send something
wow
Philipp


Clarifications and Dialogue leading to individual recording

Oh ...I want to do this, but doubt I have the tech. I will give it a go. I love the birdsong!
 
Andrew


Andrew,
Come by my place any time.
I’ll prepare you a microphone in my front garden and if you bring
Sent from my private phone 
Bring your own headphones and we will be touchless


Hi Gero,
 
That is kind and enticing (a sort of birdsong, if you like, picking up on Philipp’s email – though my understanding was that much birdsong is territorial rather than inviting...perhaps territorial IS inviting in a paradoxical way...now, where were we?....).
 
What I would like to do is to explore in my own time and see if I can record a track on what I have got which is a Boss digital recorder and condenser mic I bought about ten years ago – used once to make a recording of a performance in a folk group I was in. I also have a Quantz trio sonata part  record for a friend to muck around with.
 
What sort of file can you use, if I get that far?
 
It is fun to encounter your anarchic enthusiasm in this different cosmos.
 
Andrew
 
Andrew West

Andrew,
Great paradox!
Yes cool to try in your own time. 😎
Any file format works from wav, aiff, flac, mp3 and surely a few more.
Best, Gero



This is interesting - well everything's interesting - but how to work with this? Questions of vocabulary, syntax, spontaneity vs programming, and what does the bird think it's doing? I've been listening to the morning birds here too. I'll listen more closely before tackling your fascinating task.

Otherwise - duo?

best wishes

Martin

The Birds - when you say, 'voice', do you mean it loosely, in the orchestral sense, or rather, 'Voice', as singing and speech?

I'm still interested in the drum/bass/cello thing......

Martin

Martin,
Sorry I had a very busy but successful week...
The birds, I hear them as singing and speech, creating a sonic space. So, for me, probably less of an orchestral experience.
I’ll try to arrange the individual contributions in space. And will use the volume faders as well.

On the other thing. I can send you the dr,b,c trio mixdown if that’s what you’re interested in.

Best, Gero

Comments coming in with individually recorded tracks

Hi Gero,

Here’s my little bird call.
Good luck with the project.
BEst wishes.
Jill



so, I have now shared it from the whatsApp to this email. It seems to work!

You should be able to listen to it.
It is raw, without title or edit.
If we had more time, I would now experiment with audacity edit etc
But hope you can use it somehow...

phew...!
Let me know

Lizzy :)



Hi Gero
I slowed your track down 8 times , then recorded on cello relating to the birds at that speed and then re-sped it up.
Below: second version with stereo spatial movement in it. Either use it or use the first one as you see fit.
Thanks for a good project!

Bruno

I am finding the experience of relating to your morning birds very exciting / stimulating and helpful! bravo
Philipp


Philip, exciting stuff! I’m feeling all this positive energy and love of life. A good thing, this collaboration. The responses and contributions are still coming in so I’ll wait till the evening and then start the listening part before mixing.
Have a great Sunday!
Best, Gero

Dear Hero
I have just sent you on wetransfer my contribution -
one done live while listening to your amazing recording c4mins
2 fragments on violin v short
2 fragments on piano v short
also
3 live and treated recordings based on a location and live painting by the artist called ‘fonthill’ which was done to accompany slide projections of the artists produce, done 29 years ago!
feel free .

best wishes from Philipp

Hi Gero,

I've just wetransferred my track to you. I hope it's not too late.

Listening back to it I found that my Zoom recorder had picked up bits of your original track from my headphones. I've fairly brutally edited out the sections where it's most obvious - at the end of the decay of single sounds - I actually like the resulting cut-off it gives to some of the reverb tails.

Hope you like it

best wishes

Martin

Hi Gero,

Great project.
Small offering attached: Nature and Nurture!

Best wishes,

Suzanne

Hi Gero,
There are two files here. Both are fairly discreet. One has a plane going over near the end. The other doesn’t.
Cheers

Mark

Hi Gero

Here’s some sounds from clarinet to go with the wonderful dawn chorus recording. This is probably too dense so please chop and crop and delete as you see fit. I also only have the laptop mike to record so can’t get very good quality. If I was supposed to you my own voice my apologies but you wouldn’t want that. Bird song is quite amazing and nothing we can do on instruments comes very near but I’ve often tried to imitate short bird phrases as a challenge.

Great project. Thanks for doing this. One day we’ll get together again.

Paul
Reactions to OI BIRDS
Thanks Gero! That takes bird song to another level altogether. Great work. I’m touched by the final little section. I like these projects at the moment more than the OI sessions on Mondays in some ways. 

Paul

Wow!
That is a fascinating piece in itself... well done, Gero!
Thank you!

I am listening a few times:
taking it in as a whole
paying attention to individual voices

Beautiful


Li zzy


This is really great, Gero! I love the way you have spaced us all out in your virtual garden  - very atmospheric! 
 
Jill 
Yes, it was fascinating and fun to participate and to listen, thank you Gero. 
A virtual garden with lots of birds indeed...
 
(there is also a beautiful early morning bird recording in Littlemore, by Malcolm, on the Littlemore soundcloud, by the way)
 
Lizzy

Great work Gero and i especially like the end
camilla


Hi all
 
I listened to the final recording, what a fantastic sound! Really enjoyed the richness of the ‘re-birding’ readings and the work in the spaciousness. Bravi tutti!
 
Bravo Gero for the initiative, which has also led me to some reflections about different contexts highlighted by the lockdown situation. Listening is a powerful tool indeed, for life in its whole. Thank you for that!
 
Lots of love
 
xxxx
 
Késia


Absolutely! Rich and spacious. A garden on another planet perhaps. .
 
Nice one, Gero. Great idea and very well put together. Yes, the ending is magic.
 
Hoping to see yous on Monday. It was a mistake missing this week.
 
Andrew


Requesting the images.
Cher MonsieurJe vous ecris au nom d un collectif de musiciens improvisateurs situe a Oxford GB, 'Oxford Improvisers'.

Durant le confinement, en 2020 un des musiciens, Gero Kempf a donne comme projet aux autres d'interpreter chacun a leur maniere les chants d'oiseaux qu'ils entendaient de chez eux et de les enregistrer. D'ou a resulte cette petite piece composite (ci jointe), et le texte initial pour commencer le projet est en dessous
Nous desirons la poster sur notre site Bandcamp et la rendre publique.
Bien que decoulant d'une motivation tout a fait differente, sans vraiment d'effort vers la verismilitude, j'ai pense qu'il y avait quand meme un rapprochement (tres oblique) avec vos projets
D'ou cette requete etrange: serait il possible d'utiliser des images de vos instruments issues de votre catalogue PDF pour accompagner (obliquement) le texte qui ira avec, et aussi le merveilleux dessin d'oiseau de la premiere page?Comme ceci n est pas un projet qui rapporte quoique ce soit, nous ne pouvons pas vous dedommager...a part d'inclure un lien vers votre site.Qu'en pensez vous?
Merci!
Bruno Guastalla

Cher Bruno,

Merci de votre message. C’est amusant votre projet. Je n’ai pas été capable d’entendre le résultat car je suis en déplacement, mais votre idée me plait beaucoup.
Bien entendu, nous vous donnons notre accord pour l’utilisation de nos images d’appeaux et d’oiseaux du moment que vous n’oubliez pas de citer notre maison : Quelle est Belle Company.
Et aussi un lien en partage de nos sites est important.
Tenez moi au courant de vos avancées.
De mon côté, quand j’aurais été capable de vous écouter, je vous écrirais ce que j’en pense.
Bien à vous, solidaire avec la nature

François
Pour Quelle est Belle Company