Dinosaur Choir is a project exploring dinosaur vocalization. Outcomes include a computational dinosaur syrinx and 3D fabricated dinosaur skull instruments for exhibition and musical performance and participation. Our work will be made open source when possible.
An interactive web-based dinosaur syrinx can be found at https://dino.courtney-brown.net. The syrinx is based on a bird syrinx computational model developed by Neville Fletcher (1988) and it’s implementation was considerably aided by the published work of Tamara Smyth (2002). Corythosaurus trachea length measurements used to modify the syrinx model were obtained by Thomas Dudgeon. Further speculations, including trachea width and syrinx membrane sizes, are by Courtney Brown, based on neck, hyoid and skull measurements of adult Corythosaurus fossils. More information at https://dino.courtney-brown.net.
Grants and Awards
2022 Fulbright Canada Research Chair of Arts and Humanities
Exhibitions, Presentations, and Artist Talks
The Sounds of Nature at the Royal Alberta Museum
Jun. 17-18, 2023, 7:30p, Co*Lab, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Premiere of NEW Corythosaurus skull instrument instrument of Dinosaur Choir and talk
New Music Gathering 2023
June 24, 2023, 1p, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Becoming Hadrosaur: Dinosaur Vocalization and Hadrosaur Musical Instruments
Lecture and Demonstration of new Corythosaurus skull instrument
Publications
Brown, C. (2023, Upcoming) Hadrosaur Variations. In Gluzman, Y., & Cleary, S. Emergency Index 2023: An Annual Document of Performance Practice. Ugly Duckling Presse: New York. 1 page.
Brown, C. , Dudgeon, T., & Gajewski, C. (2023, Upcoming) Artist Talk-Dinosaur Choir: Becoming Hadrosaur via Musical Interface. International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) ISEA2023 Symbiosis. Forum des images, Paris, France, ISEA. Short Artist Talk Paper. 4 pages.
Brown, C., Dudgeon, T., & Gajewski, C. (2023) Dinosaur Choir: Designing for Scientific Exploration, Outreach, and Experimental Music. Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression – NIME ‘2023. Work-in-Progress Showcase. 6 pages.
Press
CBC Edmonton AM. Artist exploring the sounds of dinosaurs through a study in sonic skulls. M. Connolly, T. McCarthy. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/15991286-artist-exploringsounds-dinosaurs-study-sonic-skulls. June 14, 2023.
Taproot Edmonton. Festival of new music goes way, way back. A. Lavallee-Koenig. https://edmonton.taproot.news/briefs/2023/06/09/festival-of-new-music-goes-way-way-back. June 9, 2023.
Credits and Acknowledgements
Dinosaur Choir is created and coded by Courtney Brown. The design and fabrication of the physical dinosaur skull instruments is by Cezary Gajewski.
Paleontologist Thomas Dudgeon provided CT scans, 3D models, and consulting. David Evans also provided approval to use the CT Scans of the adult Corythosaurus (ROM 1933) for this project. We also acknowledge the Canada Fulbright, Ira Greenberg, Garth Paine, Scott Smallwood, Caleb Brown, Natalie Loveless, Phillip Currie, Corwin Sullivan, Howard Gibbons, and the rest of the University of Alberta Dinosaur Paleontology Lab for their support of this project and research.
Funding sources for Dinosaur Choir include a Southern Methodist University Research Council Grant and United States Fulbright Scholar Award to Courtney Brown as well as a NSERC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship to Thomas Dudgeon.
This work builds upon the previous work, Rawr! A Study in Sonic Skulls. Rawr! A Study in Sonic Skulls created by, Courtney Brown and Sharif Razzaque. The CT scans of the subadult skull fossil (CMN 34825) were provided by Witmer Labs, Ohio University and scientific research guided larynx creation. We also acknowledge Garth Paine, Carlo Sammarco, Sallye Coyle, Brent Brimhall and Gordon Bergfors for their contributions and funding from Arizona State University GPSA.