This little guy is so good.
He sounds like a panflute. He flattens the decay on each of his notes.
His song is in the key of C# Mixolydian, but he often changes key. The second phrase modulates down a half step, but it isn’t a perfect transposition to C Mixolydian. Instead of hitting the C at the end of the phrase, he hits a B. What a crazy boird!
Here’s the full song.
As with all bird songs, there are more rests than notes. It calls to mind French composer Claude Debussy’s famous quote: “Music is the space between the notes.” Of course, there aren’t any rests in the ambient noise that surrounds him – the pink noise of a river, the Ionian honks of car horns, and a million other oscine songs.
The very awesome Stevie Nicks’ song “Edge of Seventeen” uses the dove’s riff. The chorus also features a very bird-like call & answer. Sexy hot.
My progressive bird band Boird band also covers the dove.
