When I was first approached to write a piece based on an endangered North American bird I was immediately interested. Growing up in Colorado, nature and wildlife was a major part of my upbringing and as a result, has always been an important aspect of my work as an artist. 

    

I chose to base this work on the Whooping Crane. The Whooping Crane, or Grus americana, is the tallest bird in North America. Some notable features include white plumage, a crimson cap, and a brilliant bugling call (hence the name). The Whooping Crane is also one of the most endangered birds in North America. In the 1940s, their number dropped to just 20 birds, but thanks to the work of conservationists, their population has grown to around 600. What struck me most about the Whooping Crane was its signature call. The call features an intervallic leap (often a major or minor third) similar to a bugle call. From this call, I derived the grace note figure that makes up much of the piece. Additionally, when mating Whooping Cranes call in unison, creating layered calls (audio examples available from CornellLab - All About Bird). Inspired by these overlapping calls and the snowy white feathers of the Whooping Crane, the idea of layering became the consistent musical motif found throughout the piece. The piece starts with statements of the bird call motif, layered to form chordal figures. Throughout the piece, these chords are layered in different ways to create new sonic spaces.

 

The last key idea I wanted to explore with this piece was the concept of migration. Every year, most Whooping Cranes migrate between the southern United States and Canada. Recently, I have become fascinated with the idea of migration, both for humans and animals. This piece presents a singular idea (chordal figure) in a variety of different forms. This represents how as people migrate, they maintain their culture and traditions, but often varying them slightly to fit into the traditions of the place they are moving to. This piece is my attempt to both raise awareness about the Whooping Crane as well as to understand and present ideas about migration, both on a human and animal level.