Birdsong

This page is a guide to learning Birdsong on a tapping instrument such as the Chapman Stick or the acoustic Dragonfly DFA.

There is a score/tablature, fretboard diagrams, and youtube video instructions, that will help you along the way. This song lives in a range that should be easily adapted to other tapping instrument tunings.

You don't need to know how to read music. In fact, you can get 90% of the way there just by watching the videos and referring to the Fretboard diagrams, and playing the song on the Musecore web page. The videos to go along with this piece are at this youtube playlist Birdsong tappetizer playlist

Background

• This song is by the famous jazz drummer Paul Motian. Who has written a lot of great songs. Many , like this one, are small jewels of musicality.
• This song is in the mode Ab Lydian, (the 4th mode of the Eb Major scale) which Mr. Motian had an affinity for. you can also think of Ab lydian as the Ab Major scale with the D fourth raised a half step To my mind, this particular song has a lot of similarities to Erik Satie's Gymnopédies with it's slow dreamy 3/4 rythmn and impressionistic melody
  
• Take a listen to a few versions of this piece.
  • An ensemble version with clarinetist Mirco Mariotinni
  • Solo guitar version by Carl Michel
  • Another version is a quirky , but enjoyable solo guitar version by Haşmet Asilkan

Musescore score + tabs

The Score (and tabs) to go along with the diagrams below is available Here Look for the ones with names that start with the Birdsong. This is the authoritative one which is for twelve string Matched reciprocal tuning

Elemental Structure

As mentioned before, this piece is very much like one of Satie's Gymnopédies. It's in a slow 3/4 time signture where The bass side is a sequence of Ab pedal notes held through each bar with a second note overlaid on top of it on the second beat of the bar.

This page explains Ab Lydian a little bit and can be useful when you are thinking of ways to improvise within the song

Fretboard Diagrams and Instruction Videos

Note:

• Each of these diagrams is in 12 string matched reciprocal tuning. It will have link to a .fbjson file that you can download and then use in conjunction with Fretboard diagammer web app
• You can read the file into it and change the tuning in the tuning configuration drop down and it will make a (simple minded) try at converting it.
• You can click on any diagram to get an enlarged version.

Section A

Bars 1-4

.fbjson file

Bars 5-8

.fbjson file