Alan Powers (1)

It is currently in worldwide libraries, and at least one zoo. It grew from 25 years of learning one bird's many vocalizations each summer. First summer, the Robin; second, the Oriole, etc. Powers gave over seventy Birdtalk-talks at bookstores, churches, and on radio--as well as one TV show, in Milan, Italy, RAI Tre. One was at the Dickinson Manse in Amherst, MA, in the garden where he recited several of ED's bird poems from memory--and one Frost poem on the Wood Thrush, "Come In." He ended show more other talks with "Come In," to which he adds my the pentatonic/bluesy Wood Thrush song, "Far in the pillared dark / Thrush music went / Almost like a call / To come into the dark and lament/ But No, I was out for stars/ I would not come in / I meant, not even if asked/ And I hadn't been."; the poem plays and concludes here with the Pathetic Fallacy."
Highly recommend a new international website,
www.zoomusicology.com Click on the R, "Zoomusicologists," and scroll down past the name Powers to T, Hollis Taylor, an Australian composer and bird expert. Click on Pied Butcherbird MP3. Eight seconds of sheer artistry by a bird from Alice Springs, 2000 kilometers from Taylor's home in Eastern Australia. show less

Powers had to learn the composition program Finale to write this book. Not all books on bird vocalization feature the author's renditions of microtonal birdtalk; Powers must compete with Leonard Bernstein, who began in publishing by notating jazz solos etc. Bernstein wins. Still, this book's ideal reader knows a bit of music; otherwise, the numerous discussions of diatonic scales and intervals will take getting used to. Powers keeps the intro simple, defining intervals through the expedient show more of the National Anthem.
Powers' best paragraphs may be on what birds do NOT talk about--sports, investments, most all of TV. What they DO talk about I leave to readers of the book.
Birdtalk received some reviews and notices--the Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC), Radio Uno (Milano), Birding magazine, Amherst magazine, a couple others; and whistling lectures were delivered, largely readings from the book, with some spiced additional poem recitations. Dickinson's various bird poems, The Blue Jay, the Oriole, and the Robin were recited in the garden of the Dickinson home 10 July 2005.
Schuyler Matthews century-old book notates birdtalk as does Powers, but Matthews often remarks the birds' failure to use the diatonic scale. Absolutely true. They glissando and slide around pitch, very meaningfully. Powers, as a trombonist, understands glissandos.
One of his best points compares the Dawn Chorus of birds to Giovanni Capurro's Neapolitan song, "O Sole Mio." In the 1920's, after Capurro had died, the Italians won a gold medal at the Olympics in the Netherlands (maybe). The band did not know the (newish) Italian national anthem, so they played "O Sole Mio," and the whole stadium erupted in song. show less