So I think I might have told you guys about the "lullaby" I hum to my birds (mainly Alex) to calm them down, right? It started as a way to keep Alex quiet when he'd cry for food or attention when he was a baby (sometimes he'd cry after he was full, just because he wanted attention). Since then it's become a technique to calm him down if he were ever anxious or just too excited since sometimes she gets aggressive and flighty when she's excited. Then Lucy started to react to it as well. Seeing as Alex became calm with the tune, she also started
The tune I hum to them is from a video game called "Earthbound". The tune in question plays a big role in the game, as you're required to go around to collect eight melodies which, when played together, sounds like this:
I won't go into detail about what the game is about or why you have to collect these melodies, (I will to anyone who is interested though) but there is an extended version of the tune that is played during the credits, called "Smiles and Tears".
And while I have hummed the full version to the birds during times, (sometimes it takes them longer to calm down than others), I usually just hum the first part, the "8 melodies", since that's usually all it takes.
So today I decided to do a bit of an experiment. I played the song for them several different ways.
The first time I simply hummed it as I usually do. While Alex wasn't excited or anxious or anything, she was quite busy, trying to chew on everything she could get her beak on. When I started humming, she stopped to listen, and then fluffed her feathers and got really comfortable. Then when I was done she asked for scritches. Lucy reacted similarly, though she was on her playstand at the time, and didn't bother asking for scritches.
Then I whistled it to them. Alex got a little excited, and Lucy decided to fly and land on my head, which got Alex even more excited and made her want to fly around, which caused Lucy to fly around the room as well. Lucy landed back on the playstand and Alex ended up on the floor where I had to go pick her up before my dog got any ideas. I'm guessing they like my humming better than my whistling.
After a few minutes they went back to their own devices, and then I decided to play it on the piano app of my iPad that I use when I need to come up with quick melodies on the spot. Though Lucy didn't react much, Alex decided to start chewing on my iPad. Whether this was influenced by me playing the tune or not, I'm not sure.
Then I decided to play three different videos consisting of three versions of the song: the original "Smiles and Tears", a piano version, and a music box version.
Alex didn't react to the piano version at all, although Lucy stopped to listen. She fluffed her feathers up and got comfortable, similarly to how she did during the time I was humming the tune.
I've played the piano for Lucy plenty of times during the time where I had 1-on-1 sessions with her in order to gain her trust, since having the dog around made her uneasy. So it's possible that she's just used to the sound of a piano, whereas Alex hasn't really been exposed to it as much.
They didn't like the original at all. Alex ran to the other side of the table and Lucy flew back to her cage. Perhaps they just didn't like the "digital" sound of it.
The version they seemed to have liked the most was the music box version. Both Alex and Lucy reacted the same way they did when I simply hummed the tune. The music box version only repeats the eight melodies that makes up the first part of the song, although it plays it in a different key. Perhaps they liked that one because they're more familiar with just the eight melodies, since they don't hear the full version very often. Or maybe it's because it sounds the most soothing to them. It's honestly hard to tell.
While I wasn't taking the other birds into account, it appears that Joey and my mom's finch were also listening. I didn't really pay attention to their reactions most of the time, but during the piano version, both Joey and the finch became especially vocal. Then during the music box version, they got really quiet. It's hard to tell which version they liked better. It seemed almost as if Joey wanted to sing along to the piano version, and then they both just wanted to listen to the music box version. So I guess they liked both?
I might play more versions of this song to them. Or play different songs altogether to see how they might react. Lucy does have a tendency to scream when she hears one of my dad's clocks go off. Specifically one that plays a bunch of Disney songs (or Christmas songs depending on what you set it on). Curiously enough, she only does this in the morning. Later times in the day, she usually ignores it. It's almost like she forgets that she hears it every day.
How do your birds react to music? Are the any specific songs they like? Do they react a certain way? Do any of them try to sing along in some form or another?
Do any of you have a specific tune you sing, hum, or whistle that your birds really like? If so, what is it? I'm interested to know how birds react.