Songbird Symphony: How to Sing

Uncle Pea is the first bird that you will encounter that sings with you, making him the easiest. Uncle Pea’s song consists of 1 note, the S key. This means that your timing is the only thing that matters.
The main strategy (if there really is any), is simply to listen and repeat.

Birdy see, birdy do.

Pressing the note key in sync with Uncle Pea’s timing will result in the note being sung correctly, and a grade being displayed.
Continue this, and you will be done in no time.

A section of Uncle Pea’s song.

The Owl is very different from Uncle Pea. He can sing 2 notes, has a different playfield, and can sing holds.

The Owl can sing 2 notes, sometimes even at the same time!

The Owl can also sing hold notes. These notes, as the name implies, require you to, well, hold them.
Holds are used throughout the rest of the game, and it’s probably a good idea to get used to pressing more than one note at once.

Hold notes have trails after them, making them easier to distinguish from normal notes.

The overall strategy of this song is to watch the board that the notes flow to. Because of the background music’s deep rumble, it’s a little harder to tell what is the Owl and what is the background music.

The Woodpecker has a different system than the Owl and Uncle Pea. Notes come out of the pipe on the far left, and land on the wooden block with a circle carved into it.

Note movement arc. Remember that notes move directly from point A to B, without gravity.

Notes come in long strings, moving in the arc already shown.
The less notes being sung at a time, the faster they move, so listen carefully!

A note string.

Less notes means more speed.

The overall strategy of this song is similar to Uncle Pea’s, but with a second note thrown into the mix. Simply listening and repeating will do fine.

The Emprooster is unique in 2 ways:
1: I don’t actually have a picture of him as a chick
2: The song is played with 3 notes.

During this song, a strange machine will emerge from the ground, and chickens will begin to flow into the machine from both directions.

Chickens entering the machine.

After the *clap clap clap clap* sound plays, the chickens will begin to pop out of the pipes, and very slowly fall down to the gears. Chickens that need to be held have wavering yellow tails behind them.

The first stage of chickens popping out of the pipes.

After the first phase of chickens finish, another few lyrics come up, and the second phase begins. Chickens flow into the machine once more, and begin to pop out faster. There are no breaks for the machine to refill, so you will need to keep playing as the chickens keep popping up.

No breaks this time. Keep hitting those notes!

The overall strategy for the first phase is to simply watch the chickens fall to the gears, and go from there.
The second phase is a little trickier. Simply watching the chickens pop out won’t work anymore. Instead, focus on the general location of the chicken closest to the bottom of the screen, and press the key you think fits to that location. Due to the nature of the machine (A, S, K), leftmost chickens are A, middle chickens are S, and rightmost chickens are K. If this doesn’t work, try just using memory for the locations.

The Magpies are used as recaps for all of the different types of playfields you encountered so far.

The first phase is similar to Uncle Pea, however the sequences are much longer than before.

Phase 1

After arguing a little bit, the Magpie sings a little more, and the second phase begins.
The second phase is similar to the Owl, with no gameplay changes, other than that there is no K receptor, and there is also no board.

Phase 2

After more arguments, and more singing, the third phase begins. This time, the Magpie’s eyes are extremely bloodshot, and they move as if they are worn out.
The third phase is similar to the Woodpecker, with no gameplay changes, other than that there is no pipe, mushroom, or wooden building.

Phase 3

Finally, a few more lyrics are sung, and the final phase begins.
This phase is similar to the Emprooster, however the notes always move at max speed, and there is nothing indicating what notes go where. This means that the gameplay is slightly more difficult.

Final Phase

I had a few choice words for these guys when I first met them. However, after learning the way they sing, it’s a bit easier to understand.

The Kookaburra Trio sings using a circle. The notes start on the left, and go around all the way to the right. They sing long sequences and a lot of holds. You should expect a lot of chords to be sung as well, so making sure you know where your fingers are is key to getting past these guys.

The overall strategy of this song is memory. Memorize the sequence of notes, and repeat it. Reading the notes one by one as they come in isn’t going to do you any good, as the note strings are often long and confusing.

The Trio’s Singing Circle.

The Trio’s Chords Circle.

The Trio’s Holding Circle.

The Trio’s Pain Circle.

Down at the bottom of the deep dark caves is a Cassowary. After speaking to the Kooks, you return to sing with her. In her song, there are spooooooky ghost notes, making it harder to read.

Overall, it isn’t very difficult if you can memorize the notes’ locations, or can easily repeat the note sequences by sound, instead of sight.

Yikes! Flying ghost coins!

This is the second Magpie you encounter.

Phase 1 has 2 playstyles in it.
The Owl’s playfield is back, this time with 4 notes instead of 2!
The Woodpecker comes next, with no changes.

The first field

The second field

Phase 2 is similar to the Emprooster in the first Magpie Encounter, however there is now a 4th note.

The Emprooster’s new groove

Phase 3 brings the Kookaburra’s singing circle back for another go.

Not again!!!

The Final Phase brings the ghost keys back from the Cassowary.

Yikes! Scary Floating Coins Again!