Sound science: recording and listening in the biology of bird song, 1880-1980 Citation for published version (APA): Bruyninckx, J. L. M. (2013). Sound science: recording and listening in the biology of bird song, 1880-1980. Maastricht University. https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20130419jb Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2013 DOI: 10.26481/dis.20130419jb Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.umlib.nl/taverne-license Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 06 Oct. 2021 Sound Science Copyright © 2013, Joeri Bruyninckx Cover image: pour des dents d’un blanc clatant et saines, © Jeroen Diepenmaat 2005 Cover design: Noortje Bruyninckx Printed & Lay Out by: Datawyse Maastricht The printing of this dissertation has been financially supported by the Netherlands Graduate Research School for Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC). Sound Science Recording and Listening in the Biology of Bird Song 1880-1980 PROEFSCHRIFT Ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Maastricht, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. dr. L.L.G. Soete volgens het besluit van het College van Decanen, in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 19 April 2013 om 14.00 uur door JOERI LOUIS MARIA BRUYNINCKX Promotor: Prof. dr. K. T. Bijsterveld Copromotor: Dr. J. C. M. Wachelder Beoordelingscommissie: Prof. dr. ir. W. E. Bijker (voorzitter) Dr. R. de Bont Dr. A. Fickers Prof. dr. ir. H. van Lente (Utrecht University) Prof. dr. M. E. Lynch (Cornell University, USA) Contents Anowledgements 7 Cpte 1 T Mhanic E Introduction 11 Sound recording in field ornithology 13 Overview 18 Focus, methodology and analysis 21 To the field 27 Cpte 2 Scientifi Scor Musi E S skil, iagram Introduction 29 The attraction of the field 31 Learning to listen 35 Naturalists, musicians, scientists 39 Birds’ music and graphic notation 46 Conclusion 51 Cpte 3 S S S P produc co Introduction 55 Listening objectively 59 The complexities of field recording 64 Two approaches to field recording 71 Laboratorizing the field 75 Conclusion 81 Cpte 4 S, A T E two Introduction 85 New contexts of recording 88 A community of recordists 96 A Moral Economy of Scientific Recording 100 Authorship and shared listening 110 Conclusion 114 Cpte 5 Ptern S I raine analy Introduction 119 Visible hearing 122 Visual patterns 126 Aural patterns 134 Musical patterns? 137 Visual inscriptions 143 Conclusion 147 Cpte 6 S Sienc Cnclusio Introduction 151 Changing patterns of listening 153 New questions and knowledge 159 Legitimizing sound recordings 162 Conclusion 166 A A Source collections consulted 169 A B Interviews 171 L illustratio 173 Bgra 177 Snvat 199 C V 205 Acknowledgments In researching and writing Sound Science, first as a master thesis, then as a disserta- tion, I have accrued several debts of gratitude. While researching and writing this book, ornithologists, recordists, curators, editors and sound archivists have wel- comed me in their homes, gardens, cabins, archives and offices. Invariably they granted me their time for interviews, dug up valuable documents, responded to ideas, and graciously coped with sometimes peculiar queries. In particular, I am grateful to Cheryl Tipp and Richard Ranft of the British Library, Jeffrey Boswall, the recordists of the British Society for Wildlife Sound Recording and the Dutch Club voor Natuurgeluiden Registratie, Hans Slabbekoorn, Greg Budney and his colleagues at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology as well as Randy Little, Karl- Heinz Frommolt, Guenter Tembrock and his wife Sylvia at the Tierstimmenarchiv, the staff of the Cambridge and Cornell Macaulay Libraries. Listening to their stories has invariably enriched my understanding of the history of scientific recording. My gratitude also extends to the people who have helped me to condense my ar- gument. My promotor Karin Bijsterveld has exercised many a patient and enthusi- astic ear. I am most grateful for her confidence in this project, for carefully sensing what I wanted this book to become and for helping me work towards that, draft by draft. I have also benefited much from having in Jo Wachelder a copromotor who invited me to re-open doors that I, sometimes inadvertently, had closed too soon. I am equally indebted to Trevor Pinch, who supported this project in more than one guise. As an editor and discussant on several occasions, he has pushed me to articu- late my ideas more precisely. His enthusiasm for the field of Sound Studies has also been a persistent source of inspiration. Moreover, during the fall semester of 2010 Trevor and the faculty and graduate students of the STS department at Cornell University generously welcomed me in their midst, and they provided a wonderful- ly stimulating environment for me to tune into. I was lucky to spend the long stretches of analysis and writing in room 1C.18, with its open views overlooking the perch of an insistently serenading blackbird in the garden, and with roommates such as Verena., Fabian, Marije, Tim and Vincent. They and many other colleagues at the Faculty for Arts & Social Sciences have listened to, read and commented upon various versions of this dissertation. I have also tremendously enjoyed discussing, presenting and refining my work with col- 7 leagues in the STS, Sounders and Sonic Skills groups. Outside of Maastricht, the Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture has brought together a wonderful mix of people in my field and I have learned from each training, workshop and dissertation-day. I offer my gratitude in particular to its academic coordinators, Sally Wyatt, Willem Halffman, and Teun Zuiderent- Jerak, as well as David Nye and Michael Lynch as anchor teachers, but also to eve- ryone who took the time to dissect and discuss work in progress during much- valued dissertation days. Likewise, co-panelists, discussants and audiences at vari- ous conferences have impacted this work in unmistakable ways. Several colleagues and friends have made work ever so enjoyable and free time ever so stimulating. Among the people that I have enjoyed eating, cooking, walking, writing and singing with, Alexandra has been a generous commenter on ideas and drafts, up to the very last version of this book. Koen and Constance have been both critical colleagues and friends with whom I explored many a garden – and learned to negotiate safe ways for taking the inevitable stumbling stone. Finally, I am grateful to my family. My parents have been great advocates and supporters. Mom once wisely observed that a bird should not sit on its nest for too long and I believe I can safely say that for now at least, brooding is over. I also thank Noortje for her impromptu work on the wonderful cover of this book. Marijke, at last, now my wife, has been there all along. She has been an inexhaustible source of love, support and common-sense, reminding me, elegantly though relentlessly, of all those things that cannot be recorded. 8 9 F 1.1 Cornell ornithologist Peter P. Kellogg on field expedition, in an improvised studio observing and recording a nest of ivory-billed woodpeckers, in 1935. 10 1 Tuning in to Mechanical Ears Introduction Introduction In the spring of 1935, an expedition of five ornithologists and one graduate field assistant perched on a spot deep in the heart of Louisiana swamp land. They had set out to study and collect the voices of American birds and had arrived there from New York on a five-month round-trip through the Eastern United States, organized by the American Museum of Natural History and Cornell University. The group’s objective was to seek out and record the voices of birds rumored to be vanishing, and they had received reports that the crowning glory of these birds, the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, had recently been spotted again. One decade earli- er, head of the Louisiana expedition and leading field ornithologist ‘doc’ Arthur A. Allen had uniquely witnessed a pair of ivory-bills, but advancing loggers and eager shotgun collecting by fellow ornithologists had made such sights increasingly rare (Beyer, 1900).1 For several days, the party had waded through flooded bayous and muddy virgin forest, until they finally discovered a nest, “thanks to the keen ears and woodsmanship” of the local game warden who had guided them.