Song Fragments Research Articles

Music Therapists' Perceptions of the Impact of Group Factors on the Therapeutic Songwriting Process

BackgroundTherapeutic songwriting is one music therapy approach that is practiced across the globe (Baker, Wigram, Stott, & McFerran, 2008). It aims to enhance self-esteem and develop self-confidence, and provide possibilities for choice and decision-making. The approach aims to develop a sense of self, to enable participants to externalise thoughts and feelings, to tell their stories, and to gain insight or clarify thoughts and feelings (Baker et al., 2008). Group songwriting is frequently employed with many clinical populations, particularly in psychiatry, neurorehabilitation, developmental disability, and autism spectrum disordered populations. A recent survey concluded that 42% of clinicians using songwriting employed it with small groups (, 10 participants) and 37% with large groups (Baker, Wigram, Stott, & McFerran, 2009). This study sought to identify the factors that support or constrain the songwriting process when working with groups with a particular emphasis on the group process as perceived by music therapy researchers and clinicians.Literature ReviewThere is a growing body of evidence that group therapeutic songwriting is effective in enhancing various facets of well- being in diverse clinical populations, especially substance use disorder. For studies by Baker, Gleadhill, and Dingle (2007) and Dingle, Gleadhill, and Baker (2008), the songwriting groups in rehabilitation were all open, that is, changing membership from session to session. Therefore, the therapy aimed to engage group cohesion and group processes within single sessions rather than across several sessions. Patient evaluations in the Dingle et al. (2008) study suggested that most participants experienced feeling part of a group, which countered their experience of isolation. Later, Baker, Dingle, and Gleadhill (2011) reported that diverse musical preferenc- es led to group chaos when trying to create the music to accompany the lyrics. In an effort to salvage the process, the music therapist challenged the group on their behavior, and drew on democratic voting to ease this conflict. The song they created resembled a mash-up of song fragments from pre- existing songs combined with original text created by the participants.In her work with adolescents who had misused drugs, McFerran (2011) drew on a range of group music therapy interventions, including songwriting, to stimulate group processes over a ten-session (once per week) program. She noticed that by Week 4, issues of leadership, verbal confrontations, and tensions emerged, a signal of growing authenticity by the group members. In time, this led to an agreeing to disagree'' (p. 257) and an opening up by group members. Perhaps the conflict stimulated opportunities for growth and was viewed as a process that supported movement forward rather than a feature that hindered the songwriting process.Silverman (2011) examined the effect of a songwriting program within a psychoeducational framework on coping skills and working alliance of psychiatric patients, but provided no details about the dynamics of the sessions supporting or constraining the process. Similarly, Grocke, Block, and Castle (2009) studied the impact of group songwriting for adults living with severe and enduring mental illness on quality of life. Among other benefits, group members reported that they experienced working as a team as an enjoyable aspect of the process. Again, there were no details about the group processes encountered during the program and what positive or negative effects these may have had on the process.Dalton and Krout (2005), and Krout (2011) engaged groups in songwriting experiences to facilitate the bereavement process of adolescents. Krout (2011) does not reflect substantially on the group processes. However, he did report that the group context offered individuals opportunities to share their stories with others. In doing so, common thoughts and feelings were brought to the fore and subsequently represented in the group song. …

Seamless: Exploring the Segue in 1980s Medley Records

During the early 1980s, a number of medley records achieved considerable success on pop singles charts. Judged by the standards of today's mash-ups and mix-CD compilations, these records may sound clumsy: the medleys often lurch from one song to the next with little overlap between songs. However, the same medley records have often been described as ‘seamless’. This article explains how medley producers created an impression of ‘seamlessness’, with particular attention to two 1981 hits: ‘Stars on 45’ and ‘Hooked on Classics’. The arrangers of these records used several devices to convey an impression of ‘seamlessness’, such as pivot notes, harmonic modulations, and the overlapping of similar timbres across different songs. The analysis demonstrates three points. Firstly, notions of ‘seamless’ segues have shifted significantly since the disco era. Records such as ‘Stars on 45’ and ‘Hooked on Classics’ exemplify earlier types of segues, in which arrangers move quickly from one song to the next, exploiting existing similarities between song fragments. Secondly, medleys of popular music meticulously replicate their source material, while medleys of art music tend to alter their source material. This can be attributed to popular music's phonographic tradition, in which a recording (rather than a score) counts as ‘the work itself’. Finally, we can learn much about listening itself by attending to these records. Medley records make sense when approached with a ‘mode of listening’ suggested by Jerrold Levinson, an approach where moment-to-moment transitions matter more than large-scale structure or ‘cohesion’.

“Stayin’ Alive in Da Club”: The Illegality and Hyperreality of Mashups

This study investigates the issues raised by the creation of ‘new’ songs entirely from ‘old’ recordings, exemplified by mashups. The paper looks at the illegal status of the genre and the challenge to traditional ideas of authorship and originality posed by mashups. The repackaging of copyrighted material has serious legal implications; the inherent illegality of the mashup genre perpetuates its underground status inferring cultural kudos on the work’s producers. Peer-to-peer applications, home CD burners, and mp3s have speeded up the rate at which the musical past can be referenced. Recordings are ‘unmixed’ and song fragments are distributed freely on the internet often with no reference to the original artist or author. Mashup producers reassemble these fragments, arranging them sequentially (“Velcro text”) and layering them concurrently. The paper uses Baudrillard’s orders of signification to examine mashups. Baudrillard’s stated that “the age of simulation begins with a liquidation of all referentials” and that in ‘hyperreality’, a listener can no longer tell the difference between a ‘real’ piece of work or a simulation. Jameson identified “a new depthlessness” in a mediated self-referential culture obsessed with superficial detail, rendering the resulting product “meaningless” The question of how meaning is created and sustained in such a ‘meaningless’ post modern culture is discussed with reference to the writings of Barthes. A taxonomy of listener competence is proposed, whilst ideas of signifyin(g) and detournement are used to investigate the ironic use of musical quotation.

“Stayin’ Alive in Da Club”: The Illegality and Hyperreality of Mashups

This study investigates the issues raised by the creation of ‘new’ songs entirely from ‘old’ recordings, exemplified by mashups. The paper looks at the illegal status of the genre and the challenge to traditional ideas of authorship and originality posed by mashups. The repackaging of copyrighted material has serious legal implications; the inherent illegality of the mashup genre perpetuates its underground status inferring cultural kudos on the work’s producers. Peer-to-peer applications, home CD burners, and mp3s have speeded up the rate at which the musical past can be referenced. Recordings are ‘unmixed’ and song fragments are distributed freely on the internet often with no reference to the original artist or author. Mashup producers reassemble these fragments, arranging them sequentially (“Velcro text”) and layering them concurrently. The paper uses Baudrillard’s orders of signification to examine mashups. Baudrillard’s stated that “the age of simulation begins with a liquidation of all referentials” and that in ‘hyperreality’, a listener can no longer tell the difference between a ‘real’ piece of work or a simulation. Jameson identified “a new depthlessness” in a mediated self-referential culture obsessed with superficial detail, rendering the resulting product “meaningless” The question of how meaning is created and sustained in such a ‘meaningless’ post modern culture is discussed with reference to the writings of Barthes. A taxonomy of listener competence is proposed, whilst ideas of signifyin(g) and detournement are used to investigate the ironic use of musical quotation.

Competitions as a form of public gusle playing performance

This paper offers an ethnomusicological perspective on competitions of guslars (players of a single-stringed musical instrument gusle predominantly used to accompany the voice of a singer reciting epic poetry), here interpreted as a specific form of public music performance. First competitions were organized between World Wars (1924-1933), afterwards being established in 1971 and since then organized (with a short interruption) in Serbia, Montenegro and the Republic of Srpska. Apart from gusle players and the audience participating in this interaction, these competitions introduced into the focus the very organizers as well. The importance of collectivity as an idea interwoven into epic ethos has become a powerful means of manipulation used by authorities. Their interests have been put forward primarily through the poetic content of new songs. Ideology, though, is not only reflected in the competition repertoire. It is also felt in other forms of public gusle playing practice (such as performances with miscellaneous programme, concerts etc.). The sense of competitiveness, as a type of communicational situation, is far strongly felt in the music dimension. Limited in duration, the performance was reduced to only fragments of songs, which, on the other side, caused a change in gusle playing. The traditional style implied economizing with player?s energy and dramatization tailored to suit the context of long-lasting songs, whereas per-forming of fragments resulted in a more grandiose style aimed at making momentary impression: intensive, vigorous singing in the upper vocal register, using a wide range of expressive devices within short time etc. After studying the competition rules, key formal regulations, and the organization of competitions so far, I discerned that those epic poems have been dominantly regarded as poetry. One of crucial reasons for this is wider communicability of verbal to music discourse, but also more straightforward conveyance of ideological messages through words. Syncretism, which is quintessence of artistic expression in epic poetry, demands paying more attention to the musical component. This artistic expression has always been the domain of players? creativity, in contrast to the poetic component which is standardized, fixed, and which a contemporary gusle player is only presenting. The contribution of competition to the evolution of gusle playing practice, especially in regard to its role in the shaping of collective identity, demands reconceptualization of such cultural events in which guslars associations, state institutions and experts would also take part.

Internal visualization of finished guitars and their sound.

The internal structure of two classical guitars (using a near infrared transmittance technique) and typical sound spectra from each were compared. Both guitars were crafted by Paracho luthiers: one with carbon fiber reinforcements, and the other one with traditional Torres design. For the experiments, one fluorescent light bulb was inserted through the soundhole, and after, it was substituted with an incandescent one. The internal structure of each guitar was photographed, using a standard digital camera and a sony camcorder with infrared cut filter (nightshot). A typical song fragment was played in each single guitar, whereas the same experimental conditions were kept. Meanwhile, the corresponding mono record was captured. Sound spectra were averaged using selected fragments from the audio files. The images revealed the internal structure, which were useful in inspecting the internal guitar designs. Spectra of different song fragments played in the same guitar were very similar. However, the spectra did change when playing the same fragments using the other guitar. The procedures here explained allowed are to notice important differences in guitars using inexpensive and easy‐to‐implement techniques. This infrared photography technique was shown to be a significant improvement in comparison with optical photography; furthermore, it leads one to explore the whole soundbox structure. [Work supported by the Faculty of Engineering (UNAM).]

Song recognition without identification: When people cannot "name that tune" but can recognize it as familiar.

Recognition without identification (RWI) is a common day-to-day experience (as when recognizing a face or a tune as familiar without being able to identify the person or the song). It is also a well-established laboratory-based empirical phenomenon: When identification of recognition test items is prevented, participants can discriminate between studied and unstudied test items. The present study demonstrates this finding in the realm of music. A song RWI effect is reported across 4 experiments, despite very low identification rates in each. The effect was found with unidentifiable song fragments (Experiment 1), with song notes removed from their original rhythms (Experiment 2), and with songs unidentifiable from their tapped out rhythms (Experiments 3 and 4). Theoretical implications of these results are relevant to both the study of familiarity-based recognition and the study of music cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

<i>¡Llegaron Los Camperos! Concert Favorites of Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos</i> (review)

Reviewed by: ¡Llegaron Los Camperos! Concert Favorites of Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos Jesus A. Ramos-Kittrell Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos. ¡Llegaron Los Camperos! Concert Favorites of Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos. Compact disc. 2005. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (United States). Descriptive notes, photos. (Available from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, 750 9th Street, NW, Suite 4100, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560-0953) The recording by Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos is an interesting example of the transformations and evolution of mariachi music since it first emerged in the early twentieth century. The mariachi first entered the musical scene during the 1930s, when the federal government in Mexico aimed to promote, among other examples of folk music, the son from the Tierra Caliente region (encompassing the states of Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Guerrero) as an emblem of Mexican nationalism through radio, television, and film. Stemming out of the performance practice of the conjunto de arpa, the mariachi emerged as an ensemble that featured a strong rhythmic guitar section, violins, trumpets, and harp. As the mariachi became more commercially disseminated, its image grew in importance and soon appropriated songs, either from the existing son repertory or arranged specifically for this ensemble, making them characteristic of “mariachi music.” Some examples of songs that are considered as quintessential mariachi tunes are “El son de la negra,” “Guadalajara,” “Ay Jalisco, no te rajes!” and “Mexico Lindo.” However, within the imagined national consciousness in Mexico, mariachi recordings usually provide consistent [End Page 110] versions of these and other tunes that are considered standard renditions of mariachi repertory. In Nati Cano’s recording, we hear a different approach in the performance of the mariachi “canon,” perhaps a consequence of the type of audience lately addressed by Cano’s ensemble. “We played in New York’s Lincoln Center, and I like to point out that we played inside, in a concert, not outside, like for a party,” says Cano in the liner notes. In this respect, this quote reveals a lot regarding the approach towards the arrangement and performance of each song. The recording begins with a tune bearing the album’s title, “Llegaron Los Camperos” (“The Countrymen Arrived”), which opens with a short introduction usually played by the ensemble at every presentation (this introduction is appropriately called “Llegaron Los Camperos”) followed by a medley of songs usually performed by mariachi groups at the opening of any celebration. An example of this is the immediate following by “El son de la negra,” a song that is played always as the mariachi enters a performance venue. What is really striking is the arrangement of some of the songs, which align with the album’s subtitle Concert Favorites. Therefore, tracks like “Llegaron Los Camperos,” “Jalisco,” “Jarocho I” and “II,” “José Alfredo Jiménez,” and “Michoacán” are rather musically complex arrangements of several songs alluding to the theme of the title. For example, “Jalisco” features excerpts from songs such as “El tren,” “Virgencita de Zapopan,” “Tlaquepaque,” “Ay, Jalisco no te rajes,” and “Guadalajara.” In the same way, “José Alfredo Jiménez” features fragments of different songs from the celebrated Mexican songwriter. Each track in the recording is an example of music that clearly has left the context of performance characteristic of social celebrations in Mexico. Indeed, this is music crafted for a different type of audience willing to listen to a reinterpretation of the traditional mariachi repertory by accomplished musicians. This is not only evident in the performance technique of highly studied singers and instrumentalists. Ultimately, these medleys incorporate complex harmonic and melodic arrangements not typical of traditional mariachi performance. Perhaps one of the most striking examples is found in the tune “Michoacán,” which not only uses dramatic color changes in the shifts of accompanied voices and the harmonic excursions by the violins and harp. In fact, the musical complexity of this tune goes as far as to incorporate a short two-part fugal section in the violins. Due to the particular approach towards musical arrangement, this recording most decidedly departs from any rendition in the realm of “folk music.” Taking into account the musical merit of this recording...

Men, Women, and Turntables: Gender and the DJ Battle

Two musicians occupy a small stage, readying themselves for battle. They are hip-hop DJs—or turntablists, as they often call themselves—and each stands in front of a table laid out with a pair of turntables, an audio mixer in between, and a pile of vinyl records to the side.1 The first DJ is announced and unleashes a virtuosic collage of heavy beats, piercing record scratches, and fragments of song, all in a carefully planned ninety-second routine. A sense of confrontation is palpable, for the DJ gestures menacingly while playing recorded “disses”—insults culled from song lyrics or film or television dialogue—directed at the opponent, who stands glowering just a few feet away. The crowd, hooting and cheering, heightens the tension. When both turntablists have performed, a panel of judges names a winner, who continues to the next round. At the end of the night, after a champion has been crowned, the tension quickly dissipates. The DJs, who had flung vile curses at one another just minutes earlier, chat amicably.

How do they duet? Sexually dimorphic behavioural mechanisms structure duet songs in the black-bellied wren

In many bird species, pairmates sing together, forming duet songs. Studies on duetting songbirds consistently report nonrandom associations between the male and female song types that constitute duet songs. Previous research has demonstrated that when female black-bellied wrens, Thryothorus fasciatoventris , answer male song to form a duet, they abide by individually specific, temporally stable duet codes linking discrete acoustic stimuli (male song types) to discrete vocal responses (female song types). The present study builds on this finding with the goal of understanding the behavioural mechanisms in both males and females that result in nonrandom song type associations. I recorded duets from free-living pairs, and isolated four transitions from male song type to female song type in the duets of each pair. These transitions served as predicted links in the females' duet codes. The male and female song types from the transitions were played to the pair from which they had been recorded. Both males and females ‘duetted’ with playbacks of their mates' songs. Females' answers adhered very closely to the predictions, supporting previous findings. Males also answered according to the predictions at a level exceeding chance, demonstrating that they abide by the same duet codes as do their mates. Stimulus type was a strong predictor of response type in females, but a relatively weak predictor of response type in males. When presented with chimerical male song stimuli, females typically answered with one of the predicted responses for the songs composing the chimera. The song fragments constituting the beginning and end of chimerical stimuli were equally influential in determining female responses, but longer fragments were more influential than shorter fragments. Overall, the findings are consistent with the hypothesis that answering according to a unique duet code communicates the singer's identity to the mate, facilitating cooperative defence of the pair's shared resources.

Parametric Representations of Bird Sounds for Automatic Species Recognition

This paper is related to the development of signal processing techniques for automatic recognition of bird species. Three different parametric representations are compared. The first representation is based on sinusoidal modeling which has been earlier found useful for highly tonal bird sounds. Mel-cepstrum parameters are used since they have been found very useful in the parallel problem of speech recognition. Finally, a vector of various descriptive features is tested because such models are popular in audio classification applications, and bird song is almost like music. We briefly introduce the methods and evaluate their performance in the classification and recognition of both individual syllables and song fragments of 14 common North-European Passerine bird species

Die verhouding tussen openbaring, dogmavorming en doksa-uiting in die himniese stof van die Nuwe Testament

The relation between revelation, the formation of dogma and the expression of doxa in the hymnal matter of the New Testament This article proceeds from the central theoretical argument that in the liturgical song an integral relation exists between revelation, the formation of confession (dogma) and the expression of glory (doxa). The purpose of the article is to analyse the mentioned relationship as it becomes manifest in the hymnal matter of the New Testament and to determine its significance in the hymnal action of the community of worshippers. It is kept in mind that the New Testament, unlike the Old Testament, does not contain a book of songs and that the number of complete songs is limited. The article thus also focuses on song fragments. The conclusion arrived at is that the song material of the New Testament indicates that the revelation stands in a causal relation to dogma formation and doxa expression that occur in the liturgical song. Dogma formation and doxa expression respond to the revelation and actualize the revelation, while these two vital elements of the hymnal content (dogma formation and doxa expression) stand in a convergent and symbiotic relation to each other. The result of this investigation appears to be important for the meaningful use of New Testament songs in contemporary liturgy.

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNICATION IN BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS

Previous studies of Blue-throated Hummingbirds (Lampornis clemenciae) showed that males have elaborate songs and females also sing. Here we report complex territorial systems, sexual behavior, and communicatory repertoires of both sexes. Males typically defended territories along streams throughout the reproductive season. Time budgets revealed that males allocated more time to vocalizing in territorial advertisement than in more energetically costly activities such as chases. Both observations and playback experiments indicated that two vocalizations have different roles in territorial advertisement. Strings of chips served in long distance territorial advertisement, while the lower amplitude song, more prevalent early in the season, attracted females and also repelled males from the immediate area. Agonistic interactions included long chases, some with vocalizations. During close range encounters an array of postures and sounds occurred. Females defended territories against other females during a brief period preceding egg laying. Sexual interactions were unusually intricate, consisting of a series of activities in which the female played an active role. She delivered loud calls advertising sexual readiness and performed aerial displays. Males competed with other males for access to females. We observed four presumed copulations, all preceded by a song fragment from the male. The vocal repertoire included at least 16 different sounds, all with different functions, an unusually large number for a nonoscine. Male songs were the most complex sounds. Behaviors that differed from many other hummingbirds that have been studied included strong reliance on vocal signals, lack of male aerial displays, and female advertisement of sexual readiness. These attributes may be linked to reduced sexual dichromatism and related to the species' preference for wooded riparian habitats.

Song acquisition in European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris: a comparison of the songs of live-tutored, tape-tutored, untutored, and wild-caught males

Abstract. The songs of four groups of European starlings (24 males) were compared: six starlings were tutored individually by wild-caught adults, six were tutored with tape-recorded songs, six were untutored and six were collected from the field as adults. A description of the complex structure of normal starting song, obtained through an analysis of field and laboratory recordings, provided the basis for quantitative comparisons between groups. Both live-tutored and tape-tutored males developed songs displaying the basic features of species-specific song organization. A few of these features were discernible in the songs of untutored males. The songs of the live-tutored birds largely matched those of wild-caught adults in structural details, differing mostly in repertoire size. Tape-tutored birds imitated a 10th as many motifs as live-tutored birds, their repertoires were less than half as large, and their songs displayed some syntactic and phonological abnormalities. Despite these abnormalities, the tape-tutored birds achieved a much closer approximation of species-specific syntax than did birds reared in acoustic isolation. That they acquired syntactic features of whole songs while copying only short fragments of song from their tutors suggests that they were able to abstract general rules of song organization from the training tapes and that the acquisition of syntactic rules may be a distinct process in normal song learning.

An experimental study of song type function in the bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)

We tested the hypothesis that the alpha and beta songs of male bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) have separate intrasexual and intersexual functions by presenting caged males and caged females on the territories of male bobolinks. Although all males in our study population share both alpha and beta songs, we found no evidence for a specialized intersexual function of alpha song or a specialized intrasexual function of beta song. Territorial males increased their singing rate of both alpha and beta songs during both the male presentations and the female presentations. The proportions of the two song types did not change between control and experimental periods for either male or female presentations. We found no evidence in support of specialized intrasexual and intersexual functions of note types. Only 10% of the vocalizations initiated by territorial males were complete alpha or beta songs, while 87% were song fragments, and the remaining 3 % were compound songs. We did find that territorial males responded to simulated male intruders by increasing the proportion of fragmented songs and decreasing the proportion of compound songs. Moreover, males included fewer notes per song initiated and sang a higher proportion of songs that included only introductory notes during male presentations. We conclude that the vocal response of territorial male bobolinks to conspecific male intruders is to sing short, simple sequences of either song type. We found no consistent changes in vocal behavior of territorial males in response to female presentations other than increases in song rates.

Prophetic Aspects of Musical Style in the Early Unpublished Songs of Arnold Schoenberg

IS it valid to assume that a great composer's skill and artistry will be reflected in his student works? In many cases the composer has made investigation of this question impossible by destroying or editing these early attempts at composition. In other cases, the early surviving works, whether owing to the preferences of the composer or to the ravages of time, are far too few in number to be examined as a meaningful body of work. Exceptionally, however, a substantial body of youthful works survives and provides a fairly clear picture of the composer's formative years. Such is the situation with the works of Arnold Schoenberg, where a combination of fortuitousness and meticulous planning has provided a representative complement of apprentice works from the years prior to 1900. Songs for voice and piano are most prominent from this early period, and these lieder demonstrate at once the romantic roots of the twentieth-century master and the latent modernism of his late-nineteenth-century style. More than thirty complete songs and a number of song fragments have survived from the years between approximately 1893 and 1900. Schoenberg saved many of these with the same care and foresight that marked his preservation of personal papers and effects. Others left his possession as dedication copies or were sold or given away later in Schoenberg's life. Several of these were unknown until recently. The wide range of manuscript sources and the large number of songs only recently rediscovered suggest that even more may yet be found. Relatively little is known about Schoenberg's life during the years prior to 1900, so the circumstances surrounding the composi-

A Case of Poetic Transplant: A Cuban Song in “Kwiaty polskie”

The purpose of this note is to show on the basis of internal evidence alone that a fragment in the epic poem Kwiaty polskie by a Polish poet Julian Tuwim is a variation on a fragment of Canto Negro by a Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen.1 One of the characteristics of Kwiaty polskie is an abundance of fragments of songs, folk sayings, and other specimens of speech, which Tuwim often quotes verbatim. Most of these fragments were well known in the popular culture of Poland before World War II. There is, however, a fragment that, I believe, has not yet been identified and that certainly was not a part of the Polish popular culture.2 In 1939 Tuwim left Poland and, after a short stay in France, also left Europe. While recounting impressions of the trip from Portugal to Brazil on the boat Angola, he describes one of the islands at which the boat presumably arrived:

Childhood's Companions

Childhood's Companions Gillian Avery (bio) A Nursery Companion, by Iona and Peter Opie. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. The truth that emerges from the corpus of Iona and Peter Opie's work on the lore of childhood, written and spoken, seems to be that children take little interest in themselves, their taste being for a violent if not lawless world beyond the playground, a world that most of us who write books for them prefer not to represent. Richard Lovell Edgeworth, in his preface to The Parent's Assistant, quotes Johnson to this effect and then repudiates him. "Dr. Johnson says, that 'Babies do not like to hear stories of babies themselves; that they require to have their imaginations raised by tales of giants and fairies, and castles and enchantment.' The fact remains to be proved, but supposing that they do prefer such tales, is this a reason why they should be induldged in reading them?" This was 1795, when the publication of books aimed specifically at children had been a commercial proposition in England for some decades, and there was consequently a deal of dry, didactic stuff around. For it is a sad but indisputable fact, evident to anyone who considers the history of children's books, that authors writing for the prestige end of the juvenile market write with their eye on the parent, teacher, or librarian who is going to do the buying (and even more on the reviewer). Richard Lovell Edgeworth was by no means the first person to say, in effect, "Find out what they want to read and stop them." Thomas Boreman's Curiosities of the Tower of London (1741), a little book that was admittedly far more entertaining and bloodthirsty than anything on Richard Edgeworth's list of recommended reading, contained the following lines: The author, doubtless, aims aright,Who joins instruction with delight.Tom Thumb shall now be thrown away,And Jack, who did the giants slay; [End Page 154] Such ill concerted, artless lyes,Our British youth shall now despise. But heroes like Tom and Jack are not so easily dislodged; they have, after all, been part of the mythology of childhood for centuries whereas the children's book proper is a relative innovation. That is to say, up to the mid-eighteenth century the same sort of literature was enjoyed by the unsophisticated of all ages—heroic and violent deeds, farce, all preferably laced with a boisterous if not crude humor. In their introduction to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) the Opies point out the adult nature of the genre: "It can safely be stated that the overwhelming majority of nursery rhymes were not in the first place composed for children; in fact many are survivals of an adult code of joviality, and in their original wording were, by present standards, strikingly unsuitable for those of tender years." They were verses that a mother or nurse, without thought of their origin, would use to soothe or amuse a child, and since little difference was seen in the natures of adult and child, few before the nineteenth century saw reason to bowdlerize them. The Opies' introduction lists some of their origins: fragments of ballads or folk songs; remnants of ancient custom and ritual, some of them perhaps holding the last echoes of long-forgotten evil; ditties from taverns, pot-houses, or barrack rooms; songs that poke fun at religious practices, or contain rude jests and coarse innuendos. "We can say almost without hesitation, that, of those pieces which date from before 1800, the only true nursery rhymes (i.e., rhymes composed especially for the nursery) are the rhyming alphabets, the infant amusements, and the lullabies." Similarly the fairy tales. The Classic Fairy Tales (1974), where the Opies examine the origins of twenty-four of the best-known tales and print their texts as they were first published in English, breathes violence and cruelty, qualities that are reflected in the illustrations, even though these are all taken from nineteenth-century books designed for the nursery. There are ogres with gleaming, pointed teeth about to devour children or cut their throats, screaming giants in their death agonies...

Mixed Song, Interspecific Competition and Hybridisation in the Reed and Marsh Warblers (Acrocephalus Scirpaceus and Palustris)

[1) Three Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) with a mixed scirpaceus-palustris song, settled into the dry habitat of a Marsh Warbler (A. palustris) colony in the Liege Province of eastern Belgium in 1974 and 1975. One was established in a mixed population of Reed and Marsh Warblers, and the other two, whose songs were extensively tape-recorded, defended territories inside a large population of Marsh Warblers. 2) The mixed songs consisted of a succession of rather short fragments of song of both species, directly juxtaposed. The palustris phrases contrasted with the scirpaceus phrases not only by their highly mimetic nature, but also in their more liquid timbre, more rapid delivery and rhythmic characteristics. In both mixed singers established in the large Marsh Warbler colony, the palustris song occupied longer sequences and was thus predominant over the scirpaceus element. 3) Observation and playback experiments showed that the mixed songs provoked reactions by individuals of both species, and the Reed Warbler mixed singers reacted to the normal song of both species. But Reed and Marsh Warblers with normal songs reacted only to the song of their own species. Various considerations suggest that the mixed singers had probably learnt the song of the Marsh Warbler during their postfledging period. 4) A Reed Warbler mixed singer, established in the colony in 1975, paired with a female Marsh Warbler. The breeding cycle of the mixed pair proceeded normally until both parents abandoned the nestlings at six days old. This was apparently the result of food shortage during a period of very unfavourable weather, which also affected a large proportion of the breeding pairs of Marsh Warbler. 5) Hybridisation is most easily explained by assuming that the female was as attracted by the mixed song as by the normal song of her own species, given that the territorial male Marsh Warblers reacted strongly to it. The close similarities in the breeding behaviour of both species are discussed, as well as the considerable overlap in ecological requirements. Comparative studies of mixed breeding populations are needed to evaluate the degree of inter-specific competition, and to detect more possible cases of mixed song and hybridisation., 1) Three Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) with a mixed scirpaceus-palustris song, settled into the dry habitat of a Marsh Warbler (A. palustris) colony in the Liege Province of eastern Belgium in 1974 and 1975. One was established in a mixed population of Reed and Marsh Warblers, and the other two, whose songs were extensively tape-recorded, defended territories inside a large population of Marsh Warblers. 2) The mixed songs consisted of a succession of rather short fragments of song of both species, directly juxtaposed. The palustris phrases contrasted with the scirpaceus phrases not only by their highly mimetic nature, but also in their more liquid timbre, more rapid delivery and rhythmic characteristics. In both mixed singers established in the large Marsh Warbler colony, the palustris song occupied longer sequences and was thus predominant over the scirpaceus element. 3) Observation and playback experiments showed that the mixed songs provoked reactions by individuals of both species, and the Reed Warbler mixed singers reacted to the normal song of both species. But Reed and Marsh Warblers with normal songs reacted only to the song of their own species. Various considerations suggest that the mixed singers had probably learnt the song of the Marsh Warbler during their postfledging period. 4) A Reed Warbler mixed singer, established in the colony in 1975, paired with a female Marsh Warbler. The breeding cycle of the mixed pair proceeded normally until both parents abandoned the nestlings at six days old. This was apparently the result of food shortage during a period of very unfavourable weather, which also affected a large proportion of the breeding pairs of Marsh Warbler. 5) Hybridisation is most easily explained by assuming that the female was as attracted by the mixed song as by the normal song of her own species, given that the territorial male Marsh Warblers reacted strongly to it. The close similarities in the breeding behaviour of both species are discussed, as well as the considerable overlap in ecological requirements. Comparative studies of mixed breeding populations are needed to evaluate the degree of inter-specific competition, and to detect more possible cases of mixed song and hybridisation.]

Singing Traditions of a Bilingual Parish in North-West Ireland

In the summer of 1968 I recorded 91 songs and song fragments from the local oral tradition of a district in Donegal, the North-West county of Ireland. The district happens to be roughly co-terminous with the ecclesiastical and old civil parish of Glencolumbkille, which contains the larger part of the South-West Donegal gaeltacht (native Irish-speaking area). Since the number of monoglot Irish speakers here is now negligible, the parish is bilingual wherever Irish is spoken. The 91 items I recorded were in the proportion 34 Irish, 58 English: one song being sung in the two languages.