The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos

Rosalind Carlson OAM

CDs and Scores are available for viewing on line at the Australian Music Centre, including the above work. Follow the link below for a complete listing of works available by Rosalind Carlson. Australian Music Centre

Music score readily available from Flexi-Fingers Publications. Follow the links below for a complete listing of works available by Rosalind Carlson.

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos for solo oboe or Cor Anglais

Instrumental Music - solo oboe or Cor Anglais "The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos", for solo oboe or Cor Anglais - 2010 - duration approx. 5 minutes

The yellow-tailed black Cockatoos fly annually onto my property in late Autumn (April/May) for the pine cones growing on a magnificent stand of pine trees now 50 years old. I live on a 5-acre property in rural Dural, 35 miles north west of Sydney, NSW, Australia. The black cockatoos announce their presence as they scream in on the air currents. They arrive in flocks of up to 40 at a time, on outspread gliding wings, grouping and re-grouping as they fly. The air is vibrating on resonating sounds as the birds communicate. They bring with them their young. My property is on a flying route that the adult birds teach to the next generation of birds. The birds land on the trees to eat the pine cone seeds. They hop from branch to branch. Here the pine tree tops and branches sway under all of this activity. Once the birds are finished eating from the pine cones, those cones are then dropped with force to the ground. Many of the seeds are seen to float in the air as they glide down from the tree tops. This downward falling, swaying and the floating movements of the cones and seeds are suggested by the descending figures, music motifs and arpeggios. In this composition I have endeavoured to capture the flying and hopping movements of the birds, as well as the swaying of the branches. These ideas, as well as the motivic calling sounds of the cockatoos themselves, are an integral part of the fabric of this work. I consider the timbre and characteristics of both the oboe and of the cor anglais to be the most appropriate for the interpretation of this music.