Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

Call, And?... (a) Response is my re-interpretation of the song of the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera Phrygia). It was commissioned for Lost Song, an installation by Blue Mountains artists Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess. Once widespread from South Australia to Central Queensland, the population of the Regent Honeyeater has plummeted to an estimated three hundred individuals in a space of fifty years, bringing it to the verge of extinction. Land clearing, bushfires and predators have affected its habitat and chances of survival. Now there are not enough mature male birds to teach the young males the mating song necessary to attract a mate and to continue the species. Many now imitate the call of other birds, and its own song has become simplified and abbreviated.

This composition is in three parts; it opens with Call, in which we hear a field recording of the Regent Honey Eater's song untreated, then overlaid with my musical transcription for the trio. I gradually distort the birdsong until it becomes unrecognisable from its source - a metaphor for the corruption of its mating song due to interference from noise pollution, which now threatens its very survival. And?... is a sombre and reverent eulogy to the lost song and, and asks the question: 'where to from here?' Finally, (a)Response is one possible response: Here, I play with motifs from the birdsong in a way that centres its beauty and translates it ways we can all understand. It offers a playful, joyful, and hopeful response to what is a dire reality for one of our most defenceless fellow creatures.

Work Details

Year: 2022, this version: 2026

Instrumentation: Flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, vibraphone.

Duration: 8 min.

Dedication note: Dedicated to the Regent Honey Eater

Commission note: Commissioned by Murray and Burgess (2022) and rearranged for Ensemble Offspring (2026)