Lecture on Birdsong and Members Recital- Dr. Ben Taft and Dr. Thomas Carr

February 4th 

3:00 pm Members' Recital and 

Lecture on Birdsong

Dr. Ben Taft , Dr. Thomas Carr, Dr. David Bohn

Thomas Koester, Karel Suchy with 

Wilhelm Matthies original instrument and John Jordan (organ registration)

Church of the Gesu

1145 W. Wisconsin Ave

Milwaukee, WI

Dawn Chorus:

Canticum Melodiam

Canticum Avis

Canticum Rex

There is this evolutionary aspect of creating. The aspect of arranging of existing material elements in new artifacts based on previous experiences and knowledge. Stravinsky was asked about the definition of music and he replied: “Music is an organization of tones, and an act of human mind.” He related his definition to a phrase by Schopenhauer: “… and the musical tones inhabit and form a universe of their own in which the human mind has created the materials, and reduced them to order.

Sounds of nature always inspired the creative process. Birdsongs had profound influence on composers and musicians through the centuries. Countless hours were spent to study them.

There are so many inspirational topics of birds’ behavior: bird’s calls and dances, dawn chorus. And the most fascinating is an origin of birds - the direct evolutionary connection to dinosaurs. As the Smithsonian Magazine puts it: “All birds are dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs are birds.”

The creativity, as the life itself, is an evolutionary process of ordering and forming the existing material elements into the new artifacts and experiences. The former experience and knowledge is crucial in this process.

Recitalists: Dr. David Bohn, Thomas Koester, Karel Suchy and guests Wilhelm Matthies and John Jordan