Pigeon whistles: Audible Forces features pigeons 'making music'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-23004042

Version 0 of 1.

The sound is at first disorientating, but haunting and beautiful.

Twelve specially-trained pigeons are swooping and weaving through the air, creating a whistling, shifting series of notes, that whip around the sky.

It is a labour of love for Nathaniel Mann, a folk musician who is also composer in residence at the University of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum.

His team has attached small, lightweight whistles to the birds' tail feathers, taking inspiration from centuries-old traditions in Indonesia and China.

Mr Mann, 31, plays with the Dead Rat Orchestra (no actual rats play a part there, surprisingly), and has supported Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Martin Carthy.

He said: "I've been going to the museum for over 10 years and there's always been three cabinets which have inspired me and left me wondering.

"The objects in the museum are completely mute, behind glass, and as a musician you're left to imagine what that might sound like, and it's always been the pigeon whistles that have left me tantalised."

Elite pigeons

He pitched his idea to Oxford Contemporary Music whose Audible Forces project centred around musical installations powered by the wind.

The dream to perform a series of live shows with an elite kit of musical pigeons became a reality once he tracked down Peter Petravicius.

The pigeon fancier for more than 40 years - known as Pigeon Pete to his friends - had trained his Birmingham Rollers to always return to a mobile base strapped to the back of his moped.

Dr Noel Lobley, research associate at the museum, said: "That was the crucial step. Normally you'd release them and they'd go back home, that's what they're trained to do.

"But in this case he's trained them to return to a mobile loft."

Meanwhile Mr Mann sourced wooden whistles from the Indonesian island of Java.

But realising these were too big and heavy, he decided to customise his own, trying everything from ping pong balls, to dog whistles, and plastic egg shells.

He eventually hit upon the definitive design.

"It's a 35mm film pot, some lolly sticks, and a piece of a Chris De Burgh record - personally I think it's the best thing he's ever done.

"The first time we got one working we were just over the moon… we were giggling like children."

'Negative perception'

The Audible Forces tour has since become a hit at festivals around the country.

He said: "As a musical composer I think it's a beautiful experience to listen to the sound move around you.

"You're hearing the flight described in sound across the sky. It's a really unique and stirring experience and it restores a sense of awe to nature."

Dr Lobley concurred: "The birds are released and the first thing you experience is this flutter, this cavalcade of birds erupting from the loft.

"Then they disappear up into the sky. The drones emerge slowly in an unpredictable way.

"It's very dynamic, it completely changes your perspective on what it is you think you're seeing.

"It's like you've had a sudden snapshot into a completely different world for a moment. You've been invited into something, and then it's gone."

Attaching devices to pigeons is nothing new. Pigeons performed heroic tasks as the carriers of important messages during the world wars.

And the RSPCA believes as long as the whistles do not compromise a bird's welfare or its natural behaviour, there is no harm in their use.

Spokeswoman Cheryl Wood said: "Anything that improves the reputation of pigeons has got to be good. They love people which is why they live close to us.

"They like being handled and they've been very useful to us over the years."

For Mr Mann, this is only the first phase of his project.

The pigeons are young, with their flying trips lasting a maximum of 15 minutes.

By next year this will reach 45 minutes, and the musician intends to capitalise on that.

"I'd like to start inviting musicians to perform live to the music of the pigeons," he said.

"There's a negative perception of pigeons and that's something in part we're seeking to rectify."