Birds, Music, and Silence

It seems no coincidence that the ‘music-making’ of non-human animals is now at the centre of a musicological publication. The growing concerns about our environment – triggered by the current climate crisis and the increasingly dwindling and changing natural habitats and their associated soundscapes – call for a closer look and listening, a radical rethinking of the role of the Anthropocene, and a search for new ways of dealing with our world. Approaches such as non-Western, indigenous cosmologies or (eco-)feminist theories can offer perspectives in this context. Musicological research, particularly in human animal studies, sound ecologies, zoomusicology and ecomusicology, is becoming increasingly important, which has recently led to the establishment of a new study group of the International Council of Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) dedicated to research on “Multispecies Sound and Movement Studies”. With its focus on sound relations between humans and birds, this volume fits in well with the current research debates.