Jayson Mackie

Caribbean Birds

1. Bananaquit: The opening prelude to the suite depicts the tame and sweet characteristics of this bird in the form of a gently swaying mini fantasia. Play this with an extremely rich and cantabile legato tone.
2. Yellow-bellied sapsucker: These birds display drills and percussive repeated notes in their song calls. Combine a soft, but precise staccato and a contrasting velvetty legato.
3. Indigo bunting: The indigo bunting sings high pitched, more complex songs. A good introduction to irregular metres of 5/8 and 7/8. The 5/8 is a three and two grouping. Gently stress the first beat of each bar.
4. Blue-tailed emerald: A pleasant twitterer of a bird with beautiful plumage as its name suggests. Keep articulation light, but precise ensuring that accented notes stand out.
5. Green-throated carib: This movement is a mini tone poem mysteriously depicting this bird in a dense and sultry rain forest. Make the most of the trills as well as clearly contrasting all the varying articulations of light staccato and lush, legato note groupings.
6. Saffron finch: This bird displays a pleasant, but repetitive song. Exaggerate the varying articulation and dynamics whilst using a rich cantabile tone in the lyrical sections which travel through various keys.
7. Cuban parrot: The final movement of the suite is a depiction of a brightly coloured, ostentatious parrot giving us a taste of Cuba in the form of a catchy salsa encore. Contrast the sections containing the driving, rhythmic groove with the more lyrical phrases which move through a variety of jazz chord progressions.