"Because of how sensitive birds are to any changes in their environment, they are a perfect indicator to understand how our planet is doing. All life on this planet is connected, so when birds are in danger, by extension, we’re all in danger."

Rook Corvus frugilegus
Approximately half of the species' population is experiencing declines. These include countries like Russia, Poland, France and the Netherlands. Some countries have explicitly reported a genuine change in the species’ population size, including the European part of Russia (which holds almost a third of the European population). Overall, the population size of the Rook is declining by over 30% in Europe, likely due to the persecution and destruction of nesting sites.

On dit que le freux croaille, croasse ou graille. Au plan du comportement social, le corbeau freux est plutôt loquace et use de nombre de « croassements » différents, qu'il est parfois réellement difficile de distinguer de ceux d'une corneille. Le croassement le plus fréquent est « Kah » ou bien « Krah », avec des intonations assez variables ; il est souvent employé comme rituel de reconnaissance entre partenaires. Dans une situation d’agression le croassement sera plus long et plus aigu : « krèèèèh ». Au printemps en outre, les croassements les plus longs se mêlent d'un roucoulement adouci (kiou, kiou). Les poussins et les oisillons poussent eux-mêmes des cris forts, leurs grincements sont bien audibles. En grandissant, ils en viennent à articuler une ébauche de ce qui deviendra un croassement : « Rrrah ». (Wikipédia)

Antiphonal singing is of great antiquity and occurs in the folk and liturgical music of many cultures. Descriptions of it occur in the Old Testament. The antiphonal singing of psalms occurred both in ancient Hebrew and early Christian liturgies; alternating choirs would sing—e.g., half lines of psalm verses.

Similar instances of alternating singing occur in the folk music of modern Yemenite Jews, in African and African American folk music, and in eastern European folk music. The principle is also used in large polychoral compositions (for two or more choirs) by such composers as Giovanni Gabrieli and Johann Sebastian Bach. The term cori spezzati (“split choirs”) was used to describe polychoral singing in Venice in the later 16th century. Compare responsorial singing.

According to the legend, San Francesco d'Assissi was able to communicate with birds.
Furthermore, some indigenious communities are able to understand them. 
Birds are also considered in diverse religions to transmit oracles and messages to humans. 

- communication is the act of translating a feeling into a message
- non-verbal sounds where made by chance when the animal moves in the environment
- a sound becomes a sign after a ritualisation of one vibration
- birds create sounds through vibration emitted in the air, passed by membranes structures in their synric. They induce vibrations of the expiratory airflow.

- Birds are bio-indicator of the forest eco-system
- Birds are everywhere, around us, in every eco-system, (even inside of the cities)
- Listening is 360° in the space, it allows you to know what you can't see
- "When you go to the forest, I advise you all to listen to birds, you will energised, might get inspired, and be willing to protect this beautiful space."

Exhibition in Paris,
"A l'écoute du vivant"

Listen to the music of birds and discover their hidden melodies (in notes, ABCDEFG),
as a way to pay attention carefully

Listening is a way to recognised other species as beings: to exit of oneself and be inside of the environment. Stop thinking that humans are the only one to communicate and express themselves

The blackbird, who is always singing, is leading you to also sing along and be listening to him, make a pause. 

reproduce the music of birds with some instruments…
in french, "les appeaux"

Frans Snijders, Birds concert
(Neitherlands), 1629-1630

choregraphy by Luc Petton, La Confidence des oiseaux, 2004, dance improvisation with birds

music improvisation with birds, François Bernard Mâche, 2020

IMPROVISATION
with birds

COMPOSITION
from birds songs

Chassol, Ultrabirds 2, Trush Nightigale: a song composed from a bird melody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpTLwsEUJxA

https://soundcloud.com/wild_rumpus/hinako-omori-sounds-of-the-forest
Compose with the sounds of the forest… beautiful mix of synth and sounds of birds

S L O W  D O W N
in O R D E R  to L I S T EN

and connect with birds

"a need to slow down in the hyper-speed and hyper connected world we are living in. We are all longing to connect to nature, to each other, to life itself:
for that we need to stop and listen."

Birds leave at another speed, another space of time. They life is shorter, their song is quicker. To imitate their singing, we need to slow them 10 times, and then accelerate them again.

LE MERLE

french expression:
"Chanter comme un merle".

"Dans l'âme de chacun d'entre nous, il y a un merle chanteur. La vie consiste à s'en approcher." - Prince d'orchestre (2012) de Metin Arditi

"Disparaisse l'homme, disparaisse l'homme aboli par ses sottises, et les fêtes du renouveau ne seront pas moins solennelles, célébrées par la fanfare du merle."
Souvenirs entomologiques (1870-1889), VII de Jean Henri Fabre

"Un grand musicien est quelqu'un qui donne après plusieurs années de travail ce que donne le rossignol au premier jet de son chant. Il y aura toujours une pluie pour jouer du clavecin ou un merle pour composer une fugue." Un assassin blanc comme neige (2011) de Christian Bobin

"L'inutile et le superflu sont plus indispensables à l'homme que le nécessaire. Le chant du merle est inutile, la rose est superflue. Le travail est nécessaire..." Si j'étais Dieu... de René Barjavel

Blackbird in Italy are supposed to bring bad luck.
"Blackbird also symbolizes for you to trust your intuitions. This symbol tells you to be aware of the people around you. You have to understand each and everyone around you and make clear decisions to avoid any hurdles in future.

Moreover, the trait tells you to go after your gut feeling and seek answers from your inner self. You’ll always make the right decisions and it will be simpler for you than anyone else.

SITTING ON A MAN’S HEAD

Recipe for a slow performance.
"Everything start with breath.
Imagine a walk on the moon.
Imagine the Muybrigde photo sets: a running horse take a step over 24 hours.
Slow down every increment of your step.
Stretch the time it takes for your heel to hit the ground."

"A negative impact of artificial night lighting on natural populations is now widely recognised and no longer contested. Artificial light at night attracts nocturnal animals, including migrating birds. This can lead to disorientation and is the cause of death of many birds that crash into the lighted objects."

"is the fact that it disturbs the natural activity rhythms of many animals"

"Dawn and dusk choruses serve to protect and defend the own territory and attract potential mates. Shifting the singing phenology might have consequences for the fitness of the animals"

Xavi Bou - Ornithograph

However, according to scientists researching the consequences of such high-frequency waves, these radiations have damaging effects on the eggs of birds.

The 5G network will have so many cells that may cause mutation in the whole population of birds. There was some news spreading after the 5G introduced that birds are falling from the sky because of radiation. Microwave radiations also affect nesting, breeding, roosting. With the increase in the number of conductors, there will be harmful effects on species living around humans.Due to such connectivity further, birds have increased health problems such as issues in locomotion, plumage deterioration. Some studies also indicate the decreased nesting rates in birds.

Electromagnetic radiation from power lines and cell towers can disorientate birds and insects and destroy plant health. The paper warns that as nations switch to 5G this threat could increase.

The radio waves can disrupt the magnetic "compass" that many migrating birds and insects use. The creatures may become disorientated, AFP reported.

"The term language of the birds is probably understood by the fact that the birds whistle melodies, music that sounds pretty in the ears but whose hidden meaning we do not realize. We hear them, but we do not hear them (in the sense to understand). This aspect will be amply described with Grasset d'Orcet. There is also a deeper meaning to the language of birds and that is the fact that it is inexpressible by words or voice. Which brings us to the language of symbols."

Interpersonal communication [Wikipedia]
This nonverbal mode of conveying feelings and influence is held to play a central role in intimate relationships. The Emotional Safety model of couples therapy seeks to identify the affective messages that occur within the couple's emotional relationship (the partners' feelings about themselves, each other, and their relationship); most importantly, messages regarding (a) the security of the attachment and (b) how each individual is valued.

One practical application of affect theory has been its incorporation into couples therapy.[13][14] Two characteristics of affects have powerful implications for intimate relationships:

According to Tomkins, a central characteristic of affects is affective resonance, which refers to a person's tendency to resonate and experience the same affect in response to viewing a display of that affect by another person, sometimes thought to be "contagion". Affective resonance is considered to be the original basis for all human communication (before there were words, there was a smile and a nod).
Also according to Tomkins, affects provide a sense of urgency to the less powerful drives. Thus, affects are powerful sources of motivation. In Tomkins' words, affects make good things better and bad things worse.

Le merle noir émet plusieurs sortes de cris selon les situations. S’il est dérangé, il lance des « tchouc » bas et répétés lentement. Lorsqu’il se sent menacé, il pousse des cris aigus « tink-tink-tink… » répétés plus ou moins rapidement. Ces cris peuvent devenir hystériques en présence d’un prédateur dangereux.
Le chant du merle noir est très riche, fait de notes claires et fluides. Il peut varier d’un mâle à l’autre, mais les phrases musicales restent similaires. Le chant est flûté et haut-perché, puissant, avec des gazouillements courts de tonalité plus basse, très agréables à l’oreille. Ces phrases se terminent sur une note brève et ascendante. Les sifflements s’achèvent sur un trille mélodieux. Il chante depuis un perchoir élevé dès le début de la période de reproduction.

Chaque espèce possède un vocabulaire qui lui est propre, une « langue » particulière. C’est d’ailleurs à travers le chant que les oiseaux se reconnaissent individuellement.

La capacité d’un mâle à bien chanter peut être vue comme une indication de son état de santé et donc de son état de bon reproducteur, selon l’esprit de la sélection naturelle. Plus tard, les individus en couple occupés par leur nichée se tairont tandis que les célibataires continueront à chanter jusqu’à constituer leur paire. Il arrive parfois à certains couples de chanter en duo, comme le torcol fourmilier ou la chouette chevêche.

Au passage de la syrinx, l’air expiré vibre, ce qui produit du son.

L’oiseau peut ensuite moduler ce son en contrôlant la tension de muscles spécialisés qui contractent les membranes. Cela fait varier l’espace entre celles-ci et permet à l’oiseau de produire tout un panel de sonorités. Les membranes peuvent également vibrer indépendamment et émettre deux sons simultanés.

les oiseaux produisent à l’âge adulte un chant appris par imitation d’un ou plusieurs chants tuteurs

Pour résumer, les chants peuvent être définis comme des vocalisations particulières, composées par des unités sonores différentes, nommées notes ou syllabes, organisées selon une certaine syntaxe, apprises par imitation, par des oiseaux possédant un substrat neurobiologique particulier indispensable à l’apprentissage. L’observation et l’écoute des oiseaux ont montré que les chants peuvent être produits par les mâles et les femelles, de manière individuelle, ou en duos, ou seulement par les mâles.

Ideas of recipes:
https://www.noovomoi.ca/cuisiner/recettes/recette.boules-energie-amandes-et-graines-de-lin.1.3946310.html

https://lesrecettesdekelou.com/petites-boules-de-graines/

2 c. à soupe de graines de lin moulues
2 c. à thé d'amandes effilées
2 c. à thé de bleuets séchés
1 c. à soupe de beurre d'amande crémeux non salé et non sucré

HOW CAN 
WE LISTEN
TO BIRDS?

Listening as a critical
practice, to recognise
more than humans as our
kins, cohabitants of our
environment.

Get inspired from
the birds' melodies

Singing as a
soothing practice

Inspire contemplation in order to
touch people's heart and change our everyday life relationship with birds

"There is a direct and deep link between the contemporary disappearance of birds, documented by scientists, and the capacity of a bird to make sense in a human ear. When a Ameridian Koyukon hear the cry of a crow in Alaska, the sound seeps into him, by cluster of memory, and restitute simultaneously the identity of the bird, the myth telling his manners, their common filiations, and their immemorial covenant in myth's time. Crows are everywhere in our cities, their call is going each day into our ears and we don't hear anything, because we transformed them in beast in our imagination: in nature. Their is something sad in the fact that the ten different birds' songs we hear each day are only being perceived as white noise, or, at best, evoke the name of a bird, empty of meaning: it is like old languages that nobody speak, and to whom the treasures are invisible."

Ways of Being Alive, Baptiste Morizot, p.18

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

THREATENED BIRDS

Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
A reportedly genuine increase in the breeding population in Iceland (which holds approximately 47% of the European population), likely due to increasing spring temperature, dictates the overall stable European trend. However, the species is undergoing rapid declines in other key range countries like the Netherlands and Russia (together holding another 45% of the European population)

one bird on five is threatened!

and many more…
such as, the
blackbird!

the effect of light pollution…

https://www.mpg.de/6904709/blackbirds-artificial-light

https://www.mpg.de/6904709/blackbirds-artificial-light

https://www.mpg.de/9043097/light-pollution-songbirds

https://www.earthreminder.com/effects-of-5g-on-the-environment-birds/

"Nor is it clear whether the city blackbirds' advanced breeding offers an advantage or whether it is merely an unintended side effect of the lighting. "Blackbirds in the city are able to breed earlier in the year due to the artificial light and can produce more young in a year as a result," explains Partecke. "But only if the nestlings have access to enough food." Otherwise, the advanced onset of breeding could turn out to be an evolutionary disadvantage for blackbirds. With this in mind, the next aspect the scientists plan to study in their field research is the impact of night-time light in urban areas on the birds' fitness."

the effect of 5G

BIRDS COMMUNICATION

Exploring the animal behaviour

Singing technics

blackbirds are
remarkable for
their singing
capabilities

“Each male has a wide variety of phrases. Loud and emitted without haste, they are easily recognized thanks to the fluty timbre of many syllables. But sentences often end in high-pitched, less pleasant sounds. They may also include syllables borrowed from other birds, or even GSMnote 3 ringtones” (Metzmacher, 2008).

how and why listening to the birds?

Astacianna Hatcher, in order to remember the song of birds, imitates their songs by making them say some sentence that she can easily remember. 

(notes from the exhibition "A l'écoute du vivant")

Are we able to understand birds?

Astacianna Hatcher

symbolic of
blackbird

quotes

MUSIC for birds

https://www.earthreminder.com/effects-of-5g-on-the-environment-birds/

https://www.anvl.fr/le-langage-des-oiseaux/

https://www.oiseaux-birds.com/fiche-merle-noir.html

https://planet-vie.ens.fr/thematiques/ecologie/ethologie/comment-et-pourquoi-les-oiseaux-chantent-ils

(Thijs Van Vuure)

Singing as
a soothing effect on birds.

Listening to birds is also soothing for humans!

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/study-finds-listening-to-birds-can-reduce-stress-and-anxiety-in-humans-3433387

"Le chant bruisse mille signification et usages qui m'échappent, comme un hiéroglyphe sur un palimpseste plusieurs fois gratté et réécrit. La certitude de l'existence de ces sens multiples, non hiérarchisées, je la tiens d'Habiter en oiseau; ce n'est qu'un chant d'oiseau, et pourtant, des esprits humains ont déployés des trésors d'intelligence pour en capter le sens ; ils ont multiplié les hypothèses, ils ont débattu, ils ne sont pas parvenus à trancher."

Habiter en oiseau, postface de Baptiste Morizot, p.201

ELOGE DE LA LENTEUR

"En apprenant à observer patiemment tous les vivants qui nous entourent, les naturalistes que convie Vinciane ouvrent des portes, élargissent notre imaginaire, multiplient les points de vue et les occasions d'enrichir le monde. La biologie est une science lente. C'est une science de la singularité et élégance d'autres arts de vivre et de nouvelles façons de penser. Et le monde en devient plus complexe, plus difficile à appréhender, certes, mais tellement plus riche et passionnant…

Mais cette poétique de l'attention est aussi une politique, car, si cette biologie est une science de l'émerveillement, elle est aussi une leçon de savoir-vivre. On peut y entrevoir des manières inédites de vivre ensemble, de cohabiter, de se côtoyer et de partager des espaces et des histoires sans s'exclure ni se battre. Bref, imaginer des pistes pour penser une nouvelle alliance avec les mondes sauvages.

Et cela pourrait bien commencer par accepter l'idée d'être réveillé à l'aube par le chant d'un merle… voire même, l'attendre, l'espérer et le remercier…"

PRAISE OF SLOWNESS

"By learning to patiently observe all the living things around us, the naturalists invited by Vinciane open doors, broaden our imagination, multiply points of view and opportunities to enrich the world. Biology is a slow science. It's a science of the singularity and elegance of other lifestyles and new ways of thinking. And the world becomes more complex, more difficult to understand, certainly, but so much richer and more exciting...

But this poetics of attention is also a politics, because, if this biology is a science of wonder, it is also a lesson in etiquette. We can glimpse new ways of living together, cohabiting, rubbing shoulders and sharing spaces and stories without excluding or fighting. In short, imagine ways to think of a new alliance with the wild worlds.

Stéphane Durand, postface from Habiter en Oiseau, p.201

Stéphane Durand, postface from Habiter en Oiseau, p.201

Slow down
to develop
a poetic of
atttention

How to "learn to be more present to the world, listening more, more curious."

Inhabit as a bird, p.14

How to rend the world sensible in another way?

Chaque animal est une manière de connaître le monde. 
Apprendre à devenir capable d'accorder de l'attention.
"Multiplier notre monde".
"Le merle avait commencé à chanter. Quelque chose lui importait et plus rien d'autre, à ce moment-là, n'existait que le devoir impérieux de donner à entendre. Saluait-il la fin de l'hiver ? Chantait-il sa joie d'exister, de se sentir revivre ? Adressait-il une louange au cosmos ? "

download
your
listening journal

< meditation with plants
DNA plant + human translated to a musical score

Live performance - readings

Phonocene: Vivian Despret/Donna Haraway

Singing: desire, power to affect, magic, moving bodies
Incantare: faire venir par le chant
Chant: désir, puissance d'affecter, magie, faire bouger les corps
Singing: desire, power to affect, magic, moving bodies

"In numerous places, the silence that, during ages, used to let inhabitants of earth hear the songs of birds, in a lot of place, this silence reigns, and says that life has retired, like a skin of sorrow.
The silence needed the birds, and the birds needed silence. Because birds like silence, and we also need silence to hear them."
Important to tell a story, so nobody forgets it, to make us want to extend it a little differently. Because stories have incantatory powers, they bring to life, they activate possibles to invent, and, like singing, create forces and desires of extension."
What matters in the sing of Eurasian skylark, is the silence. 

Silence: John Cage, the world keeps from breathing, invitation for breathing.  

Animals listen to each others / are attentive (Bernie Kraus): how animals are composing together, how they share frequencies, how they atune together. speaking time sharing.

Performative text: live the text

Italo Calvino: imagine the interior life of turtles. Follow birds movement in the sky. Give things their time. Learn to be quiet. (auto-biographic "Palomar") / regarder les choses du dehors
Mr Palomar listen to the sound of Blackbirds and listen to their dialogue and notice that after every whistle, lies is a silence. What if the message lies in the silence and not in the whisteling? A silence identical to other silence, would mean so many different intentions.
But first, listen to the music. You will understand afterwards the necessity of silence. 

The blackbird will become, your blackbird, singing from all strength and talent of merle. The attention of the blackbird to make variate each note, each series of notes. Every sequence will defer from the previous one, each of them will invent itself, under the shape of a counterpoint (inédit)

Humans have narrated the world countless times, with all kinds of overlapping stories imagining, explaining, and putting into words our place on the planet. But today, the prevailing discourses accommodate unsustainable exploitation of resources and contempt for other forms of life. Swamped in this anthropocentric gaze, we have lost our connections with our surroundings and have forgotten that neither our history nor our future can be written without the other inhabitants of Earth. Perhaps it is now time to re-suture this open wound and start to listen to the other stories, those of the non-humans. Will they tell us how to restore our link with the Earth?

In this session, the philosopher Vinciane Despret will present her reading-cum-performance “Phonocene” in which, with artists Mélanie Courtinat and Antoine Bertin, she will present a sound and visual landscape created with non-human animals. Immediately afterwards, we can listen to the thoughts of the philosopher and biologist Donna Haraway, a pioneer in reconsidering our relationship with the other living species and author of a body of work that has changed the direction of the dialogue between the humanities and science. The singer Maria Arnal will set Haraway’s words to music. She will be joined by the writers María Sánchez and Irene Solà who, together, will interlace stories and, with three voices, will produce a growing lichen made of words.

Soundscape:
- Geophony: composition
- Biophony
- Anthrophony:"noise", cahotique and incoherent

a deep and attentive listening gives us precious tools on the life a landscape is containing, useful to evaluate the health of an habitat
listening: like extracting the sound of a violon out of the global context of the orchestra

Spectogram anaylisis before and after the cut down of trees in a forest: according to images, nothing changed, according to the sound, there has been a change: birds are singing way less. 

Singing: desire, power to affect, magic, moving bodies
Incantare: faire venir par le chant
Chant: désir, puissance d'affecter, magie, faire bouger les corps
Singing: desire, power to affect, magic, moving bodies

"In numerous places, the silence that, during ages, used to let inhabitants of earth hear the songs of birds, in a lot of place, this silence reigns, and says that life has retired, like a skin of sorrow.
The silence needed the birds, and the birds needed silence. Because birds like silence, and we also need silence to hear them."
Important to tell a story, so nobody forgets it, to make us want to extend it a little differently. Because stories have incantatory powers, they bring to life, they activate possibles to invent, and, like singing, create forces and desires of extension."
What matters in the sing of Eurasian skylark, is the silence. 

Silence: John Cage, the world keeps from breathing, invitation for breathing.  

Animals listen to each others / are attentive (Bernie Kraus): how animals are composing together, how they share frequencies, how they atune together. speaking time sharing.

Performative text: live the text

Italo Calvino: imagine the interior life of turtles. Follow birds movement in the sky. Give things their time. Learn to be quiet. (auto-biographic "Palomar") / regarder les choses du dehors
Mr Palomar listen to the sound of Blackbirds and listen to their dialogue and notice that after every whistle, lies is a silence. What if the message lies in the silence and not in the whisteling? A silence identical to other silence, would mean so many different intentions.
But first, listen to the music. You will understand afterwards the necessity of silence. 

The blackbird will become, your blackbird, singing from all strength and talent of merle. The attention of the blackbird to make variate each note, each series of notes. Every sequence will defer from the previous one, each of them will invent itself, under the shape of a counterpoint (inédit)