A Rockford musician partnered with a wildlife preservation society to create serene tunes inspired by birds. An album celebration will take place on Saturday June 8.
Micky Torpedo, a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, worked with Jennifer Kuroda, the president of the board of directors of the Sinnissippi Audubon Society, for the album. Torpedo said Kuroda listened to some albums he created during the pandemic.
“And then she messaged me one day,” he explained, “she was like, ‘I really love these you ever thought about putting birds on them?’ And I thought, ‘well, it's a good idea. But the music's already done. Let's write some music for the birds.’ And that's how it came about.”
Each song starts with bird audio. The copyright for these sounds is owned by a secondary source.
“So, it's kind of meant to educate the listener also," he said, "and help them you know, spot that with their ear, when they're out in the wild to go ‘Hey that's, that's the robin or, that's a warbler,' you know, from recording. So, we get those recordings, and we have to license them in order to use them with the music.”
Torpedo explained how these bird sounds inspired his musical creations. He used the Savannah sparrow as an example noting that its pitch is high E flat.
“So, it creates this sort of interesting tension,” he said. “But when I hear that it makes me think of when I'm out on a hike, or I'm on my bike out in the middle of nowhere. So, I tried to capture that. I used that specific interval from the bird but also in the higher register. I used the piccolo and a flute to represent that.”
The first volume was called “Birdsongs, Vol 1- Sounds of the Mississippi Flyway.” Torpedo said there wasn’t a celebration for it but some of these tunes will be heard during the upcoming performance.
Torpedo said Kuroda and the Sinnissippi Audubon Society played a huge role in two albums. He said the goal is to educate the community through art. He said Kuroda is passionate about conservation education.
“Like with the bird murals in town, and with this project as well. So, I would just like to share the great work that she does, and that she is doing and, uh, keep an eye on her,” he urged.
“Birdsongs, Vol 2 - Sounds of The Bell Bowl Prairie” album celebration will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday June 8 at Severson Dells Nature Center, 8786 Montague Rd.
This project did receive some support from the Rockford Area Arts Council.
