Yodeling was inspired by donkeys. Bored shepherds in the alps needed a way to pass the time and found inspiration in their asses. They sang to the mountains with donkey voices and the mountains sang back, or another yodeler, or a donkey. Yodeling is one of the manliest forms of singing. You start with your […]
Archive of posts tagged Animal Music
Atonal Bald Eagle Whistling
In this Reddit video, a man whistles atonally to summon an American Bald Eagle for breakfast. Click on the video below to listen. Don’t be mad at my accidentals, you nerd. It’s atonal! I can only whistle atonally myself. It took me forever to learn how to blow a note. It wasn’t until my friend […]
Whippoorwill
I am the whippoorwill that cries in the night. No, actually—I’m just a guy. But sometimes I do cry in the night. After sunset, you can hear whippoorwills sing their own name. Scientists call them “goatsuckers” in Latin. Guess how they got that name. There is not a poet born in America who hasn’t been […]
Braying Melodies
While reviewing this blog and the animal music chronicled within its webpages, I discovered a glaring omission: I had yet to notate a donkey! How could I be so foolish to overlook one of the most iconic musical cries in the animal kingdom, the humble “hee-haw”? Donkeys are a cartoonish kind of horse. They are […]
Red-Tailed Hawk Call
A screaming “kee-eeeee-arr” comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now. The red-tailed hawk makes a cliché call as it soars. You’ve heard it in movies in a million mountainside scenes, as a leitmotif for Natives, and a non-diegetic joke. It’s basically the Wilhelm scream for […]
Jug-O-Rum
The bullfrog is so named for his bullish mating call, the “jug-o-rum.” Here’s how the bullfrog got his name: Long ago, some dandy fop was cycling his velocipede around a Northern pond, lost in transcendentalist musings, when he heard what sounded like a bull bellowing from the shallow end. The dandy fop shined his lantern […]
Green Frog Gunk
The green frog sounds like he’s mocking you. He calls out “GUNK! Gunk! Gunk!,” which is oft compared to a banjo twang, but he may as well be saying “Uh doy!” This should really be notated in bass clef but I don’t want to confuse anyone anymore than usual. And I certainly don’t want any […]
