Draft 7: Giving Up to Go Forward

Thanks for all my friends who wrote and basically said, "keep going" and "put all the birdsong variations together one after the other."  They're absolutely right...so I press forward:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO DRAFT 7.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MUSIC NOTATION FOR DRAFT 7.

CLICK HERE to see HOW I MIX SYMPHONY AND BIRDSONG RECORDINGS.

3-15-2012. Well, finally I have let go of the CornellLab birdsong in my musical work.  (CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MUSIC FOR MY COLLECTION OF CAROLINA WREN BIRDSONGS.) I read over their copyright page (CLICK HERE TO READ TERMS OF USE ) and decided that even if I wrote and got permission to use their recording in this work, it would PROBABLY have to be so constrained as to deny me to make any money, or to need to check with them whenever it was recorded, performed, etc. ... If I wrote them they might give me permission to use it as long as my work were not-for-profit.  This is OK if I wanted to use it for teaching, or here in this blog for educational purposes. 

I've had bad experience with copyright laws in my past works. One of my favorite works, "Cover Us With Song" for Sax & Tape, has not been recorded because while I thought that Robert Frost's verse were in public domain, I was wrong. When I wrote to the publisher, I was told the family now owns the copyright and do not give permission for his poetry to be used in other art forms: Frost's poems stand on their own. Sigh. To me, a work of music might bring further exposure to lesser known works of his and thereby enlarging the community of Frost patrons to the (financial) benefit of the family. But it's not my property so I can't use it.

Carolina Wren (Beverly Gaddy)

My purpose is to create a work of art that will live on its own, unconstrained.  So, I have let go of my need for this recording, even though I really wanted to include it for these reasons:

1. because I like the inherent harmony and found it pivotal in my harmonic plan (CLICK HERE TO SEE HARMONIC PLAN FROM MAR 6., where the label "O" stands for "Official Birdsong") and
2. for the sake of EXTERNAL VALIDATION, a point of scientific measurement or clarification. In letting go, instead I must self-reference, which is more artistically important for one thing. Scientifically, it's important, especially in regards to my desire for this work to be authentic and accurate as far as I can make it with nature. This work seeks to reveal the beauty of the birds here in the lowcountry, not the textbook birdsong.  The fact is, I have not yet recorded here in the lowcountry any Carolina Wren that sounds like the official birdsong recorded by Cornell!  So for both artistic and scientific validation, I must let it go. Let it go!

So, more questions arise:

• are they all different? (Indeed, do I even have any recorded birdsongs that are identical when recorded in two locations (with two different birds)?),
• are the birds up north faster and louder than the birds in the south (as are the people!)?
• are the birds intending differences in order to promote strength and diversity in their breed? 
• do the females here listen to the variations I've recorded and like it (select to mate)?, or what if the opposite---the birds that stay here all winter are unmated males who have been left behind by the females who do not like their work?  and,
• musically, what if their songs are more alike than different? (structurally, as in harmonic implication or set class)  

 Too many questions!  ...in case you're getting curious about some of these questions, I refer you to an excellent book, The Singing Life of Birds by Donald Kroodsma. He has a great way of raising questions and finding answers out in the fields of New England (and travels abroad).  I got into reading this book while I was trying to decode the musicianship of the Nightingale's birdsong in my first symphony.

Carolina Wren Preparing to Fly (Beverly Gaddy)

 So now I need to take a leap into a new harmonic structure.  sigh.  no problem--I went to college!  (This is my "you can do it!" self-talk.)  Just look at that beautiful launch, will you!

In Draft 7 I replace the planned "Official" CornellLab birdsong with a variation on Song A, (labeled A') recorded Jan 16th. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ORIGINAL.  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO NOISE REMOVED....I eliminated a lot of the noise. I couldn't eliminate the bumps.  These are probably the result of my holding the recorder in my hand, as I had just stepped out of my car...I was trying to get another bird that flew off just as I started to record. But on repeat hearings with the symphony tracks, I now I realize I have to let go of this recording., too.  It's just too noisy.

sigh.

Letting Go!  Letting Go! Letting Go!