Song Sung Research Articles

Testosterone Affects Song Modulation during Simulated Territorial Intrusions in Male Black Redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros)

Although it has been suggested that testosterone plays an important role in resource allocation for competitive behavior, details of the interplay between testosterone, territorial aggression and signal plasticity are largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated if testosterone acts specifically on signals that communicate the motivation or ability of individuals to engage in competitive situations in a natural context. We studied the black redstart, a territorial songbird species, during two different life-cycle stages, the early breeding phase in spring and the non-breeding phase in fall. Male territory holders were implanted with the androgen receptor blocker flutamide (Flut) and the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Let) to inhibit the action of testosterone and its estrogenic metabolites. Controls received a placebo treatment. Three days after implantation birds were challenged with a simulated territorial intrusion (STI). Song was recorded before, during and after the challenge. In spring, both treatment groups increased the number of elements sung in parts of their song in response to the STI. However, Flut/Let-implanted males reacted to the STI with a decreased maximum acoustic frequency of one song part, while placebo-implanted males did not. Instead, placebo-implanted males sang the atonal part of their song with a broader frequency range. Furthermore, placebo-, but not Flut/Let-implanted males, sang shorter songs with shorter pauses between parts in the STIs. During simulated intrusions in fall, when testosterone levels are naturally low in this species, males of both treatment groups sang similar to Flut/Let-implanted males during breeding. The results suggest that song sung during a territorial encounter is of higher competitive value than song sung in an undisturbed situation and may, therefore, convey information about the motivation or quality of the territory holder. We conclude that testosterone facilitates context-dependent changes in song structures that may be honest signals of male quality in black redstarts.

Mining movies for song sequences with video based music genre identification system

Musical sequences with actors dancing and lip-synching to songs sung by playback singers are integral parts, particularly of South Asian movies. Fans seek out movies for their songs and they often seek songs of a particular genre. In fact, song and dance sequence of South Asian movies are an industry of their own. Given the huge numbers of movies produced in South Asia over the past decades, most of which are in digital archives, it is an important problem to automatically extract and categorise their musical sequences. This paper proposes a system for musical sequences extraction from movies. Our method invokes an SVM-based classifier and makes as well a novel application of probabilistic timed automaton to distinguish musical sequences from non-musical. Our system analyses both audio and video signals to give a classifier that not only extracts musical sequences from movies but identifies their genre. We achieved a recall of 93.24% with precision of 87.34% in song extraction when applied on 10 popular Bollywood movies. An accuracy of 89.5% has been achieved on Bollywood song genre identification.

Song and genocide: investigating the function of Yvonne Chaka Chaka's ‘Umqombothi’ in Hotel Rwanda

This article investigates how, in the film Hotel Rwanda (George 2004), singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka's pop song ‘Umqombothi’ is used in ways that are less than festive. In fact, the soundtrack is used to celebrate genocide. Though one will probably never know whether or not the director intended the song to function in this way, it can be proven that using certain songs in specific ways produces specific meanings. The author proposes that, in the opening scenes of Hotel Rwanda, two opposing notions – disgust at genocide and the carnival joy of being ‘African’ – are made to lose their contradiction. In the upside down world of genocidal Rwanda portrayed in the film, opposing terms are no longer really in opposition. Rather, their meanings are held in abeyance and suspense, until song and genocide function to validate each other within a framework of absurdity. In this analysis, ‘Umqombothi’ effectively becomes a song sung in preparation for genocide. In the opening scene of Hotel Rwanda, the promise of song and of genocide are made to attract, comingle and become synonymous within the same sinister register and memory that cause others to be killed. ‘Umqombothi’ is re-semioticised into a singing of genocide-joy. The verbal and visual texts surrounding the song inject it with the same indeterminate sinister register that enables genocide. The proposition that this article makes is that the meanings of a text are altered by the context in which the text appears, and by the discourses it entertains. In Hotel Rwanda ‘Umqombothi’ is made to keep the company of sinister discourses.

Tradition and Divergence in Southwestern China: Kam Big Song Singing in the Village and on Stage

Kam big songs, comprising a major musical genre sung for centuries in Kam villages in southwestern China, have now been sung in staged performances for over sixty years. Concurrent performance of big song in both village and staged formats has produced different features and paths of development for each, as well as complex interdependence between the two formats. Kam big song singing thus presents a valuable insight into the way that tradition and divergence from tradition might be understood in the twenty-first century. In this article, I outline some of the most significant aspects of villagers' big song singing over the last sixty years. I demonstrate the difficulties in both locating the concept of ‘tradition’ within contemporary big song singing and analytically situating the divergence of big song singing into different performance formats. I thereby illustrate key concerns, potential elucidations, and the complexity of the analytical task in understanding the contemporary trajectory of ‘tradition’.

Michael Suleiman: A Man from Palestine and Kansas

Mike Suleiman was born in 1934 in Tiberias, Palestine. He was appointed to the Kansas State University Political Science faculty in 1965. First and foremost, he was a gentleman. He was a relaxed guy but never casual in attire. I often told him I imagined him cutting his lawn in a suit and tie! He would reel back and laugh his unique laugh - the kind of can't catch my breath laugh that conveyed deep appreciation for the humor of the image. It was as though he was making up for the struggles of his earlier life by recreating a world of friends and community in America and enjoying every minute to the fullest. His patient and persistent manner - perhaps a result of the wisdom he gained in overcoming the biggest challenge of his life - displacement and dispossession by the Zionist conquest of Palestine - served as a calming effect on himself and the frustrated activists who emerged after the 1967 war.He was a deep core Palestinian. He loved his Arab culture and community. I recall he was in Boston for some meeting one year, and it coincided with a performance by Fairuz, the famous honey-voiced Lebanese songstress. He called me and invited me to attend her performance. This was Mike the Arab. He was transformed as he watched her performance. Fairuz sang songs of love and songs for Arab, particularly Palestinian, causes. Her famous song about Jerusalem, Al Quds, stirred the hearts of all Arabs. Suddenly, Mike the affable man, turned into Mike the Palestinian remembering the lost past, transported and stirred by Fairuz 's moving rendition which filled the theatre with intense emotion.Mike was a fun-loving guy. I recall during my 1976 Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG) presidential term, I found myself in Los Angeles for a Board meeting and to address the local Chapter. Ayad al-Qazzaz was a member of the Board and Mike's close friend. Mike was somehow there, and I think it was because we were about to nominate him for the 1 977 presidential term. In any case, there was a short break between meetings, and Mike insisted we visit Disneyland! Ayad was game for the idea and agreed we should go for a bit of levity. I was not sure about leaving the meeting area. But off we went. We got to Disneyland - no small feat in Los Angeles traffic - and roamed about. Mike and Ayad were in constant banter, joking about everything. I got so caught up in the fun of it that I temporarily forgot time. Suddenly, I realized we needed to get back for the Chapter meeting. We were already late. Mike and Ayad refused to be upset, continuing as they did with frivolous exchanges and riotous laughter. In a moment of guilt and frustration, I asked them both how we could explain this affront of tardiness to the Chapter members. Ayad chirped up tell them the taxi had a flat tire. Well this was really comical since there were hundreds of taxis all around. We got back, and as I tried to offer this excuse to the Chapter members - whose faces were questioning why we went to Disneyland in the first place - Mike and Ayad sat in back doubled over with laughter at my embarrassing attempt at fibbing!!!All of these images were Mike, but his most influential identity was productive scholar in Arab and Arab- American studies. Part and parcel of this identity was Mike the great friend, mentor and colleague. These qualities became evident over the years of our organizational work.I met Mike in the context of the work of AAUG. I was already aware of him, having read his important 1967 book Political Parties in Lebanon (Cornell University Press). AAUG was founded in the Fall of 1967. It held its first convention in 1 968 in Washington, DC. theme of the convention was The Arab American Community: Its Contribution and Role. Given the newness of AAUG, the first convention was aimed at identifying and learning about the Arab American community from which the Association sought members. A book resulted from that conference co-edited and co-authored by myself and Ann Paden. …

Carl Nielsen and the Idea of English National Music

Why did Carl Nielsen achieve such a favourable reception in England from the 1950s on, compared to the rather reluctant recognition in continental Europe? We would suggest that one reason could be an affi nity of features in his music with the concept of English national music. This attempt to discuss the British reception of Nielsen does, of course, not imply that Nielsen’s music is English. From a constructivist position, national musics are based on cultural common-views in a population of people identifying themselves with a certain concept of a nation which they regard their own.
 The concept of English national music had Ralph Vaughan Williams as chief engineer and champion. Based on Cecil J. Sharp’s scientific investigation of the English folk song, Vaughan Williams developed a theoretical background on which English composers could (and later would) create their compositions, and his thoughts became prevalent through the English musical establishment.
 Such ideas of English music did not by accident or as some kind of revelation find their way to the hearts and minds of English listeners and critics. The success was due to a deliberate effort by a national movement, and a most crucial feature was the introduction of folk song singing in elementary schools, instilling these particular views into following generations of listeners. Though mainly concerned with the music of England, Vaughan Williams’ ideas were not limited by nationality as such, but were general guidelines for every composer in every nation of the world. In many ways Nielsen’s music can be seen to fi t Vaughan Williams’ characteristics for good music. When fi rst established, ideas of national music are embedded in a value system that considers such music of high quality and thus music – like Nielsen’s – which has affi nities with the image of English national music, is more likely to be recognized and appreciated as ‘good’.

Redemptive Validity and the Assessment of Depression: Singing Songs to Heavy Hearts

This investigation into the clinical utility of six contemporary depression instruments establishes a foundation for a theologically informed validity subtype. Redemptive validity is defined as the effectiveness of an assessment instrument that samples behavior or attitudes to provide insight into wise living in conformity with the reality and truth of Scripture as creatures growing in dependence on the Creator. Ancient biblical wisdom argues that helping those with heavy hearts requires compassion, understanding, reflective words, and effective strategies (Prov. 25:20). Clinical settings can assess for depression using technology in as little as 74 seconds with remarkable criterion validity. Do such findings reflect Christian values and worldview? Will results sharpen perception of the faith aspects of a heavy heart in a manner consistent with Scriptural teaching? Depression symptoms may indicate spiritual heart health as a downcast emotional state connected to religious affections (Prov. 13:12). Building upon standard psychometric review, this utility survey displays how mental health clinicians can explore measures through the theological notion of redemptive validity to serve both the mental health needs and spiritual formation interests of clients committed to growth in their Christian lives.

Individual identity, song repertoire and duet function in the Crimson-breasted Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus)

Avian vocal duets are joint displays where paired birds produce temporally and structurally coordinated vocalisations. Duets show great variety in form that can reflect different functions, such as mate guarding, mutual recognition, pair bond maintenance or territory defence. By describing the structure of duets and singing behaviour, we can investigate whether these signals are based on cooperation or conflict and which functions they might have. Here we describe the singing behaviour and song repertoire of the Crimson-breasted Shrike in the Kalahari Desert, and assess four main hypotheses proposed for the function of duets. We found that Crimson-breasted Shrikes have a sex-specific repertoire, and the individuality of males, females and pairs is expressed acoustically. Differences in vocal strategies between the sexes indicate male mate guarding as one possible function. Temporal coordination is high and duetters follow strict codes, suggesting that duetting could be a cooperative endeavour in this species. The observed duetting behaviour is also consistent with the predictions for mutual recognition because each bird has its individual vocal characteristics that are consistent over time. Our results provide no support for the hypothesis that duets serve pair bond maintenance in this species as no partner-directed adjustment of temporal coordination took place.

Music education in Shanghai from 1895 to 1945: the cultural politics of singing

This article discusses the development of music education in China and the integration of cultural politics and nationalism, using Shanghai, twentieth-century China's most developed city, as a case study; it examines the historical and political processes in Shanghai's music education to show what is cultural about politics and what is political about the culture of singing. Significant internal and external events both have contributed to contemporary Chinese national identity and music education. The former include the 1911 end of the Qing dynasty and establishment of the Republic of China, the 1919 May Fourth Movement and the 1925 May Thirtieth Movement; the latter include the 1842 Sino-British Opium War, the 1894–1895 Sino-Japanese War and the 1937–1945 Sino-Japanese War. By means of historical review and analysis, this article traces the development of music education in Shanghai and examines the political and cultural forces that have, for many years, informed the integration of collective singing and political (anti-imperialist and nationalist) activities. This article argues that singing (in particular the singing of songs that express popular anti-imperialist attitudes) has played a critical role in mobilising Chinese nationalism in school music education, which has, in turn, reinforced national identity in the face of foreign aggression and fostered nation-building. Chinese intellectuals and musicians were the dominant forces in arousing patriotic sentiments through music education from the late Qing dynasty to the 1910s, whilst Chinese social activists and Communist revolutionaries were powerful promoters of patriotic and revolutionary songs from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Performing Piety: Making Space Sacred with the Virgin of Guadalupe (review)

Reviewed by: Performing Piety: Making Space Sacred with the Virgin of Guadalupe Karen Mary Davalos Performing Piety: Making Space Sacred with the Virgin of Guadalupe. By Elaine A. Peña. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011. 234 pp. $24.95. Performing Piety explores the embodied, social, and representational connections among five sacred spaces of Guadalupan devotion across Mexico and the United States. Deliberately avoiding an essentialist argument that would rank sacred space against an authentic original, namely Tepeyac in Mexico City, Peña demonstrates that prayers, oral traditions, songs, gestures, and mundane activities, such as sweeping and cleaning, create divinity and grace. The veneration of Guadalupe turns both public sites and individuals into sacred sites that are physically and perhaps ideologically outside of institutional Catholicism. In this way, Peña captures the simultaneity of Guadalupan devotion that informs the transnational circulation of images, sentiment, and practices. The book is divided into three sections: Building, Walking, and Conquering. The first section is comprised of one chapter that describes the Second Tepeyac of North America, a Guadalupan shrine in Des Plaines, Illinois, created in 2001. Although identified as a replica of Mexico City’s shrine, the chapter makes clear that it is an authentic sacred space. “Walking” contains two chapters, each one devoted to an all-female pilgrimage, and it offers a brilliant materialist analysis of the ways class and gender distinctions are enacted through the journeys from Querétero and Michoacan. [End Page 96] “Conquering” has one chapter which analyzes a sacred shrine and its demise in the multi-ethnic working-class neighborhood of Rogers Park in Chicago, Illinois. It is the most compelling chapter in the book as it makes clear that sacred space can be ephemeral and yet profound for the devout. The book makes several contributions to religious studies. For example, Peña shows how the sacred and the profane inhabit without contradiction the same spaces and activities. “Religious doctrine and practice do not circulate separate from secular forces” (149). Here it also advances paradigms of American, Third World feminist, and ethnic studies, namely the challenge to Western dualities. Peña also documents how devotees transcend the nationalist representation of Guadalupe, a point that should not be missed by scholars of religion and ethnicity. The faithful who attend the Second Tepeyac pray and sing songs with nationalist components but leave aside the secular grounding for the virgin’s sacred power to protect them as immigrants and people in need of material support. In focusing on people of Latin American descent, however, Peña does not reduce the phenomena to a pan-Latino identity. More critically, Chapter Four illustrates how site-specific sacred space can become permanent as well as fleeting, not simply because divine grace is temporal and ineffable but also as it exists in fields of unequal power dynamics. As she notes in the conclusion, “political economy shapes worship practices as much as religious doctrine” (145). Finally, scholars of Chicana feminism will enjoy Peña’s attention to multiplicity. The devotional performances of travelers from Michoacan and Querétero share the apparition narrative, prayers, songs, and Catholic faith but their journeys are distinct due to their economic, cultural, and aesthetic differences. Piety and the sacred are thus “a series of site-specific interchanges” (146). Devotional capital is negotiated; a point that students and scholars of Latina feminist theology studies likely identify as examples of Latina feminist theology, mestiza theology, and mujerista theology. These [End Page 97] aspects of the work make the book ideal for upper division courses and graduate students. Karen Mary Davalos Loyola Marymount University Copyright © 2012 American Catholic Historical Society

The tuning and vocal formant features of Chinese folk song singing: a case study of Hua'er music

Hua'er music is one of the representative folk music traditions in China today, designated as part of the world intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009. Whilst folk music traditions like Hua'er have been promoted in the education of young musicians due to their musical and cultural significance, no in-depth research has analyzed the acoustic characteristics of this vocal style. In this study, studio recordings were made of eighteen folk song examples sung by four four traditional and one formally educated singers. Analyses showed that both the traditional and the formally trained singers used a tuning pattern containing four main anchor-pitches approximating a Pythagorean tuning. The voice source in two different vocal styles ('Zhensheng' and 'Jiasheng'), reportedly used by these singers in performances, were examined by inverse filtering. LTAS of songs performed by the traditional singers were similar and showed a 'Speaker's formant' cluster near 3.5kHz. Implications are drawn for the education of folk music singers in higher education.

Masonic Song in Scotland: Folk Tunes and Community

Masonic Song in Scotland:Folk Tunes and Community Katherine Campbell (bio) The Masonic song tradition of Scotland gives an opportunity to explore the vital role of oral tradition, particularly as carried by communal performance. Issues surrounding folk tunes and community will be explored in turn in this article, first by looking at the songs of Freemasonry against the backdrop of folksong culture and then by viewing the songs as central to the Masonic community and also more broadly to the community at large. This study builds on the general theoretical points made by Anne Dhu McLucas in the American context in her book, The Musical Ear: Oral Tradition in the USA. McLucas highlights the many musical contexts in which oral tradition plays a vital role, with the proposition that these contexts do "not depend on the use of musical notation to make their power felt" (2010:1). Of course, this does not mean that musical notation is not present, and McLucas recognizes that while "the oral/aural is present everywhere," it "mixes freely with the written" (4). One of the main differences between oral societies and literate ones is that the oral, by definition, involves a group activity; one can read a story in a book alone and in silence, but a performer-audience dynamic must always be present in the oral environment. The importance of this communal context is discussed by McLucas (2010:132-33), who notes that the act of singing together forms strong bonds with fellow performers and brings the group closer together. Her examples include patriotic or nationalistic song, and she makes the following observations about a contemporary Rotary club in Oregon in which the singing is an adjunct to the overall activities of the group (129): A group of middle-aged members of the Eugene Downtown chapter of Rotary International, male and female, gather every week for lunch at a local hotel. Part of the opening ceremony for this weekly luncheon is the singing of a national song—either the official anthem, which, though notoriously hard to sing, still comes up occasionally, or "America" or "God Bless America," the perennially favourite substitutes. With the help of a piano, they make a lusty sound, with harmonies—both accidental and intentional—occasionally appearing. Because it is part of their ritual, and because the group is meant to be participatory and collegial, all seem to take part. The ritual nature of the event and the elements of participation and collegiality are also key to Masonic gatherings. This group context has more in common with the Masonic environment than McLucas's following example: that of song circles who meet with the express purpose of singing, where solo performance is heard in the main and where those assembled are expected to join in on the chorus. But all such groups involving singers have the face-to-face quality that gives scope for that difficult-to-define lift that has been called "presence." James Porter (2009:7-8) discusses this quality in the context of Scottish ballads, noting that the shared experience of a performance in a live situation is totally different from listening to a ballad though a mass-mediated channel (such as television, radio, or the Internet). The community elements of folk music are much stronger than in the art music tradition. Take, for example, the classic definition of folk music, given by the International Folk Music Council in 1954 (Bohlman 1988:xiii): Folk music is the product of a musical tradition that has evolved through the process of oral transmission. The factors that shape the tradition are: 1) continuity which links the present with the past; 2) variation which springs from the creative individual or the group; and 3) selection by the community, which determines the form or forms in which the music survives. The term can be applied to music that has been evolved from rudimentary beginnings by a community uninfluenced by popular and art music, and it can likewise be applied to music which has originated with an individual composer and has subsequently been absorbed into the unwritten living tradition of a community. The term does not cover composed popular music that has been taken over...

The Use of Pop Songs by Sierra Leonean Youths in Enjoying the Space Created for Freedom of Expression after the Civil War

Postwar governance reform in Sierra Leone is gradually creating a public space conducive to free expression. Youths, who for long did not have much say in governance, consider this an opportunity to make known their views and influence political decisions. This is evident in the singing of pop songs by urban youths, which cry down ethnicity, corruption, injustice, and bad governance in general. Enjoying the space created for free expression is, however, not without challenges, many of which spring from the irresponsible exercise of this right without taking into consideration the rights of others or the stability of the state. There is also the apparent lack of political will to keep this space open and free of manipulation.

An Interactive Playback Experiment Shows Song Bout Size Discrimination in the Suboscine Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus)

Many aspects of the social behaviour of birds are mediated by vocal displays, and variation in song output or song structure conveys different information to receivers. After nest construction begins, when vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) females are potentially fertile, males increase their song rate during the dawn chorus. A previous study failed to give evidence that males discriminate among song rates. However, males sing in sequences of songs (song bouts), and an increase in song rate may be achieved by increasing the number of bouts, the number of songs in each bout (bout size) or both. Studying a vermilion flycatcher population in Mexico City, we evaluated whether dawn song rate is related to song bout size or to number of bouts. Bout size correlated with song rate and differed among males. We hypothesized that longer bouts are more threatening signals than shorter ones and predicted a stronger response by males towards the former. We exposed each male to three playback treatments: (1) Long song bout (Long), in which we replied to the male with twice the number of songs he sang in the bout, (2) Short song bout (Short), in which we played half the number of songs sung by the male and (3) Control, this was the same as the Long treatment but we used songs from a related species, the tropical kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus). Males responded with a higher proportion of calls near the speaker when exposed to the Long treatment than during the Short or Control treatments, indicating that they discriminate among song bouts differing in size, that they may perceive longer bouts as more threatening and that they use calls rather than songs to address threatening situations. Our results suggest that song bout size is a relevant song attribute that conveys information during intrasexual interactions.

Anthropogenic noise affects song structure in red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Anthropogenic noise can mask animal signals that are crucial for communicating information about food, predators and mating opportunities. In response to noise masking, signallers can potentially improve acoustic signal transmission by adjusting the timing, frequency or amplitude of their signals. These changes can be a short-term modification in response to transient noise or a long-term modification in response to chronic noise. An animal's ability to adapt to anthropogenic noise can be crucial to its success. In this study, we evaluated the effects of anthropogenic noise on the structure of red-winged blackbird song. First, we manipulated the presence of anthropogenic noise by experimentally broadcasting either silence or low-frequency white noise to subjects inhabiting quiet marshes located away from roadsides. Subjects exhibited increased signal tonality when temporarily exposed to low-frequency white noise, suggesting that red-winged blackbirds can alter their signals rapidly in response to sudden noise. Second, we compared songs produced in quiet marshes located away from roadsides with songs produced during quiet periods at roadside marshes that are normally noisy. This allowed us to test whether birds that are exposed to chronic anthropogenic noise exhibit altered song structure during temporarily quiet periods. Subjects residing in roadside marshes that are normally polluted with anthropogenic noise sang songs with increased tonality during quiet periods. Overall, our results show that anthropogenic noise influences the structure of birdsong. These effects should be considered in conservation and wildlife management.

Homogenisation of birdsong along a natural–urban gradient in Argentina

One of the clearest examples of animal adaptation to urban habitats is the variation in their vocalisations driven by anthropogenic noise. A behavioural process that has received less attention in urban habitats is how anthropogenic barriers influence animal spacing behaviour and communication. I addressed the effects of the distribution of bird territories in urban habitats and the pattern of song differentiation over distance among neighbouring birds. I studied natural and suburban populations of the white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia capensis in Argentina. This songbird dwells in gardens, but is here less abundant and more regularly spaced than in open woodlands. Neighbouring birds in garden suburbs sang songs that were more similar to each other than neighbouring birds in natural habitats. Song differentiation was greater within natural habitats than within suburbs at distance < 400 m. At larger distances differences among habitats were no longer significant. Neighbour songs were more homogeneous where territories were more regularly spaced, considering all habitats or urban ones only. Selection for individual recognition of neighbours through songs and greater male–male interactions could have enhanced acoustic differentiation in natural habitats. Conversely, weak territorial interactions in suburbs with abundant landmarks may have constrained song output, resulting in song homogenisation. This study points to differences in variability that may be more difficult to detect than differences in acoustic properties per se, and suggests that the effects of urbanisation on animal communication can be underestimated if inter-individual variation is not properly addressed.

Urban noise and male density affect songs in the great tit Parus major

Since ambient noise interferes with sound transmission, urban noise can affect the acoustic structure of birdsong. Previous studies have examined song features (e.g. high minimum frequency) in urbanised areas; however, these studies did not exclude the effects of other factors. For example, the intensity of male–male competition is known to affect song structure. In 22 urban parks in Tokyo, Japan, we measured the effects of noise level and male density, an indicator of the intensity of competition among males, and examined the relationship between these factors (noise and male density) and song structure of the great tit, Parus major. We found that males in noisier parks sang songs with higher minimum frequencies, more phrases and longer durations. The frequency shift appeared to mitigate the acoustic masking of songs by low-frequency background noise, as has been shown in previous studies. Songs with repeated phrases and of longer duration are likely to be more detectable for receivers under noisy conditions. In addition, we found that male density tended to affect the minimum frequency and the number of phrases in, but not the lengths of, their songs. Overall, both noise and male density affected the song structure of great tits in urban habitats.

Improvisieren mit demenziell erkrankten alten Menschen

Summary This article adresses the question whether and under what circumstances improvising (besides the singing of songs) is applicable and appropriate in music therapy with elderly dementia patients. This question is controversially discussed among music therapists. A master's degree thesis entitled «Improvising in music therapy treatment of elderly dementia patients" centres on this question, which is researched on the basis of an empirical study.

Human singing: Towards a developmental theory.

ABSTRACT - The aim of this article is to propose a revision of models of singing development that identify age-related stages of mastery of basic elements of Hie Western-European music system. Instead, emphasis is placed on structural and process-oriented approaches, on growing meta-cognitive strategies, on conceptual analyses that go beyond Western-European conventions and on a methodology that allows assessing the simultaneous configuration of linguistic and musical elements in children's vocal organization from an acoustical standpoint. Hence, singing is conceptualized from various perspectives, conventions associated with singing are analyzed, and basic rules of children's songs are exemplified by careful examination of a single song. A micro-genetic analysis of early song singing illustrates a method for studying a child's strategies in organizing a song. Finally, a seven-stage developmental sequence is proposed as a heuristic for further research. KEYWORDS - singing, development, children, developmental sequence of singing, theory, characteristics of singing, conventions, language and music, analysis of singing 1. INTRODUCTION Human singing is an interdisciplinary domain because it covers musical, linguistic, physiological, cultural, psychological and developmental aspects. The present article addresses theoretical issues related to singing and its development. The developmental perspective entails the search for origins and the investigation of general laws of emergence of novelty in irreversible time (Valsiner, 2003). The main interest concerns the following question: How does singing development begin, and what aspects of singing change during childhood? This article does not intend to give a thorough literature review on empirical studies on children's singing (e.g., Stadler Elmer, 2002; Welch, 2006), nor does it include a review of the development of perception of music and language (e.g., McMullen & Saffran, 2004; Patel, 2008), nor an exploration of infant directed singing (e.g., FaIk, 2009; Longhi, 2009). Rather, the focus is more theoretical. After a brief historical review of ideas about the course of the development of singing and after addressing the shortcomings of these ideas, there follows an outline of a general framework within which singing is considered as an elementary and universal form of human musical expression. For any theory, careful conceptual analyses and descriptions are essential; hence, the next two sections are devoted to characterizing singing and to analyzing conventions that apply to music and to singing, including an illustration of the rules of children's song singing with a song in the German language. Finally, hypotheses on a developmental sequence of singing are proposed as a heuristic in order to replace previous conceptions. An example of a micro-genetic analysis of a very young child's spontaneous song singing provides a representation of this early emergent competence in its complex organization. Almost a century ago, the developmental psychologist Heinz Werner (1917) published the first empirical and pioneering study on children's singing development using phonograph recordings. He asked 45 children between the ages of 2.6 and 5 years to invent melodies with and without given lyrics. Whereas Werner assumed that all of these children would have been able to reproduce a complex children's song such as Fuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen (Fox you stole my goosey gander) covering a vocal range of a seventh (11 semitones), he characterizes their typical melodic inventions as consisting of a small number of tones, small vocal range, small intervals, falling directions, and continuous repetitions. Further, he postulated a falling glissando or portamento to be the melodic nucleus from which the Urmelodie, the original or primary melody in the form of a falling minor third would have emerged. Most interestingly, he related this early melodic form to the prosodie pattern of calling names, thus emphasizing the relationship between melody and prosody. …

Through the Lens, Darkly: Peter Whitehead and The Rolling Stones

Despite their seminal importance in rock history- institutionally memorialized as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame laureates; eco nom ical ly powerful for almost half a century through outstanding market success and clever product and tour management; and, most important, for the durability of their roots- derived musical template- Rolling Stones have never been the recipients of a detailed examination commensurate to their musical infl uence and cultural range. Academic surveys of rock music, typically or ganized by album or a genre- based chronological narrative, usually conclude their discussion of the Stones' music in the 1970s, thus ignoring the cyclic and dynamic pro cesses of revival, the powerful communities created by downloading and sharing, the new listening and viewing strategies enabled by mobile technology, YouTube, and remixing- all of these the main ingredients, would argue, for determining long- standing cultural signifi cance in pop ular music.1 And while the foundational musical role played by the Stones during the En glish blues revival of the early 1960s is an unalterable part of the group's history, the question remains of how and why the blues- a moribund, culturally distant, and racially distinct vernacular music- became a point of reference for the synthetic, materialistic, and evanescent culture of London during the early sixties. To answer this, we need to consider the refraction of Rolling Stones- the group and its music- that took place through the third- party industries of art, lm, and pop u lar fashion. Peter Whitehead's close and complicated relationship to the group during the 1960s and early 1970s, as chronicled through many completed and proposed projects, has left a fascinating documentary paper trail that offers valuable insights into these questions. Performer, Audience, Cultural Critic What call third- party is a crucial stage in the circuit of repre sen ta tion since it visually translates music into culture. Performers, as the fi rst party, are traditionally reluctant about ascribing meaning to songs and making pronouncements about their cultural signifi cance. Bob Dylan, uncomfortable with the sobriquet attached to him as The Voice of a Generation, remembered in his Chronicles that in 1968, All I'd ever done was sing songs that were dead straight and expressed powerful new realities. had very little in common with and knew even less about a generation that was supposed to be the voice of. I'd left my hometown only ten years earlier, wasn't vociferating the opinions of anybody. My destiny lay down the road with what ever life invited, had nothing to do with representing any kind of civilization.2 More bluntly, following the release of the Stones' 1971 album Sticky Fingers, Keith Richards similarly minimized the alleged meanings (in this case, references to drugs) that became attached to his songs: I don't think Sticky Fingers is a heavy drug album . . . mean, you can't take a fucking record like other people take a Bible. It's only a fucking record, man.3 In short, the consideration of cultural meaning is usually not of primary importance by new groups. But, at the same time, rock musicians can no longer retreat to the studio and avoid public scrutiny or interpretation, as Beatles did in 1966, and enclose themselves within the privacy of their technology. Instead, the music and lyrics of performers are now categorized and classifi ed, interpreted aesthetically, and judged subjectively by a global second party consisting of consumers and fans. This level is where selection, discernment, and community take place: it represents the choices and commentary made by listeners of the music, with many variants of personal uses and listening strategies. This second party has now branched into powerful communities, active in sharing, distributing, and blogging, and constituting both the economic and fan base of the group. Where the translation of pop u lar music into culture occurs at an immediate level is with the third- party experience that captures both the group and its fan base. …