My red breasted singer.........

Living in a town house means I have no garden to tend to.

(Which I very much appreciate since I am definitely no gardener.)

What I do have just outside of the townhouse estate boundary

is a small creek surrounded by a number of different small, large

and in between, trees and bushes.

Whatever those trees may be, birds and bats seem to love them.

There are times when they are laden with crows, magpies,

cockatoos, parrots, kookaburras and the occasional wren.

The creek has been visited by a Jabiru (a very large black-necked stork)

plus a number of amazing looking wading birds which 

is surprising to me. I mean, how did they find my little

creek?

Perhaps the most surprising visit of all was when one

early morning I saw a fabulous little grey fox with a very

fluffy tail enjoy a drink of water.

In spite of all the buildings and even a very busy road,

somehow, this does not seem to perturb certain parts of wildlife.

(Although, the racket that the crows make every morning I 

think I could do without.)

Not being a bird-watcher, I still love listening and watching

birds as they go about their business.

Especially fairywrens and robins.

The way those little birds chatter and tip their back tails...

there's something so endearing and innocent about that to me.

Standing on my deck the other day I heard a bird song

that I don't think I have heard before.

Well, perhaps more chirping than song, none the less,

it caught my attention and as I stared into the foliage

I saw (what I now know is called a red capped robin) a

beautiful little bird with a red breast.

That little bird made such an impression on me that it

made me reach for my paint and brushes this morning.

(Hence the above image.)

Although kookaburras, cockatoos and magpies ''singing''

is impressive, I prefer the subtle and more melodious

''tunes'' of the little birds.

I guess perhaps in musical terms one could liken the

singing of the ''big'' birds to an operatic aria whereas

the little birds singing is more like a gentle folksy lullaby.

Olivier Messiaen, a French composer (1908 - 1992), incorporated

 birdsong into many of his compositions including

some piano pieces that when I first heard them

astounded and excited me.

Suddenly a whole new world of musical inspiration opened

up for me. Armed with pen and paper (sheet music paper)

while at Music school,

I would go on long walks and notate different birdsongs.

And just like Messiaen, at times I would incorporate a few bars

 here and there in my own compositions. 

Although music in my view means different things to different people,

generally speaking I think most of us would agree on that it

is made up by sounds.

(Often organized sounds, such as some kind of harmony,

melody and rhythm.)

While listening to a piano concerto as a small child

I remember asking myself ''what makes music music?''

When I asked my dad what makes music music, he told

me ''people singing and or playing instruments together''.

(Later he decided that no good music was composed after

the 1960's.)

If we can agree on that music consists of sounds,

perhaps we can also agree on that it consists of

organized sounds...how about this:

Music consists of organized sound that can at times stir up

different emotions within a human being.

These days we are so clever that we can record sounds

and then give them a ''pitch'' (a position of a single sound

in the complete range of sound).

You can basically ''cough, sneeze, laugh, etc.'', give it

a pitch and then organize the sounds in what 

could be classified as a ''scale'', and doing so they

can then be used to create a melody.

Throw some harmony on top, add some funky drum beat,

and you have music.

Basically, using a digital sample of any organic sound

can be used and made into a musical composition.

So what makes music music is organized sound, BUT...

what makes music good music....well, that's

in my view entirely subjective.

I find for example the sound of the rolling ocean, the breeze

in the trees, the birds singing, the laughter of children

playing, etc. etc. to be good, yea, even beautiful music.

''Music expresses that which cannot be said and

on which it is impossible to be silent.''

(Victor Hugo)

about the image: ink and water colour on paper

''My red breasted singer''