TIMBRADO FOR AMERICA 1
It's not easy to work with song canaries; they make music,
a highly subjective matter in terms of assessment. To worsen
things the inner essence of song in birds is not fully known
and we don't understand completely (and maybe never will)
a lot of factors that take part in the small miracle of a
bird singing. However, we do know quite a lot of things ,thanks
to the modern genetic and ethological studies, and the years
of experience in the selective breeding of song canaries,
first Roller, then Malinois and finally, for more than 50
years, Spanish Timbrado. If we look 3 or 4 decades backwards,
it's easy to realize that the improvement in Timbrado breed
has been really important and, in the begining of the XXI
century, we've got a consolidated race in a continuos process
of development and evolution (and we don't know the limits!!!)
with a great variety of tours (almost infinite if we think
about the posibilities of "floreos" and cojoint variations)
which allows the breeder a great freedom in the design of
his birds, choosing the tendency closer to his personal preferences.
This huge repertoire is just the result of ancient lines
of work with the wild canary, that still sings free (I hope
for a long time) in the vulcanoes of the Canary Islands (
listen an example at http://timbrado.com/roller.shtml
) In the song of the wild canary we can
trace ,in a very rudimentary way, all the tours (positives
and negatives) later developed and improved in Timbrado. We
can even find lineages of wild canaries (in specific islands
or parts of islands) with characteristic ways of singing,
very much like happen with strains of domestic birds.
As the outcome of the work in our Timbrados in the last 50
years, we can find, by the nature of the sound that shapes
his song, metallic, hollow or watery birds. Timbrados before
the 70s were mainly metallic with a bright and lively sound
but some tendency to raucuos notes when sung in high
tones or volume. Hollow and watery lines should be careful
to don't fall in Roller or Malinois territory respectively
.
By the transmission rate of the tours that form their repertoire,
we can find "floreados", "classics" and intermediate birds.
- "Floreados" are those birds in which song the discontinuos
notes("floreos",slow water...) are the most important character,
with semicontinuos (clucks, semicontinuos water...) like
balance feature, and without timbres or rolled variations
(continuos turns)
- "Classics" are call like that because were the
birds originally recognized like Spanish Timbrado by the
COM (Worldwide Ornitological Confederation). In these birds
continuos tours ("timbres") are very important, but are
poorer in floreos (discontinuos tours)
- Intermediate line would be somewhere between "floreados"
and "classics"
Nowadays in Spain "floreados" and intermediate birds are
reaching each year more popularity, with "classics" still
very strong in some regions and associations. As it's a very
hot subject, I'll continue talking about this in my next article.
TIMBRADO FOR AMERICA 2.
In my last article I used an important concept in the
study of the song in birds which is the trasmission rate of
the sounds that we listen. By this criterion we can find three
kind of passages:
- Continuous: when the syllabes of the passage are
sung so fast that it is not possible to individualize them,
with a sensation of continuity ("timbres", rolled variations) rrrriiiii
/rrrrroooo
- Semicontinuous: we can apreciate the syllabes of
the tour but there are no clear pauses between them (clucks,
jingle bell) clocloclo/ linlinlin
- Discontinuos: there are clear breaks between syllabes,
like if the bird was resting ("floreos", church bell) tui
tui tui / tilon tilon tilon
( check the different emission rate of the notes at http://timbrado.com/curso.shtml
)
In Spanish Timbrado, as I said previously, the birds with
the three kind of tours are known as "classics" and the ones
with just the two latest "floreados". The first question is
obvious: why in hell are there Timbrado breeders that don't
like "timbres" or rolled variations? Are those bad notes?
Of course they are not bad passages at all, on the contrary,
evolved versions of those became the main feature of Rollers.
But the raisers of the "floreado" lineage argued that rolls
are to Roller and watery turns to Malinois what discontinuos
tours ("floreos") should be to Timbrado, the main reference
of the race and, actually, at that time there was an ancient
stock of Spanish birds almost without "timbres"
But isn't it possible a Timbrado with the best of both lines,
the greatest discontinuos notes of a "floreado" and the "timbres"
of a "classic" at the same time? It seems that it is not,
because (and happen the same with Roller and Malinois) our
birds, and specially their throat, have their limits. For
instance, if we decide to breed a watery lineage we must know
that their metallic or hollow passages will not be as good
as the ones from pure hollow or metallic stock. In the same
logic if we want to get the best of a "floreado" (discontinuous)
line, we will have to remove the continuous ("timbres") tours;
if we decide to preserve some "timbres" and rolled variations,
we should know that the quality of "floreos" will be less,
decreasing proportionally. So what birds should we breed,
which are the best? This is the most beautiful part of the
story, because there is no way to say, it's up entirely to
you, you decide the kind of birds that you like, the balance
of all these possibilities. The truth is that the three lineages
("classic", "floreado", intermediate) are developing excellent
birds. But you'll be able to decide your own way just if you
work with the FOCDE-COM (Worlwide Ornitological Confederation)
standard and form; if you work with the FOE one, the path
is already chosen, and it's pretty narrow.
POSSIBLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE SPANISH TIMBRADO TOURS
AND EQUIVALENCES IN FOCDE (COM) AND FOE STANDARD
(with maximum points in brackets)
ENGLISH |
FOCDE (COM) |
FOE |
RINGS / DOOR BELL |
TIMBRES (9) |
TIMBRE METALICO (9) |
ROLLED VARIATIONS |
VARIACIONES RODADAS (18) |
TIMBRE INTERMEDIO (6)
TIMBRE PROFUNDO (13) |
WATERY BELL |
TIMBRE DE AGUA (9) |
NOTA BATIDA (6) |
JINGLE BELL |
CASCABELEO (9) |
CASCABELEO (12) |
FLOURISHES |
FLOREOS (27) |
CHAU (6), PIAU (6) |
SLOW FLOURISHES |
FLOREOS
LENTOS (27)
|
FLOREOS
DE ADORNO (18) |
CHURCH BELL |
CAMPANA (9) |
CAMPANA (6) |
CLUCKS |
CLOQUEOS (18) |
CLOQUEOS (16) |
CASTANET |
CASTANUELA (9) |
CASTANUELA (9) |
JOINT VARIATIONS |
VARIACIONES
CONJUNTAS (27)
|
DUOS (14) |
SLOW WATER |
AGUA LENTA (18) |
|
SEMICONNECTED WATER |
AGUA SEMILIGADA (9) |
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TIMBRADO FOR AMERICA 3
In my previous mail I transcribed the two forms currently
used in Spanish contests of Timbrado; the FOCDE one is recognized
by the COM (Worldwide Ornitological Confederation) for international
championships. A form is more important that seems, it's not
just a tool used in contest in order to award prizes to some
birds, it's a reflection of the ideal standard towards the
selective breeding must be directed. In this sense FOE's standard
excludes completely the "floreado" lineage, with just 24 points
(18 "floreos de adorno" + 6 church bell) to discontinuous
tours; from FOE's point of view, "floreado" and intermediate
birds are 2nd or 3rd class and should dissapear or create
another race. Can anybody seriously say that some of the birds
from TIMBRADO.COM are bad birds?. So if the birds are all
right isn't it logic to think that maybe is FOE's standard
the one which is wrong?
In strict sense CHAU and PIAU are, as well, discontinuous
tours, but have been removed in almost every "floreado" and
intermediate strain and good part of "classics" because are
very problematic. Most of CHAUS and PIAUS are sung in a raucuos
way, are "estridencias", typical of "chopper" or "balcony
birds" More rarely you can find softer CHAUS in some young
birds, but, in most of the cases, they become harsh notes
when the breeding period approaches. However "CH" sound never
has a great musical value, so most of Spanish breeders decided,
time ago, that the best thing to do was to get rid of these
bad tours and others with "CH" sound (piercing "chi-chi-chi" or
harsh castanets in chas-chas/ chac-chac) and to try to replace
them with more pleasant and musically better passages. This
has been done successfully, so there's no sense in the stubbornness
of FOE promoting these bad tours, and it's out of all logic
that the points of two bad floreos (CHAU - PIAU) and "campana"
(church bell) add the same that the infinite discontinuos
passages that our bird is able to perform.
TIMBRADO FOR AMERICA 4
As I tried to explain in my previous mail, the main critic
that can be done to FOE's Timbrado standard is that leaves
out a great number of good birds, in Spain almost half of
the canaries bred yearly. But should be pointed out, as well,
the ilogic promotion of two bad "floreos" as are "CHAU" and
"PIAU" (similar tours are heavily punished in Roller and Malinois),
the disregard of the watery lineage or the shortage in the
total amount of points.
FOCDE's (COM) form was carefully (and difficulty) developed
with the aim to judge impartially all the lineages of Timbrado,
and it's useful too for good birds from FOE standard (some
world champions, judged so with FOCDE form, belong to FOE
breeders). In this standard you can choose if you want more
or less "timbres" , more or less "floreos"; you can specialize
your birds or breed a strain which fills up most part of the
form
I started with Timbrado in a FOE group, breeding "classic"
birds for several years. I had problems with "CHAUS" (I never
liked the tour and most of my birds didn't have it) but when
I discovered the new rich in "floreos" birds and managed
to get a cock and two hens, I realized that FOE's standard
couldn't cope with those birds, so I had to change to a FOCDE
association. I have a great respect for most of the people
working in FOE, great fanciers and good fellows, but I belive
that their Timbrado world is too narrow, too dogmatic. And
I've always preferred birds than dogmas about birds.
I've been breeding, for some years now, intermediate birds,
some of them with quite a lot of "timbres" and rolled variations,
but, of course, I still enjoy a good "classic" of "floreado"
and probably I'll breed these tendencies again. I hate to
get bored with my bird's song and FOCDE's Timbrado allows
me to change or transform my birds without changing to another
race; in other case I would probably be breeding Roller o
Malinois at this moment.
You are in America starting to build a new world for Spanish
Timbrado, and the future will be great if you take the proper
steps. Learn from Spanish mistakes and try to establish just
one standard (and this DOESN'T mean just one association)
wide enough for all the tendencies. On the contrary you'll
be in Spanish case, a world of fights, quarrells, insults.
But in Spain we've got consolidate associations, a lot of
fanciers and ,somehow, we learnt how to deal whith all this
mess. I don't know if you'll be able to do the same.
With my best wishes for the upcoming contests, sincerely
© Luis Sanchez
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