Hollis Taylor

Hollis Taylor is an American-born Australian zoomusicologist and composer and a violinist and fiddler. She has argued that birdsong should be approached as music.

Hollis Taylor
Born
United States
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis, University of Western Sydney
Occupation(s)Zoomusicologist, musician, composer
EmployerMacquarie University
Known forArguing that birdsong is music
Notable workAbsolute Bird, Is Birdsong Music?
PartnerJon Rose

Early life and education

Taylor was born in the United States.[1] She graduated from West Linn High School in West Linn, Oregon.[2] She graduated from Webster University in St. Louis with a bachelor's degree in violin performance.[2] In 2009 she received a PhD from the University of Western Sydney School of Communication Arts with a concentration in musicology, ornithology, and composition.[1][2]

Work

Composition and performance

Taylor played with the Oregon Symphony while still a teenager.[3][4] She was the 1982 Oregon Old Time Fiddle Champion.[5] During the 1980s and 1990s she headed the Hollis Taylor Band, an acoustic country trio, and was a member of other groups.[5][6][7] She became concertmaster at Wolf Trap.[4]

Pied butcherbird

Since 2005, Taylor has recorded the song of the pied butcherbird, an Australian songbird known for its unusually complex and beautiful singing, and used it to compose Absolute Bird: Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra, which was performed in 2017 by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.[8][9] She co-composed with Jon Rose Bitter Springs Creek 2014, which featured butcherbird songs she recorded in the MacDonnell Ranges in 2014[10]

In 2017, she produced a double album, Absolute Bird, which featured birdsong, cane toad, and other field recordings.[11][12]

Academic research

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Taylor "established that not only is it possible to identify individual birds by their calls but that those calls evolve over time."[10] She has argued that birdsong is music; traditional musicology excludes anything not created by humans.[12] Taylor argues that the song of the pied butcherbird, in addition to being a form of communication, has an aesthetic character, with technique and inventiveness similar to human compositions, and that along with behavioral evidence supports the conclusion that birds have an aesthetic sensibility which may be analogous to that of humans.[12][13]

In 2019, Taylor was appointed an Australia Research Council Future Fellow at Macquarie University.[2]

Books
  • Is Birdsong Music? (2017). Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-02666-8[11][12][14]

Personal life

Taylor has lived in Sydney since 2002.[1] She has both US and Australian citizenship.[2] Her partner is Jon Rose.[15][16]

References
  1. "Hollis Taylor". Australian Music Centre. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  2. "CV 2020" (PDF).
  3. Anick, Peter (December 1, 2003). "Fiddler Magazine". www.fiddle.com. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  4. "Dr Hollis Taylor". ABC Radio National. August 7, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  5. "Hollis Taylor band due". The World. August 1, 1988. p. 5. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  6. Peden, Dave (July 22, 1986). "Band good choice, plays for sellout crowd at Bandon". The World.
  7. "Fiddlers plan Majestic jamboree". Corvallis Gazette-Times. July 5, 1991. p. 25. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  8. Ackerman, Jennifer (2020). The bird way : a new look at how birds talk, work, play, parent, and think. New York. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7352-2301-1. OCLC 1137746234.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. Shand, John. "Is Birdsong Music?". Limelight.
  10. Mccallum, Peter (January 13, 2020). "Review: Birdsong At Dusk". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  11. Denley, Jim (July 11, 2017). "Hollis Taylor's Absolute Bird". Resonate.
  12. Reid, Chris (June 6, 2017). "Is birdsong music? Ask the butcherbird". RealTime. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  13. Hannan, Michael (July 30, 2017). "Is Birdsong Music? : Outback Encounters with an Australian Songbird". Australian Arts Trust. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  14. Dee, Tim (August 4, 2017). "Earth jazz: Some theories about birdsong". The Times Literary Supplement.
  15. "Meet the Guy Who Uses Fences as Instruments". www.vice.com. December 6, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  16. "EVENINGS at PEGGY'S - Hollis Taylor". ABC Classic. December 7, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
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