Music Research Seminar Series: Dr Hollis Taylor, Freelance Scholar
Research Seminar Series
Birdsong: A Taste for the Beautiful
Presented by Dr Hollis Taylor, Freelance Scholar
Students, staff and the general public are welcome to attend this FREE event. (Registration not required).
Please join us for the lunch time concert featuring artistic research performances, including by Dr Taylor, starting at 1pm. We will flow into the Research Seminar at 2 - 2.50pm.
Abstract
In 1871 Darwin credited birds with “strong affections, acute perception, and a taste for the beautiful.” This talk will focus on my sustained, long-term engagement with the sonic constructs of Australian songbirds—in particular, the pied butcherbird. I believe they could revolutionise the way we think about birdsong, human exceptionalism, and the core values of music. I explore the multiple links pied butcherbirds’ solo and group songs have to the human capacity of music, as documented in my book Is Birdsong Music? Outback Encounters with an Australian Songbird and, more recently, Music from Another Species: Australian Birdsong Transcriptions. I will argue that although we could think of songbirds as distant, earthly, and substandard ancestors, we could instead consider them as contemporaries and colleagues.
Bio
Violinist/composer, zoömusicologist, and author Hollis Taylor performs her (re)compositions of avian songs on violin alongside her environmental field recordings, and she also reimagines pied butcherbird repertoire for other human instruments and voices. She has held research appointments at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin), the Museum of Natural History (Paris), the University of Technology Sydney, and Macquarie University. She received the 2025 Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. In addition to her CD Absolute Bird, she is author of Is Birdsong Music?, Post Impressions, and Music from Another Species: Australian Birdsong Transcriptions.
Event Details
- Date:
- 30 July 2026 at 2:00 pm – 2:50 pm
- Venue:
- Music Auditorium, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, 55 Scenic Boulevard
- Campus:
- Clayton
- Open to:
- Students, staff and the general public are welcome to attend this FREE event.
- Cost:
- Free. (Registration not required).
Description
Research Seminar Series
Birdsong: A Taste for the Beautiful
Presented by Dr Hollis Taylor, Freelance Scholar
Students, staff and the general public are welcome to attend this FREE event. (Registration not required).
Please join us for the lunch time concert featuring artistic research performances, including by Dr Taylor, starting at 1pm. We will flow into the Research Seminar at 2 - 2.50pm.
Abstract
In 1871 Darwin credited birds with “strong affections, acute perception, and a taste for the beautiful.” This talk will focus on my sustained, long-term engagement with the sonic constructs of Australian songbirds—in particular, the pied butcherbird. I believe they could revolutionise the way we think about birdsong, human exceptionalism, and the core values of music. I explore the multiple links pied butcherbirds’ solo and group songs have to the human capacity of music, as documented in my book Is Birdsong Music? Outback Encounters with an Australian Songbird and, more recently, Music from Another Species: Australian Birdsong Transcriptions. I will argue that although we could think of songbirds as distant, earthly, and substandard ancestors, we could instead consider them as contemporaries and colleagues.
Bio
Violinist/composer, zoömusicologist, and author Hollis Taylor performs her (re)compositions of avian songs on violin alongside her environmental field recordings, and she also reimagines pied butcherbird repertoire for other human instruments and voices. She has held research appointments at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin), the Museum of Natural History (Paris), the University of Technology Sydney, and Macquarie University. She received the 2025 Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. In addition to her CD Absolute Bird, she is author of Is Birdsong Music?, Post Impressions, and Music from Another Species: Australian Birdsong Transcriptions.