Carolina Wren Symphony Movement

Hey, this is a place where I share my thoughts on the musical craft of the Carolina Wren, as heard here on Hilton Head Island.  At the end I share my first set of drafts for the first movement of my new symphony, using this song as the central melodic & harmonic material.  Tell me what you think! 
(Even if you're not a musician!)
My objective is to honor the bird by using its actual melodies and rhythms as recorded here in the Lowcounry, while adding the harmonies and textures that are pleasing to modern listeners; OK classical music listeners.  Other artists have succesfully placed birdsong recordings on top of classical music.  It's a nice idea but I want to take it a step further and use the actual musical material of the bird in the music.  So this is an adventure for me and I hope for you, too!

Carolina Wren
(photo by Beverly Gaddy)

I chose Carolina Wren to start because #1 it's loud and well represented here, #2 it has a virtuoso song that's clearly recognizable and #3 it's the state bird for South Carolina. This is my second symphony. The first one was built around the birdsong of a Nightingale, which most of us here in N. America have never heard in person. That's what made me want to do another project with N. American birds. I'd like you to come away singing the birdsongs and therefore that much prepared to hear them. (I promise you'll hear this bird 10x more than you'll ever see it!)   If you want to hear a brief recording I took of the Carolina Wren: Click Here to play recording.

Here's a picture of the Carolina Wren, thanks to my official photographer, Beverly Gaddy.  It loves the bushes near my bedroom window. It's a very small bird for such a large sound!  Sometimes it flies into the house and gets me in a panic!

I've been out in the field quite a bit to get recordings of the Carolina Wren, usually with Beverly. Thanks to funding from the Coastal Community Foundation,  I've been able to update my recording equipment so I can get pretty good recordings of the bird. I've made my own parabolic micophone bowl, using an external microphone with an Olympus digital voice recorder (DVR). Most of my recordings have been captured right in my backyard, here at Outdoor Resorts in Hilton Head, SC.
 (GPS Location:    lat. 32.159320       long -80.761222)

Here's a picture Beverly took one cold January at daybreak, and at the Seapines Nature Preserve.

Recording birdsong with parabolic mic connected to my DVR.
(photo by Beverly Gaddy)

Location of my recording--poor conditions this photo.
(photo by Beverly Gaddy)

 The Cornell website has this recording for  OFFICIAL CAROLINA WREN.   This is the same recording used in the Audobon stuffed-animal. 

My Carolina Wren toy.
(Audobon Society)

My toy bird travels around the country with the Ferriera clan.
Do you know where they are in this picture?
(Photo by Irene Ferriera)

ABOUT MY SECOND SYMPHONY -- "Symphony of the Lowcountry"
This movement is the first in a suite of movements featuring musical attributes of indiginous creatures such as cardinal, alligator, shore birds, frogs and owl.  As you know, I start with the Carolina Wren.

One of the defining features of the Carolina Wren is that it is very loud, so I start with brass and timpani.  My first draft uses a simple harmony in the strings to give atmosphere. PLAY THE FIRST DRAFT.   I started this in Minnesota while attending the American Composer Forum's Composer Institute.  Because I didn't have my field recordings, I used the recording from Audobon.  Here's my music notation for the official recording. Click here to see what the official birdsong looks like when it's written as music. Strangely, this song didn't match any of my own experience.   My recording of the carolina wren birdsong has a couple extra notes! Click here to see what my recording looks like.    So, out of respect to nature and science, I ditched this draft and began using my own birdcall recordings.  After all, I was 10 feet from the actual bird when it made this birdsong right here in the Lowcountry. I need to send my field experience to Cornell...they have a method for including citizen scientists!   I have many questions: is mine just a "regional accent?," or is my bird another species of Carolina Wren?, or (sadly) has my bird learned the wrong song? (and is doomed to a life without a mate.)

Back to work!  At first I was thinking Vivaldi's Violin Concerto-Spring for this movement. (Hey did you know there's a FREE download of this?!) When I interpreted the birdsong this way, here's how it sounded: PLAY THE SECOND DRAFT.

Then I thought, no, this birdsong is in a minor modality and I want it to make a more mature statement, like Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. PLAY THIRD DRAFT. I had to mess with this one a lot!  I like this next one but it still doesn't capture the spirit of the bird. PLAY FOURTH DRAFT.

Well, finally I've decided that because it's so loud in the morning, I'm thinking of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man as the model for this work. I'm WORKING ON FIFTH DRAFT right now...