Talk:Birdsong in music/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Jens Lallensack (talk · contribs) 14:47, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

This looks interesting, but I have a few serious concerns:

• "Birds in music" seems to be a very broad topic, but the scope of the article seems much narrower than suggested by this title. Most importantly, lyrics are not discussed at all, and there are surely numerous examples where songs tell stories about birds. There are many songs named after birds, and even artists who named themselves after birds (The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories), Raven (British band) come to mind, but there must be numerous others which are more famous than this band). Nothing of this seems to be covered.
  • Ah, the scope is intended to be actual birdsong in music, or intentional imitation of it; perhaps we should (after the GAN) uncontroversially rename this to Birdsong in music if that would be clearer - I'm happy with that. You'll note that the first paragraph mentions song twice.

Yes, "Birdsong in music" would fit the content much better. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 16:03, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

• Also, there seems to be a strong bias against classical music, with merely one little paragraph on popular music (which is wrongly termed "rock music"). One of the most iconic songs that use bird sound, namely Blackbird (Beatles song), is not mentioned.
  • You mean "towards classical music"? Certainly there have been uses from at least the 17th century, so over 300 years of classical, as against rather fewer available for popular music... and also, as above, just naming a bird is not in the article's scope, that would indeed be *b-r-o-a-d*. I've replaced the "rock bands" mention and added a mention of "Blackbird", though McCartney says (inter alia) that it was/may have been for a "black girl" (rather than a literal Turdus merula); so I mention it with trepidation and a feeling that I'm wandering off-topic.
    • My point was that the "Blackbird" song includes the sound of a male common blackbird singing, and this is the topic of that section. You are now talking about the lyrics, but if I understand correctly what you have written above, lyrics fall out of the scope? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 16:03, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
      • Ah, at the end, yes. Added.

• The raven as a very important bird species in many modern popular songs (I would even argue: the most common bird of which sounds are used in contemporary music) is not even mentioned.
  • Added a mention in Messiaen's work.

Other comments:

• There are numerous songs to choose from, and I see that we can only provide examples. However, I think we should make this always clear by using "For example, ".
  • Well, the scope I've described is a lot narrower, at least, if still large. But happy to say "for example" a bit more – I'll note that the article already says "such as" and "was popular" and "composers including" etc etc.

• Isn't speed an important aspect? I recall that, when playing the song of a wren with a much reduced playback speed, it sounds much more musically to the human ear (e.g., [1]). Has bird song of reduced speed been used in music?
  • By Jonathan Harvey in 2003, at least. Added.

• Birdsong has influenced composers in several ways: they can be inspired by birdsong; they can intentionally imitate bird song in a composition; they can incorporate recordings of birds into their works; or they can duet with birds. – This doesn't have a source, maybe because it is rather editorial, but I'm still worried here because I don't think this is an exhaustive list (see my comments above). --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:47, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
  • It's not editorial, it's just enumerating the following sections. I've cited it for you.

• Musurgia Universalis looks relevant? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 16:43, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
  • Added. Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:41, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

• You now convinced me that – if the article is going to be moved to Birdsong in music – my concerns above are sufficiently addressed since lyrics are no longer within the scope. One more question on this, though: I imagine there must be a lot of instances were birdsong was imitated in, for example, indigenous or medieval music. [2] and [3], for example. That would fall within the scope of birdsong in music? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:32, 6 January 2022 (UTC) Edit: I see you mention Kaluli music and one example of African music. But I wonder if non-western music is underrepresented. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:58, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
  • I expect so, the literature is biased like everything else. I've added those sources, with a paragraph about the Yoreme.

• I'm slightly confused about the structure: Heading "Bird models" is followed by "In classical music". But both are completely about classical music, and the former does include much more than the types of birds.
  • Rearranged.

• This is all I have. Nice work! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:58, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

Closing note: I promote this article, while noting that some aspects may still be underrepresented. The "In other musical traditions" section feels like a random list of examples; here, it would be ideal to introduce with general statements on the history of birdsong imitations in human culture before going into the examples, but I understand that a suitable source may be hard to find. All in all, the article certainly meets the GA criteria. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 12:10, 7 January 2022 (UTC)