Bill Pirkle wrote:

>Music is series of sound effects which are organized by the composer so
>as to control the evokation of emotions or feelings in the mind of the
>listener or to demonstrate a principle(s) of harmony, melody, rhythm or
>form.
>
>This definition would include bird calls.

So you're saying birds can be composers?

When a bird sings its song that's not music.  When a composer (e.g.
Messiaen) notates it and puts it in a piece, that's music.  Or when
Respighi plays his recording of a nightingale in Pini di Roma, that's
music because it's part of the composition.  I don't call animal sounds
music because we as yet have no way to tell if the animals themselves have
a concept of music, nor do we have any way to distinguish which sounds
an animal considers "routine" signalling or conversation and which it
considers "special," which you will recall (if you read my previous posts
on the subject) I consider an essential part of music's definition.

Chris Bonds