Hollis Taylor

Considered by many to be the most accomplished songbird in Australia, the pied butcherbird is known for its ability to skillfully improvise new and complex melodies. Each one sings differently from the next; their nocturnal solo songs can span up to seven hours and are often combined with other calls to form an artistic ensemble; and since their songs change annually, these feathered choristers provide an endless bounty of complex musical phrases to transcribe. Music from Another Species is an exhaustive zoomusicological analysis of these avian vocalizations in relation to the minimalist music produced by humans. The culmination of over twenty years of listening, author Hollis Taylor has produced a veritable repertoire of birdsong with the notation of over 100 individual vocalizations. From comparisons of bird solos across geography to those at the same site but different times, the elegant variations across subspecies, and even duets and larger ensembles, the collected transcriptions allow readers to immerse themselves in these songs so replete with musicality and invention. Complete with online audio files, Music from Another Species opens the door for us to find the exuberance, timbral riches, chromatic flourishes, and abutting large leaps and sharp switchbacks of the pied butcherbird.

How and when does music become possible? Is it a matter of biology, or culture, or an interaction between the two? Revolutionizing the way we think about the core values of music and human exceptionalism, Hollis Taylor takes us on an outback road trip to meet the Australian pied butcherbird. Recognized for their distinct timbre, calls, and songs, both sexes of this songbird sing in duos, trios, and even larger choirs, transforming their flute-like songs annually. While birdsong has long inspired artists, writers, musicians, and philosophers, and enthralled listeners from all walks of life, researchers from the sciences have dominated its study. As a field musicologist, Taylor spends months each year in the Australian outback recording the songs of the pied butcherbird and chronicling their musical activities. She argues persuasively in these pages that their inventiveness in song surpasses biological necessity, compelling us to question the foundations of music and confront the remarkably entangled relationship between human and animal worlds. Equal parts nature essay, memoir, and scholarship, Is Birdsong Music? offers vivid portraits of the extreme locations where these avian choristers are found, quirky stories from the field, and an in-depth exploration of the vocalizations of the pied butcherbird.

How and when does music become possible? Is it a matter of biology, or culture, or an interaction between the two? Revolutionizing the way we think about the core values of music and human exceptionalism, Hollis Taylor takes us on an outback road trip to meet the Australian pied butcherbird. Recognized for their distinct timbre, calls, and songs, both sexes of this songbird sing in duos, trios, and even larger choirs, transforming their flute-like songs annually. While birdsong has long inspired artists, writers, musicians, and philosophers, and enthralled listeners from all walks of life, researchers from the sciences have dominated its study. As a field musicologist, Taylor spends months each year in the Australian outback recording the songs of the pied butcherbird and chronicling their musical activities. She argues persuasively in these pages that their inventiveness in song surpasses biological necessity, compelling us to question the foundations of music and confront the remarkably entangled relationship between human and animal worlds. Equal parts nature essay, memoir, and scholarship, Is Birdsong Music? offers vivid portraits of the extreme locations where these avian choristers are found, quirky stories from the field, and an in-depth exploration of the vocalizations of the pied butcherbird.