Actual Song Research Articles

RoboFinch: A versatile audio‐visual synchronised robotic bird model for laboratory and field research on songbirds

Abstract Singing in birds is accompanied by beak, head and throat movements. The role of these visual cues has long been hypothesised to be an important facilitator in vocal communication, including social interactions and song acquisition, but has seen little experimental study. To address whether audio‐visual cues are relevant for birdsong we used high‐speed video recording, 3D scanning, 3D printing technology and colour‐realistic painting to create RoboFinch, an open source adult‐mimicking robot which matches temporal and chromatic properties of songbird vision. We exposed several groups of juvenile zebra finches during their song developmental phase to one of six singing robots that moved their beaks synchronised to their song and compared them with birds in a non‐synchronised and two control treatments. Juveniles in the synchronised treatment approached the robot setup from the start of the experiment and progressively increased the time they spent singing, contra to the other treatment groups. Interestingly, birds in the synchronised group seemed to actively listen during tutor song playback, as they sung less during the actual song playback compared to the birds in the asynchronous and audio‐only control treatments. Our open source RoboFinch setup thus provides an unprecedented tool for systematic study of the functionality and integration of audio‐visual cues associated with song behaviour. Realistic head and beak movements aligned to specific song elements may allow future studies to assess the importance of multisensory cues during song development, sexual signalling and social behaviour. All software and assembly instructions are open source, and the robot can be easily adapted to other species. Experimental manipulations of stimulus combinations and synchronisation can further elucidate how audio‐visual cues are integrated by receivers and how they may enhance signal detection, recognition, learning and memory.

The Public Domain Song Anthology

Reviewed by: The Public Domain Song Anthology ed. by David Berger, Chuck Israels Mikkel Vad The Public Domain Song Anthology: With Modern and Traditional Harmonization. Edited by David Berger and Chuck Israels. Charlotteville, VA: Aperio Press, 2020. [Forewords in English. Available as an online resource and in print (paperback). ISBN 978173354301. $0 (electronic), print version available via donation beginning at $150.] This collection contains songs from before 1924, which are all in the public domain. In other words, these songs are not anthologized according to a genre, style, or tradition, as is common from most other songbooks, but rather according to the political economy of copyright law and its slightly arbitrary historical marker of 1924. Building on this the editors add a US national framework to the collection, as well as—perhaps most significantly and uniquely—an extra set of "modern harmonizations" in addition to the "traditional" chord changes. I shall begin by commenting on the scope and structure of the book, plus the selection of songs, before reviewing the actual songs and harmonizations which, of course, constitute the main part of the book. The motivation for the book is, admirably, to create a resource for students, teachers, and musicians who want to perform songs without risking having to pay the extra royalties that comes with playing material that is still under copyright. This will no doubt be useful for musicians wanting to play a gig of only public domain music, or for music teachers who want to organize concerts at the lowest possible cost. This is backed up by the fact that The Public Domain Song Anthology is free and easy to download as an open access, open educational resource in PDF, XML, and Sibelius file formats in addition to the physical book. These issues of copyright, public domain, and open access are the main topic of the short forewords by Robert Schwartz and Peter Jaszi, who are both lawyers. The battle of copyright and the fight for open access educational resources should be of growing concern to every musician, so it is nice to see this issue being raised here. The main editors of the volume are David Berger and Chuck Israels. Berger is a prolific composer, jazz arranger, and conductor, including as the former leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the most famous jazz repertory band in the United States. Israels is a bassist, who has played with everybody from Billie Holiday to Herbie Hancock and is best known for his work with the pianist Bill Evans and as the former director of the National Jazz Ensemble, another pioneering jazz repertory band. With the choice of big jazz names like Berger and Israels as editors and authors of the reharmonizations, the book also contributes to the well-known centering of jazz as the quintessential national music of the United States. The book is clearly meant to work, by all appearances, as a fakebook from which jazz musicians can play and jam, and the addition of the modern [End Page 635] jazz harmonizations suggests that the editors think that these songs could be added to the jazz repertoire. This makes sense, given the centrality of the Great American Songbook in the jazz world. Indeed, several of the songs in the anthology are already jazz standards (such as, After You've Gone and Who's Sorry Now), while there are others that I, frankly, would be surprised to see suddenly pop up on jazz recordings in the coming years despite a good, new harmonization and otherwise classic status (for instance, Yankee Doodle and Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!). This variety is in many ways as much a strength as it is a weakness, and I certainly had fun playing some songs that I do not come across when leafing through my other fakebooks. As is clear from their forewords, Berger and Israels have been more concerned with national heritage than with copyright when putting together the anthology. David Berger begins his forward: "Living memory is not sufficient to preserve our musical heritage. Popular songs that are in the public domain (free of U.S. copyright obligation) needed to be collected and made freely available." There are...

ANALYSIS OF SONG STRUCTURE A SING SING SO ARRANGEMENT OF BIAN LIUNIAN

The research aims to determine the structure and arrangement of the song A Sing sing So arrangement Bian Liunian. The theories used in this study include the understanding of analysis, the understanding of structures, the notion of music, the understanding of interpretation, the understanding of songs, the definition of A Sing Sing So. This research uses a qualitative method of descriptive research that is a research method aimed to describe in detail and clearly about a phenomenon that is the focus of research. This study is a qualitative descriptive study, therefore, this research was conducted in the laboratory of Sendratasik department which was carried out in February 2019 – June 2019. The results of this study show that the song of A Sing Sing So of Bian Liunian arranger has 13 motifs along with its supporting motif, has 6 phrases consisting of phrase questions and answers, this song is also a two-part song consisting of part A and B. Arrangement of this song can be seen from the melody, rhythm and harmonization of Mandarin nuance but the interpretation of the song does not correspond to the meaning of the actual song.

Sensory feedback independent pre-song vocalizations correlate with time to song initiation.

The song of the adult male zebra finch is a well-studied example of a learned motor sequence. Song bouts begin with a variable number of introductory notes (INs) before actual song production. Previous studies have shown that INs progress from a variable initial state to a stereotyped final state before each song. This progression is thought to represent motor preparation, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we assessed the role of sensory feedback in the progression of INs to song. We found that the mean number of INs before song and the progression of INs to song were not affected by removal of two sensory feedback pathways (auditory or proprioceptive). In both feedback-intact and feedback-deprived birds, the presence of calls (other non-song vocalizations), just before the first IN, was correlated with fewer INs before song and an initial state closer to song. Finally, the initial IN state correlated with the time to song initiation. Overall, these results show that INs do not require real-time sensory feedback for progression to song. Rather, our results suggest that changes in IN features and their transition to song are controlled by internal neural processes, possibly involved in getting the brain ready to initiate a learned movement sequence.

Baltų ir slavų liaudies dainų sąsajos: „Sėskis, sesute, sėskis, jaunoji“

The ethnic ties on the Baltic and Slavic musical folklore are shown and examined on the base of Lithuanian wedding folk song “Sėskis, sesute, sėskis, jaunoji” and its parallels in Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian folk songs heritage sources. Clear examples of analogue or relative variants of actual songs are presented here, and common features of their poetic texts and melodic lines peculiarities are explored as well. We see much closer analogues in poetic texts here to compare with parallels in melodic lines hereby. The hypothesis about possible great number of such Lithuanian (Baltic) and Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, etc. (Slavic) folk songs relative variants is declared, certifying their common historical sources and relative ethnic roots. Key words: Lithuanian folk songs, Polish folk songs, Belarusian folk songs, Ukrainian folk songs, comparative research studies, Baltic and Slavic musical folklore relations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/td.v11i0.1432

Synchronized personalized music audio-playlists to improve adherence to physical activity among patients participating in a structured exercise program: a proof-of-principle feasibility study.

BackgroundPreference-based tempo-pace synchronized music has been shown to reduce perceived physical activity exertion and improve exercise performance. The extent to which such strategies can improve adherence to physical activity remains unknown. The objective of the study is to explore the feasibility and efficacy of tempo-pace synchronized preference-based music audio-playlists on adherence to physical activity among cardiovascular disease patients participating in a cardiac rehabilitation.MethodsThirty-four cardiac rehabilitation patients were randomly allocated to one of two strategies: (1) no music usual-care control and (2) tempo-pace synchronized audio-devices with personalized music playlists + usual-care. All songs uploaded onto audio-playlist devices took into account patient personal music genre and artist preferences. However, actual song selection was restricted to music whose tempos approximated patients’ prescribed exercise walking/running pace (steps per minute) to achieve tempo-pace synchrony. Patients allocated to audio-music playlists underwent further randomization in which half of the patients received songs that were sonically enhanced with rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) to accentuate tempo-pace synchrony, whereas the other half did not. RAS was achieved through blinded rhythmic sonic-enhancements undertaken manually to songs within individuals’ music playlists. The primary outcome consisted of the weekly volume of physical activity undertaken over 3 months as determined by tri-axial accelerometers. Statistical methods employed an intention to treat and repeated-measures design.ResultsPatients randomized to personalized audio-playlists with tempo-pace synchrony achieved higher weekly volumes of physical activity than did their non-music usual-care comparators (475.6 min vs. 370.2 min, P < 0.001). Improvements in weekly physical activity volumes among audio-playlist recipients were driven by those randomized to the RAS group which attained weekly exercise volumes that were nearly twofold greater than either of the two other groups (average weekly minutes of physical activity of 631.3 min vs. 320 min vs. 370.2 min, personalized audio-playlists with RAS vs. personalized audio-playlists without RAS vs. non-music usual-care controls, respectively, P < 0.001). Patients randomized to music with RAS utilized their audio-playlist devices more frequently than did non-RAS music counterparts (P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe use of tempo-pace synchronized preference-based audio-playlists was feasibly implemented into a structured exercise program and efficacious in improving adherence to physical activity beyond the evidence-based non-music usual standard of care. Larger clinical trials are required to validate these findings.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov ID (NCT01752595)Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40798-015-0017-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recurrent themes in isiXhosa songs

ABSTRACT Scholars who have been writing on the problems of classifying the oral song genres of Africa have tended to be inflexible. The oral song has been approached using functionalist and other anthropological theories. While these theories have shed some light on the nature of African oral song, this has been at the expense of exploring the actual song texts in their own right. This paper samples and explores some selected songs from the iSiXhosa cultural traditions by means of textual analysis. The paper intends to show that song genres cross-pollinate each other and that the recurrent themes in the songs contextualize and underpin the social and philosophical lives of the Xhosa people. Since the Xhosa people are differentiated in terms of age, class and gender, it follows that the themes of the songs reflect and mediate this reality. Songs can suggest new themes or can be interpreted in new ways which, when accepted in the Xhosa community, can then become dominant and recurrent ways of interpreting reality.

Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History (review)

Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History. By Devin McKinney. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. [xi, 420 p. IBSN 0-674-01202-X. $46 (hbk.); ISBN 0-674-01202-X. $16.95 (pbk.)] Illustrations, discography, index. Lying at the heart of this provocative study of the Beatles is a familiar topic in popular-music scholarship: the relationship between artists and their audiences. Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History, however, is no mere reception history; nor is plainly academic in its approach. Devin McKinney, self-consciously positioning himself within a long tradition of creative writers on the culture of rock and roll (think Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, even Nick Hornsby), aims to shed light on the less clearly discernible, less overtly sociological elements of the relationship between the Beatles and their various audiences-from the underworld of postwar Hamburg's Reeperbahn district, to the volatile heights of Beatlemania, to the murderous trail of Charles Manson. Part journalism, part fiction, part memoir, part cultural history, this book stands out even in the vibrant Beatles literature as a true original. And even if does not regularly acknowledge or establish dialogue with segments of that literature, is nonetheless written with authority. Indeed, its ideal audience may be those already expert in Beatles lore, though the book will also appeal to any Beatles fan looking for a bold act of interpretation. Two quotations from the beginning and end of the book nicely frame its primary focus. The first muses on the audience's response to the lure of an artist, and on the latent power inherent in that response: And what do lhese singers waul i'roill usdo they want us to love them, follow them, invest out dreams in them, with the promise that they'll be repaid a hundredfold? Do they wish us to rise to meet their ambition, become an audience with its own ambition, to challenge and push them as they push and challenge us? (p. 21) The second turns its attention to the insecurities of an artist (particularly, here, John Lennon) once an audience's energy has been unleashed: John Lennon desperately needed a return of the love he gave out. His resentment of his audience was genuine, but so was his love of it, and so was his need to be repaid by that audience in the rare coin of deep and constant communication, in whatever form-adulation, hatred, reverence. As his fans needed him to be their distorting mirror, he needed his audience to show him, again and again, what he looked like to them, what he was to them. (pp. 328-29) Magic Circles, then, is a book about the rubbing together of identities and the grand clash of ambitions at play in the Beatles' relationships with its public. At its best, convincingly demonstrates that the Beatles' story can function as a prism through which one can understand the socio-political and cultural history of this era, particularly the history of the American counterculture. The book's six chronologically arranged chapters follow the Beatles from their inception into their afterlives. Several chapters use a recurring metaphor as a poetic device. In the first, Rude Noises from the Bog: The Beatles in Liverpool and Hamburg, McKinney fixates on the image of the toilet (bog in British slang). On the Beatles' second recording, cut in spring 1960 in Paul McCartney's living room, for instance, he writes: there are a number of actual songs, and these come straight from the bog: they are damp and uncouth and have a funny smell (p. 24). Later, on Hamburg's Reeperbahn: It was a bigger, hotter, riskier toilet than they'd found back home, and they had their dirty fun in it (p. 31). But he delights a tad too much in the subversiveness of his imagery-a result, clearly, of his own identity fetishi/.ing of the four crude and assaultive lads from filthy Liverpool. Later images-meat, for example, in chapter 3 (on the Beatles in 1966), and ooze in chapter 4 (on the counterculture in the last years of the 1960s)-are pushed perhaps too far. …

Mental scanning in auditory imagery for songs.

Four experiments examined how people operate on memory representations of familiar songs. The tasks were similar to those used in studies of visual imagery. In one task, subjects saw a one-word lyric from a song and then saw a second lyric; then they had to say if the second lyric was from the same song as the first. In a second task, subjects mentally compared pitches of notes corresponding to song lyrics. In both tasks, reaction time increased as a function of the distance in beats between the two lyrics in the actual song, and in some conditions reaction time increased with the starting beat of the earlier lyric. Imagery instructions modified the main results somewhat in the first task, but not in the second, much harder task. The results suggest that song representations have temporal-like characteristics.

Mental scanning in auditory imagery for songs.

Four experiments examined how people operate on memory representations of familiar songs. The tasks were similar to those used in studies of visual imagery. In one task, subjects saw a one-word lyric from a song and then saw a second lyric; then they had to say if the second lyric was from the same song as the first. In a second task, subjects mentally compared pitches of notes corresponding to song lyrics. In both tasks, reaction time increased as a function of the distance in beats between the two lyrics in the actual song, and in some conditions reaction time increased with the starting beat of the earlier lyric. Imagery instructions modified the main results somewhat in the first task, but not in the second, much harder task. The results suggest that song representations have temporal-like characteristics.

The Musical Quality of Goldsmith's The Deserted Village

The Musical Quality of Goldsmith's The Deserted Village

Species Identification of Song By Indigo Buntings as Determined By Responses To Computer Generated Sounds

AbstractSpecies recognition of song by indigo bunting, Passerina cyanea, was studied in playback experiments to territorial males. Experimental recordings included computer simulations and actual bunting sounds. In all, 238 playbacks were carried out with 34 test songs. Actual bunting songs were from Kentucky, U.S.A. and the local population at Chaffeys Locks, Ontario, Canada. One syllable-type from the latter song was repeated to form a unique song, which also served as a model for some simulations. Simulations were of three general kinds: single syllable-type, multiple syllable-type, and general syllable features. The latter series tested general attributes of syllables including sound duration, frequency, amplitude and continuity, with typical ranges and modulation rates. Using 12 variables of response, results were analyzed by univariate and multivariate techniques. Results were as follows: 1. Actual songs were the strongest stimuli (Kentucky then Ontario). 2. General feature simulations all elicited no detectable defense response. 3. Single syllable-type simulations elicited stronger responses as they approached physical attributes of the model. Responses to some simulations could not be significantly discriminated from the model. 4. Manipulation of frequency-time structural detail illustrated that variations of less than about 100 Hz in 10 ms do not affect response. Amplitude variations up to twice the modulation rate in five ms, do not affect response. 5. Multiple syllable-type simulation of the first seven types in the Ontario song elicited responses that were significantly stronger than any other simulations. 6. Multiple syllable-type simulation in which subsegments (unidirectional frequency modulations) were reversed in direction elicited moderate responses. From these results, the following conclusions could be made: 1. As adults, indigo buntings recognize song syllables as approximations of culturally transmitted types. 2. Numerous parameters are used for cues. 3. Effects of some cues are additive. 4. Models of syllable-type distribution, recognition, and learning were discussed.

The Prereformation German Kirchenlied and Congregational Singing

THE PREREFORMATION GERMAN KIRCHENLIED AND CONGREGATIONAL SINGING* The roots of the German Kirchenlied lie deep in the Latin liturgy.1 Already before the time of Charlemagne the German "Chirléis," or simply "Lets," had become a practice. In his article on congregational singing, Dr. R. Boisvert recalls how St. Gregory in medieval times, and Pius XI in modern times ("Divini Cultus Sanctitatem") mentioned the early custom of the alternation of the Kyrie between the clergy and the people.2 In Germany the people added also a vernacular appendage to the Latin Kyrie. Yet it was not restricted only to Germany, but appeared also in France as the "Kyriole" or "Quirielle" and even as "Lais," distinct from the lais which were the translations of Latin sequences. In Bohemia the same genre appeared as "Krles."3 Nor was this type of vernacular appendage to the "Kyrie Eleison" to be restricted in later times to the Catholic Church. There are also Protestant chorales that belong to the same general species, such as "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist" and "Christ ist erstanden."* Moreover, in the "Geistliche Lieder mit einer neuen Vorrede D. Mart. Luthers," printed in Leipzig in 1545, we find some excellent examples of an evolved type of Leis, remnants of the older and much shorter genre.8 For example, the "Lobgesang: Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet" has after each verse: "Kyrieleison."* The same is the case for the "Lobgesang auf das Osterfest: Jesus Christus unser Heiland";7 the "Zehn Gebote Gottes: Dies sind die heiigen zehn Gebote,"8 and the "Lobgesang: * Based on the M. A. thesis: The Position of Martin Luther in XVI Century Evangelical Church Music, by the author, (Catholic University, May 1955, Wash. D. C). 1 Kirchenlied, katholisches deutsches, in Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, V, p. 1009. 2 R. Boisvert, Congregational Singing in the Catholic Choirmaster, Vol. XXIII, No. 2 (June 30, 1937), 56 ff. 3 Ursprung, Die Katholische Kirchenmusik, in Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft , ed. Bücken, VIII, 99. 4 WiIi Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music, p. 396. 5 Luther, Gesammelte Werke, ed. Frankfurt (1853), LVI, p. 306. 6 Ibid., p. 317. 7 Ibid., p. 319. 8 Ibid., p. 322. 373 374F- SMITH Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist."9 From the earliest Leisen such as the "Unsar trohtin," the "Christ uns genade, Kyrie eleison, und die heilige alle helfen uns" grew the German Kirchenlied proper, to become the proud musical heritage of all times.10 The oldest known Chirléis is the famous Freisinger Petruslied: Unsar trohtin hat farsalt sánete petre giuualt Daz er mac ginerjan ze imo dingenten man. Kyrie eleison Christe eleison.11 This dates from the ninth century or tenth,12 and is probably the oldest Lets we have preserved documentarily with words and neums above them.13 Yet, many other Leisen antedate this particular one, though we do not have the actual songs, themselves.138Other historical documentation must also be given to complete the picture. And thus we see the Synod of Salzburg in 799, admonishing the people to sing their Kyrieleisons better than heretofore. It is not a question of only the word, itself, in Greek, since there was a lively discussion among those who wanted singing only in the biblical languages. As a flowering of the Litany of All Saints (rather than the Kyrie of the Mass) this acclamatory genre had a definite place in the liturgy.14 An example of a French Quirielle that did not derive from the Litany of all Saints but was used either at the Kyrie of the Mass or at the Offertory at Christmas: 9 Ibid., p. 337. 10Besseler, Die Musik des Mittelalters und der Renaissance, in Handbuch der Musikwissenschaften, ed. Bücken, II, 104. Aus derartigen Leisen entstand im Zeitalter der Staufenkaiser das deutsche Kirchenlied, dessen Melodienfülle zum kostbarsten nationalen Vermächtnis des Mittelalters gehört. 11Karl Weinman, History of Church Music, p. 52. 12Reese, Music in the Middle Ages, p. 231. 13Ursprung, op. cit., p. 99. A plate photographed from the original (21). 13a Heydt, J. D. von der, Die Geschichte der Evangelischen Kirchenmusik in Deutschland, (Trowitsch & Sohn, Berlin, 1932) p. 21. Daß sie (Kirleisen) auch viel gesungen wurden, wird...

The hunting songs of the Ambo

SYNOPSIS These thirty‐two songs are translated and analysed from the literary point of view. The first part of the paper treats the background of the songs, i.e. the hunting customs and relevant beliefs. The second part gives the actual songs with the English translation and a short commentary after each as to the vocabulary and the theme of the song. The third part gives general appreciation of the poetry in the songs, the poetical technique and themes. The striking feature of the technique is parallelism reminiscent of the parallelism of the Hebrew psalms.