{"id":1335,"date":"2019-06-24T22:24:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T02:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2023-07-14T21:31:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T01:31:49","slug":"a-menagerie-of-intervals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/2019\/06\/24\/a-menagerie-of-intervals\/","title":{"rendered":"A menagerie of intervals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Birding is a term that describes what birdwatchers do when they observe and catalog the species of birds they hear and see around them.\u00a0 In birding competitions, such as the New Jersey Audubon World Series of Birding<\/a>, teams of birdwatchers compete to see which one can identify the greatest number of bird species by sight or sound.\u00a0 While identifying bird songs \u2018by ear\u2019<\/a> is a common approach, apps such as Song Sleuth<\/a> have been developed to provide technological assistance to those looking to identify birds by sound.\u00a0 The article I linked to in the last sentence on identifying birds by ear includes the suggestion: \u2018If it\u2019s a complicated song, figure out how many notes it has. Do all the notes have the same tone and vibe? Does the tune rise or fall?\u2019\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development of this skill for birders is very similar to the way in which musicians learn to identify intervals, or in other words, use scale steps to measure the distance between two notes,  in what is called \u2018ear training\u2019.   Musicians can learn to identify intervals through studying a list of  pop and folk tunes<\/a>, or a list of jazz tunes,<\/a> in which iconic phrases from songs are associated with the intervals they demonstrate.  In this post I am proposing a new approach to the study of intervals, using bird songs found in nature and in tunes by jazz and pop song composers which quote those bird songs. While many jazz standards refer to birds in the title (such as \u2018Bye Bye Blackbird\u2019 or \u2018Skylark\u2019) or somewhere in their lyrics (as in \u2018Stella by Starlight\u2019 and \u2018Moonlight in Vermont\u2019), there are a smaller number of tunes in which the composers incorporate the songs of actual birds into the melody.  A number of these tunes quote the birdsongs with some accuracy, because they imitate birds whose songs can be mapped onto the major scale.  This makes these tunes a useful introduction to the study of melodic intervals and ear training for musicians, as well as possibly a musical introduction to some bird songs for aspiring birders.  I have found tunes that directly quote bird songs to match the first four intervals in the major scale (the major 2nd<\/sup>, major 3rd<\/sup> and the perfect 4th<\/sup> and 5th<\/sup>); for the major sixth and seventh intervals, I have found tunes associated with birds, although not with particular birdsongs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descending Major second (mi \u2013 re):  \u2018I\u2019ve Told Every Little Star\u2019 by Jerome Kern\nand Oscar Hammerstein (House Finch) and Le Rossignol En Amour by Francois Couperin\n(Nightingale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein wrote about this tune in a letter to his colleague Sigmund Romberg: \u2018Jerry [Jerome Kern] got the melodic theme from a bird.  He swears it!  He heard a finch outside his window singing the first line and he built a refrain on it. Incidentally,\u2019 Hammerstein added, \u2018Ev\u2019ry Little Star proved to be a stubborn tune and for a whole summer resisted my efforts to set words to it.  There were times during those hot August days when I wished the finch had kept his big mouth shut!\u2019  There is a five-note motive in the second measure of this tune (accompanied by the words \u2018Every Little Star\u2019 in vocal versions such as those by Bing Crosby<\/a> and Jacob Collier<\/a>) in which four repeated notes are followed by a descending major second.  This motive does bear a resemblance to the excerpt of a House Finch song on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site,<\/a> which begins with two similar five-note motives.  This tune has been interpreted by jazz performers including Cannonball Adderley (on a recording with Wynton Kelly on piano) <\/a>and Marian McPartland (in a duet with guitarist Jackie King.)<\/a>  McPartland and King\u2019s version include a number of delightful passages of collective improvisation, while Adderley includes additional ii-V progression that makes the harmonies more challenging for an improviser to navigate.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A piece from classical keyboard repertoire which makes frequent use of major seconds to emulate birdsong is \u2018Le Rossignol En Amour\u2019<\/a> (The Nightingale In Love) by Francois Couperin.  In light of current reports of environmental decline due to climate change, it is comforting to note that Nightingale songs from our era (such as the one that can be heard around the one minute mark in this recording<\/a>) still bear a resemblance to the musical impression of the Nightingale in Couperin\u2019s piece from four centuries ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descending major third (la \u2013 fa and mi \u2013 do): \u2018When The Red,\nRed Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin\u2019 Along\u2019 by Harry Woods<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The melody of this tune, memorably performed by Louis Armstrong<\/a>, uses a descending major third on the repeated lyrics \u2018wake up\u2019, \u2018get up\u2019, \u2018cheer up\u2019.   While Armstrong puts his own melodic spin on these phrases, he sings the two-note motive as written at least once on each lyric (Bing Crosby <\/a>sings the two-note motive as written, although his interpretation does not quite have the energy and invention of the version by his idol Armstrong.)  Armstrong\u2019s version is also a tour de force of improvisation techniques, including quoting (the trombone lick at the end of the introduction quotes an earlier Armstrong trumpet solo on \u2018Hotter Than That\u2019), trading (in the section following Armstrong\u2019s vocal melody) and collective improvisation (in the tutti chorus that follows the trades.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the podcast Birdnote has explained,<\/a> the American Robin has a much wider vocabulary than the two-note bird in the song.  The Robin improvises in much the same way as many jazz players, by drawing from a personal vocabulary of \u201810 to 20 different caroling phrases\u2019 and alternating between them and a \u2018treasury of 75 to 100 different whispered notes\u2019 to create songs that can go on \u2018for minutes without a pause.\u2019 Although this level of variety can be heard in a recent Robin song from Ilinois<\/a>, the midwestern bird does a number of times include the descending major third heard in \u2018Red, Red Robin\u2019, on the pitches F6 to Db6.  (I am using \u20186\u2019 here to refer to the sixth octave of the piano.)  (A decent piano arrangement of this tune is available in the Faber and Faber ShowTime Jazz and Blues collection<\/a> and is demonstrated in this keyboard video<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ascending and descending perfect fourth (re \u2013 so and so \u2013\ndo): \u2018Bob White\u2019 (Johnny Mercer) and \u2018The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Main\nTheme)\u2019 by Ennio Morricone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Mercer\u2019s and Bernie Hanighen\u2019s tune \u2018Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)\u2019, which was recorded by vocalist Carmen McRae<\/a> with saxophonist Ben Webster, uses the interval of an ascending fourth on the title phrase.   One can hear in this sound clip <\/a>of a Bobwhite birdsong from the Macaulay library how some Bobwhite songs can be interpreted as a perfect fourth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will make an exception to the bird theme here for Ennio Morricone\u2019s Main Theme from his score to the film \u2018The Good The Bad and the Ugly<\/a>\u2019<\/a>, as its musical impression of a coyote howl – a five-note motive alternating between ascending and descending fourths \u2013 is one of the most iconic uses of this interval.  As Morricone said in an interview with the Guardian, \u2018I can’t take the credit for the coyote howl – that was the work of the coyote.\u2019  In the recording of coyotes howling on this page, o<\/a>ne can hear how some of the responding howls around :24 can be heard as a perfect fourth.    Morricone\u2019s theme was given a great jazz interpretation by Quincy Jones <\/a>who featured Herbie Hancock (contributing a characteristically side-slipping electric piano solo) and vocalist Patti Austin (who does some remarkable doubling of Hancock\u2019s lines.)  Jones\u2019 version adds Morricone\u2019s theme to the many modern jazz melodies that feature perfect fourths prominently, including Wayne Shorter\u2019s \u2018E.S.P.\u2019, Eddie Harris\u2019 \u2018Freedom Jazz Dance\u2019 and Ornette Coleman\u2019s \u2018Lonely Woman\u2019.  (Sheet music for the original Morricone theme is available from musicnotes.com in more basic <\/a>and more challenging<\/a> versions.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfect fifth (do -so)  \u2013 The Sunset and the Mockingbird, Serenade to\nA Cuckoo, The Peacocks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morricone\u2019s coyotes from his 1966 theme bear a striking resemblance to Duke Ellington\u2019s evocation of a Mockingbird in his piece \u2018The Sunset and the Mockingbird\u2019<\/a>, recorded seven years earlier in 1959.  Where Morricone\u2019s coyotes sing a perfect fourth, Ellington\u2019s Mockingbird, played by the piano, uses an ascending and descending perfect fifth.  Ellington describes the song\u2019s creation in this passage from his biography, \u2018Music is my Mistress\u2019: “One evening we were a little late leaving Tampa, Florida, en route to West Palm Beach to make a gig. The weather was wonderful and it was just about sunset when, halfway across Florida, we passed a bird. We didn’t see it, but we heard its beautiful call. I asked Harry (Carney) if he heard it and he said, “Yeah.” We were a little too pushed for time, and going too fast to stop or go back and thank the bird, so I pulled out my pencil and paper and wrote that lovely phrase down. I spent the next two or three days whistling it to the natives, and inquiring what kind of bird it could have been that sang such a beautiful melody. Finally, I was convinced it had to be a mockingbird. I made an orchestration around that melody, titled it “Sunset And The Mocking Bird” and included it in the Queen’s Suite as one of the “beauty” experiences of my life.\u201d Ellington\u2019s initial melody statement on piano exactly matches one of the Mockingbird\u2019s calls, which can be heard by clicking on \u2018Song #1\u2019 at  Audobon.org’s Northern Mockingbird page.<\/a>   A good (but advanced) piano arrangement of Ellington\u2019s tune from Tommy Flanagan\u2019s trio version <\/a>can be found in The Tommy Flanagan Collection <\/a>published by Hal Leonard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perfect fifth has also been other jazz composers to evoke other birds.  The second half of the melody in Rashaan Roland Kirk\u2019s \u2018Serenade to a Cuckoo<\/a>\u2019 includes a repeated descending perfect 5th<\/sup> (starting in in m. 9) which is a clear reference to cuckoo calls such as this one<\/a>.  A film clip<\/a> of Kirk using his flute to serenade and converse with animals at the zoo while his son sits on his shoulders is a moving example of his ability to create music out of unusual circumstances.  While the clip clearly includes some editing of sound and image, it also clearly represents actual interaction between Kirk and animals.  \u2018Serenade to a Cuckoo\u2019 may be known to rock fans through a cover version<\/a> recorded by the band Jethro Tull which, while it sounds anemic in comparison to Kirk\u2019s original version, demonstrates the extent to which flutist Ian Anderson\u2019s playing is inspired by the tradition of jazz flute playing.  A lead sheet for Kirk\u2019s tune (i.e. single staff melody with chord symbols above) can be purchased at jazzleadsheets.com <\/a>(also a great resource for a number of his other tunes.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Peacocks\u2019<\/a> by pianist Jimmy Rowles has become something of a jazz standard, having been recorded by Bill Evans<\/a> and more recently vocalist Jazzmeia Horn.<\/a>  The first two notes of the melody are an ascending 5th<\/sup> which is then quickly followed by a repeated descending 5th<\/sup> that mirrors Ellington\u2019s Mockingbird (this can be heard in Horn\u2019s vocal version on the lyric \u2018out into a pattern never ending.\u2019)   In the bridge of \u2018The Peacocks\u2019, Rowles makes the highly unusual choice of a repeated minor 7th<\/sup> leap (which can be heard on the last two syllables of the phrases where Horn sings \u2018but somehow I\u2019 and \u2018I\u2019m drowning now\u2019.)   Although this interval appears rarely in jazz melodies and even more rarely in popular song melodies,  it was used by Alexander Courage to evoke space travel in the theme to the original Star Trek TV series, and by Leonard Bernstein to evoke an idealized future in \u2018Somewhere\u2019 from the musical West Side Story.  It seems possible that Rowles\u2019 use of this interval is related to the wide intervals sung by peacocks in their calls, such as the one that can be heard around :28 in this video<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descending major sixth (mi \u2013 so) \u2013 Western Meadowlark \u2013 \u2018Mister\nMeadowlark\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more complex song of the Western Meadowlark, which can be heard here<\/a> in a recent post in the Macaulay library, is evoked in Dave Brubeck\u2019s tune Strange Meadowlark<\/a>.  If one compares the bird\u2019s song from the first link with the composer\u2019s opening phrase (introduced by saxophonist Paul Desmond after a piano intro), it sounds as though Brubeck may have just added two interstitial notes between the first two notes of the bird\u2019s song.  (Transposable sheet music with lyrics for Brubeck\u2019s tune can be purchased here<\/a>.)  Another recorded Western Meadowlark song i<\/a>ncludes the leap of an ascending major sixth.  The same interval in the reverse direction (the descending major sixth) appears in the opening of Mister Meadowlark by Walter Donaldson and Johnny Mercer, which was recorded by Carmen McRae <\/a>on the same album where her version of \u2018Bob White\u2019 appears (\u2018Birds of a Feather\u2019.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major seventh (do \u2013 ti) \u2013 Conference of the Birds<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave Holland\u2019s Conference of the Birds<\/a> features two contrapuntal flute lines, played by Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers, which weave around one another in 5\/4 time.  Holland features a major seventh in the seventh measure of the melody, in the lower of the two lines.  While Holland\u2019s tune does not to my knowledge involve a specific birdsong, it does, like the McPartland and Armstrong performances mentioned above, use collective improvisation to evoke the sound of multiple birds.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all these tunes evoking bird songs by jazz and popular song composers seem to have been more or less anomalous works within the careers of each composer, there are at least two composers outside the jazz world who made encyclopedic attempts to catalog and utilize birdsong in human music.  In 1904 the American naturalist, composer and artist F. Schuyler Mathews published his Field Guide to Wild Birds and Their Music, a glossary of bird songs rendered in musical notation.  It was featured in this NPR story <\/a>and is available here<\/a> as a free ebook.  Later in the twentieth century, the  French composer and organist Olivier Messiaen, made extensive use of birdsong in pieces such as Reveil de Oiseaux <\/a>(Awakening of the Birds) where he lists in the score the birds being emulated by the piano and other instruments.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a personal note, the album which my quartet Birdcode has recently released, You Are Here<\/a>, includes a tune by pianist and composer Dan Skea named after the Indigo Bunting<\/a>.  (As of this writing, the tune can be streamed on Soundcloud<\/a>.)  For me, this lovely melody evokes not so much the bird\u2019s song as the experience of watching its graceful flight.  I was lucky enough to know Dan when he lived in Vermont and to have heard his marvelous playing and writing, which can still be heard on his YouTube channel<\/a>.  He was also a jazz scholar who expertly notated much of the music he performed and wrote both an important article <\/a>and a longer unpublished work on the hugely influential jazz recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder.  Dan\u2019s grasp of Van Gelder\u2019s often overlooked innovations was unique enough that he was quoted in Van Gelder\u2019s New York Times obituary<\/a> two years ago.  It makes sense that Dan had a gift for identifying the importance of an innovator who excelled at supporting other artists, as he was a player who was equally lyrical and expressive as an accompanist and as a soloist (something that can only be said of a short list of pianists, Oscar Peterson and Hank Jones among them.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan died in May of this year after a long career which included work with artists ranging from Wayne Newton to Wes Montgomery\u2019s bass playing brother Monk Montgomery (check out his solo on the tune Sippin\u2019 and Tippin\u2019<\/a> from Monk\u2019s album \u2018Reality\u2019.)  He spent significant amounts of time in New Mexico, Vermont and Virginia, which I notice on the Indigo Bunting\u2019s \u2018Range Map\u2019 are all areas frequented by this beautiful bird.  Dan will be missed by many music lovers, but his music, like the namesake of his beautiful tune, will always be in the air somewhere.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lately I\u2019ve been inspired by the mystical pursuit which F.\nSchuyler Mathews, Roland Kirk, and Olivier Messiaen made, of transcribing\nbirdsong for use by human musicians.  I\nhave been recording birdsongs near my house and will transcribe and share them\nin a future blog post.  They may make their\nway into a composition or two.  Stay\ntuned!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Birding is a term that describes what birdwatchers do when they observe and catalog the species of birds they hear and see around them.\u00a0 In birding competitions, such as the New Jersey Audubon World Series of Birding, teams of birdwatchers … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":865,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/865"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2196,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions\/2196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}