Mandolins Are For the Birds!

[Emmett Marshall]

So around Christmas time, I adopted two baby Cockatiels. Lately, they've really taken to singing and chirping up a storm. So I got this bright idea today. I decided to see if I could play the same phrases/sounds/notes they were making and possibly have them give me some new ideas. Birds are experts at singing right?

Anyway, I started off by trying to repeat most of the notes they were making with my octave mandolin. Of course, due to my limited skills, it was bit a tough and I was a few octaves lower than they were.

Here's the cool part: They figured out what I was doing! Then they really got into it! We're talkin' head bobbin' and serious loudness. Not only that, they opened my brain to some ideas. Has anybody else tried something like this? If you get a chance, it's a hoot! (especially if you're working with an owl I guess).

[Roger Moss]

Have you tried teaching them a few songs?

[Emmett Marshall]

Have you tried teaching them a few songs?

Not yet. I just started thinking about that yesterday. I'm thinking of recording something so I can play it over and over again for them. I looked around the Internet, and it seems that a lot of people are into teaching them to sing, or whistle, various movie themes.

[UsuallyPickin]

I always whistle at Mockingbirds. They usually sing back. I haven't tried more than two or three tones though ...... R/

[SGraham]

Thanks for sharing that, Emmett. That's very cool. I once was picking my mandolin in the garage with the door open when a little bird (black phoebe) came and landed on my drillpress table and started swaying and chirping along. As soon as the tune was done he flew off. I think he was jamming with me, and it sounds like you and your cockatiels had a good jam session too.

[nickster60]

When I lived in Florida when I would play my violin a Cardinal would peck at the window. I am not sure if he wanted to join in or just tell me he had enough.

[JeffD]

Early in the morning, late spring, sit on the porch with my violin. Talk to the birds with the E string. It can make you nervous, wondering what they think you are saying.

[red7flag]

Way different species, but the power of music/mandolin. I was at a friends house in Texas. His father has a large ranch adjacent to the house. While me friend was at work, I went in the front yard near the fencing where two horses were grazing. I pulled out the mandolin and started playing. One of the horses came over to the fence close to me. Very slowly, continuing to pick I walked over to the fence. Eventually, I got right up next to him. In time he nuzzled my neck and we became buds. I really didn't think much of it. When my friend came home, I told him what happened. He looked surprised. He took me out side and made me point out the horse. When I pointed out the black stallion, he just shook his head and explained that his father had hired a few horse trainers to try to break that horse and could not even get close to him. Music is a magical power, and the mandolin seems to really harness it. BTW I am no horse whisperer. I had no idea he was a difficult horse or I would probably never would have gone close to him. Ignorance is bliss.

[JeffD]

At some point I begin to wonder which is the more highly evolved species. I think of the amount of effort it would take me to hire a jazz band to serenade me during breakfast.

[Bertram Henze]

If you get a chance, it's a hoot! (especially if you're working with an owl I guess).

We played an Irish session a few months ago in a local museum where they keep live owls, and in the middle of a set they put one glove with an owl on it on the table in the middle. The owl glanced around with big eyes (they way owls do) but said nothing.

[Mark Miller]

Those are some great stories, guys. Thanks for kicking off my day in such a cool way. My cat used to come sit near me when I played guitar, but she was gone before I got a mandolin.

[T.D.Nydn]

It's springtime and the mockingbirds are going to start calling. I listen to them every year, I'm not sure, maybe it's the mating calls, but mockingbirds are incredible, they sound like a random bird orchestra going off...

[Carl Robin]

Song birds do like to sing along with the mandolin sometimes. I play in the morning, and when the weather is nice, open the door, and can hear them in the trees outside. When the moment is right, and you and the bird are hearing each other it is magical. Usually, in my experience, it has been the bird trying to teach me, though.

[George R. Lane]

I often sit on my front porch in the springtime and play my mandolin, one day a red breasted robin was looking for bugs to eat and like Emmett I started playing, it hopped over towards me and started to bob his head, when I stopped he went back to the bugs. I has happened a couple more times and every time I see a bird out there I grab the mando a we have a great time.

[red7flag]

My dogs come to me when playing music even the banjo. The only exception is the fiddle and then they will get up and go to an adjacent room. This speaks more to the quality of my fiddle playing than the fiddle in general.

[Steve VandeWater]

My son's black lab sits by me when I play, but our Jack Russell prefers to be as far away from my mandolin playing as possible. The Russell must have more refined taste in music.
Very cool about the birds!

[Traceyleezle]

My mother used to raise cockatiels when I was a kid. She would set up a tape deck to play a song over and over while we were out at school/work. The birds definitely picked up the songs! You'll have to record a duet in the future! They are fun little birds.

[Kimmers]

I always whistle at Mockingbirds. They usually sing back. I haven't tried more than two or three tones though ...... R/

There used to be a mockingbird that frequented my yard in Arizona that sang a morning song mimicking a car alarm... the older aftermarket style that is a series of about five different songs/chirps. It was quite amusing!

[Tom C]

One of my favorite videos....

[CarlM]

My dog loves my guitar playing, tolerates the banjo and does not like the mandolin. Don't know what that tells me.

[bigskygirl]

Very cool, I will try this. I do whistle to the song birds and hoot at the owls and they will usually answer back.

[Roger Moss]

Cockatiels learn music much bettter than words. The best way to teach them is to break it into small parts. Higher pitch works best. Play back over and over until they repeat it then gradually increase in length. Once they get the idea they will pick it up quicker.

[LillianBelle]

Along the same lines as the above video:

[David L]

A tuba player that I knew in college took his tuba in a small boat and played with the whales that were singing. If you've never heard whale song, it is eerie and very tuba-like. He recorded it and ended up on the Johnny Carson show.

[Northwest Steve]

My daughter has a Lovebird and he really likes it when I play the mandolin, probably the only one in the house. He does not seem as interested when my daughter plays violin or fiddle which is interesting.