Murmuration

 

 Now up on Bandcamp as a free download, "Murmuration". Link to Bandcamp

Murmuration is a term applied to flocks of European Starlings that swarm in the autumn/ winter in great swirling masses before rooting. This is often seen on marshland over reed beds and there can be 100,000 birds in the flock. After twisting to and fro the birds suddenly dip into the reeds and disappear for the night.

The piece tries to evoke the still isolation of the marshes with soft sine tones that build to complex tone clusters. The sound of the flock was created in two ways, very fast and dense undulating passages that actually contain tiny snippets of birdsong and a textural element built from many digital oscillators.

Although these flocks are huge, they are smaller than in the past. In the UK starling population has dropped by 80%.