Tutau Bird (Colluricincla tenebrosa)
These are times when we should be listening to nature, and so I composed this song — Lengelel a Tutau [the cry of the morning bird] — inspired by the sounds of the Tutau (the morning bird), along with the Biib (fruit dove), recorded in Palau in March of this year. At the bottom of this page is a recording I made as a part of working out the song concept.
The song recording includes bird sounds I recorded at a house in Kesebelau, Airai, Palau on March 10, 2020. I filtered the bird-sound recording to enhance the range (950 to 1700 Hz) of the Tutau bird and then visually identified the time and frequency of the sound using the Izotope RX-5 audio editor.
A sample of the audio spectrum is shown below, with two stereo tracks shown (left on top of right) and the time scale on the x-axis and frequency shown on the y-axis. The strength of the signal for any time/frequency combination is indicated by the brightness (so whiter regions indicate stronger sounds in that frequency range). The arrow points to a bird call at about 48 seconds into the recording with a frequency of about 1000 Hz. That call is followed by the next call at about 51 seconds at a frequency of about 1680 Hz.
Time/Frequency spectrum of audio clip
Based on my measurements on the 2.25 minute sound clip, the Tutau bird sings a series of near-constant pitches, each lasting from 0.6 to 1.2 seconds (average of 0.93 seconds), with a start-to-start interval ranging from 2.4 to 6.6 seconds (averaging 3.6 seconds). The lowest pitch was at about 968 Hz, somewhere between a Bb and B in the 5th octave. The bird appears to sing a scale limited to 6 notes: 1 – 2b – 2 – 3 – 5 – 7b, where 1 is the lowest note it sings and using a tempered scale relative to that low note). The following table gives the average frequencies for each of the similar pitches, along with the ratio of those frequencies to the lowest (root) pitch and a comparison of frequency ratios for the Equi-tempered scale and the Just scale. The error of these two scales was calculated and showed that the equi-tempered scale was a better (but not perfect) fit to the frequencies sung by the bird.
| Note | Use | Average Frequency | Ratio to Low Note | Ratio for Equal Tempered Scale | Ratio for Just Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.6% | 968.2 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| 2b | 10.3% | 1,023.3 | 1.057 | 1.059 | 1.042 |
| 2 | 25.6% | 1,108.4 | 1.145 | 1.122 | 1.125 |
| 3 | 7.7% | 1,231.4 | 1.272 | 1.260 | 1.250 |
| 5 | 15.4% | 1,414.4 | 1.461 | 1.498 | 1.500 |
| 7b | 15.4% | 1,686.2 | 1.742 | 1.782 | 1.800 |
The sequences it sang over that 2-1/4 minutes, separating those sequences by the starting low note, were as follows:
- (start of recording) – 2 – 5
- 1 – 2 – 7b – 2b – 3 – 7b
- 1 – 2 – 5
- 1 -2 – 2b- 7b
- 1 – 2 – 5
- 1 – 2 – 5
- 1 – 7b – 2b – 3 – 7b
- 1 – 2 – 5
- 1 – 2 – 5
- 1 – 2 – 7b – 2b – 3
- 1 – 2 (end of recording)
Some observations:
- Half of the notes were either the 1 or the 2. The 3rd was sung less than 8% of the time.
- A 1 note is usually (with one exception in this sound sample) followed by a 2 note
- The 5 note was always followed by a 1 note
I used those notes — 1, 2b, 2, 3, 5, 7b or, using C as the lowest note, C, C#, D, E, G, Bb — as the pallete of notes from which to choose in composing the song and had the chorus follow the actual melodic line sung by the bird (shown in bold above): 1 – 2 – 5 , 1 – 2 – 7b, 2b – 3, except that I resolved the sequence with the 5 note (G). While I have expressed everything on the C scale, relative to the lowest note sung by the bird, the song resolves to a Gm ( and so the scale is 1 – 3b – 4 – 4# – 5 – 6, with 1 being a G).
Here’s what I came up with
Lengelel a Tutau, Jim Geselbracht, 5/1/2020
The lyrics are:
Ng kuk mocha tutau
Lengelel a charm a
melatk er ngak a
dekasmesumechBechesiil ak riedang
e a kuchoitii a ngerang?
kau a meral churengelakak di mle cheleiud
e kulsiik a kmong techang
e chelechaeng a kudengeliiSabisii
dosumecheklii
meluluut a rengukA charm er a tutau
lomes a klengar er kid
e lmangel er a klengiterreng
er a rechad el chilitiiA charm a lolekoi a ngerang?
Ngera belkul a tekoi?
lolekoi a lengelel a rechebuulNg techa el osisechakl
a hu el sabisii
lomes a rechad e lodengeliiSabisii
dosumecheklii
meluluut a renguk
I translate this as:
The morning light is breaking
The cry of the bird
reminds me of
our saying farewellSweetheart, I am going astray
and what did I throw away?
you truly complete meI just made a mistake
and I was looking for whom, I don’t know
and now I understand itLonely
let’s put things in order
my heart keeps returningThe morning bird
it watches our lives
and cries over the sorrow
of the ones who were discardedWhat is the bird speaking about?
What is the meaning of the words?
It speaks the cries of the miserable onesWho taught it
the melody of the lonely?
it watches the people and it understandsLonely
let’s put things in order
my heart keeps returning
I hope you like it.
Just for fun, I challenged my nephew, Zach Armstrong to compose a song using the same 6-note scale. Here’s what he came up with, naming it “Bird Funk.”
Anyone else?
I’ve been getting ready for another trip to Palau with my friend, Tony Phillips, where we will be performing as Ngirchoureng. We are hoping to focus our musical energies on the week of March 9 through the 13th, which we are quite presumptuously labeling as the “Palauan String Band Music Festival.” We hope to be having musical activities all week focused on Palauan music played on acoustic instruments (mandolin and guitar) and songs composed between 1915 and the 60s. One of the activities we are planning is that Jim will lead a daily song discussion — from noon to 1 pm, so bring a bento — where we will examine the song lyrics and discuss the thoughts expressed in them and their relevance to today, from a group of 3 to 4 songs that share something in common.
