Translating the Language of Birds
For full details please see publication in the Journal for Artistic Research issue 25 - available at this link
This project involves building a "Bird Translator" that listens to bird song and translate to English (or other human language) using the Solresol musical language invented by Francois Sudre from 1827 onward. This is coded using the "Pure Data" graphical language. The bird song is analysed and converted to musical notes in groups of four and then the words looked-up in a Solresol dictionary. The words are shown together with optional colours and music. Various different outputs and configurations are possible, outputs can be saved for further processing. The system can operate with either recorded or live sound.
|
There are three versions; full, lite and pi which can all run on PC or a Raspberry Pi. Technical details, further description and acknowledgements, together with an accompanying essay is given in the document downloadable here.
|
| ||
Here is the Pi version.
Here is a demo of the full version on desktop PC
Here are some examples of outputs from the full version:
This example adds drones and further translates the words into enochian - The language of angels
These are the bird songs analysed to create piano music
This example uses blackbird song and converts to a just intonation pentatonic scale - this means there are just 5 notes being used which have exact frequency ratios
Skylark song converted to MIDI and then to musical score with Musescore 3 software
Auto poem from the text output
BLACKBIRD
In between the dark and the night
Dusk chorus song objectified
no self-raise imperative slander.
Watch Moon, past complacent humidity gathers immortalize other, captivate water for religion’s fashion.
August moon,
one bake insights.
Short inexplicable sweet latrines.
Cowardice mortifies, sings fear, complicate enmity billion and dishonour.
Clarify temperature to progress verb imperfection - any imperfect church remedy to forget present fabric decree,
thermometer scab.
Posterity deliberates, fidelity to the cold sky take jurisprudence, madame hunchback deformity.
Skip religion
if infinity eggs belong to draw fireworks.
April,
character my star,
the complacent theology fountain, Catholicism’s trial.
Drag the mister bow passage, wrinkle library, workshop ivory madness to imperative times.
No birth wood itch, little mechanic injustice, hat eight to unfaithfulness.
Flour encyclopaedic eggs, marine adopt thunder see butter good no encourage past, so, fear build occasional universe
and frequency earth decompose.
In eggs diversify and humidity breathe his salt.
Glorify asphyxiate, consolidate universe, change to asphalt voice.
Fear naivety to believe thunder, admire Christianity minute good Jesus mortifies to rosary.
History poeticize the season in draw month exaggerate
fall juice philosophic condemn attention or four cadastres admit.
Incomparable virus magnetizes asphalt seminar strings,
and empty nut to noble lapis.
In between the dark and the night
Dusk chorus song objectified
no self-raise imperative slander.
Watch Moon, past complacent humidity gathers immortalize other, captivate water for religion’s fashion.
August moon,
one bake insights.
Short inexplicable sweet latrines.
Cowardice mortifies, sings fear, complicate enmity billion and dishonour.
Clarify temperature to progress verb imperfection - any imperfect church remedy to forget present fabric decree,
thermometer scab.
Posterity deliberates, fidelity to the cold sky take jurisprudence, madame hunchback deformity.
Skip religion
if infinity eggs belong to draw fireworks.
April,
character my star,
the complacent theology fountain, Catholicism’s trial.
Drag the mister bow passage, wrinkle library, workshop ivory madness to imperative times.
No birth wood itch, little mechanic injustice, hat eight to unfaithfulness.
Flour encyclopaedic eggs, marine adopt thunder see butter good no encourage past, so, fear build occasional universe
and frequency earth decompose.
In eggs diversify and humidity breathe his salt.
Glorify asphyxiate, consolidate universe, change to asphalt voice.
Fear naivety to believe thunder, admire Christianity minute good Jesus mortifies to rosary.
History poeticize the season in draw month exaggerate
fall juice philosophic condemn attention or four cadastres admit.
Incomparable virus magnetizes asphalt seminar strings,
and empty nut to noble lapis.
This work forms part of my practice based PhD in Fine Art at Newcastle University
funded by the AHRC, Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership
funded by the AHRC, Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership