Flauto Suino


Title:	FLAUTO SUINO
Year:	1995
Location:	RAP, Posieux (Switzerland)
Abstract:	A collaborative project with recorder musician Andel Strube. The objective was to test and record the interaction between the pig's vocal expression and the variation of recorder sounds.
Figure:	Set of recorders
Archiv.- No.:	W05-95
References:	Please contact the administration if you would like to receive sample audio files.

project tour PIGVISION Institute


During his visit to Switzerland, Raymond Rohner found a welcome opportunity to organise a collaborative project with Andel Strube, a professional recorder musician. Andel Strube has been researching the use of environmental sounds in contemporary music, and was very interested in collaborating with PIGVISION. Pig vocalisation is complex. In contrast with many other animals, pigs vary their vocal expression considerably. More than 20 different kinds of "grunts" can be recognised by the human ear. The project was meant to be explorative, providing both Andel Strube and PIGVISION with material and incentives for further research. The main task was to test and record the interaction between the pig's vocal expression and the variation of recorder sounds. The experiment took place in July 1995 in the piggery of the Swiss Federal Research Station for Animal Production (RAP) in Posieux. The following table contains some sample sounds from the experiment. The categorisation of the pig/recorder sounds is necessary to develop an understanding of the depth and complexity of phonetic interaction. However, the focus of interspecies communication research will have to be on creating meaning rather than decoding meaning. Acknowledgment: Many thanks to Andel Strube, P. Stoll and M. Jost!