Song Characteristics Research Articles

Inheritance of temporal song features in Java sparrows

Inheritance of temporal song features in Java sparrows

Emotional and musical factors combined with song-specific age predict the subjective autobiographical saliency of music in older adults.

Music that evokes strong emotional responses is often experienced as autobiographically salient. Through emotional experience, the musical features of songs could also contribute to their subjective autobiographical saliency. Songs which have been popular during adolescence or young adulthood (ages 10-30) are more likely to evoke stronger memories, a phenomenon known as a reminiscence bump. In the present study, we sought to determine how song-specific age, emotional responsiveness to music, musical features, and subjective memory functioning contribute to the subjective autobiographical saliency of music in older adults. In a music listening study, 112 participants rated excerpts of popular songs from the 1950s to the 1980s for autobiographical saliency. Additionally, they filled out questionnaires about emotional responsiveness to music and subjective memory functioning. The song excerpts' musical features were extracted computationally using MIRtoolbox. Results showed that autobiographical saliency was best predicted by song-specific age and emotional responsiveness to music and musical features. Newer songs that were more similar in rhythm to older songs were also rated higher in autobiographical saliency. Overall, this study contributes to autobiographical memory research by uncovering a set of factors affecting the subjective autobiographical saliency of music.

Analysis Of Spotify Top Songs During Covid-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many behaviors or habits have changed, especially in the internet audio-visual field which has increased significantly, one example is Spotify as an audio service provider. Not all songs on Spotify are popular or in the Top Songs. This study aims to examine whether there were differences in popular songs during the pandemic and before the pandemic and to determine the relationship between factors of popular songs on Spotify during the COVID-19 pandemic. The method used is to fetch Spotify songs via the API (Application Programming Interface) with the Spotify Python library. The features obtained are compared with the boxplot. The correlation between the Danceability and Energy features is obtained which ranges from 0.5-0.7, while the other features require further preprocessing because the values are not the same and are empty. This shows that every song that is considered good Danceability and Energy ranges from 0.5 to 0.7, regardless of singer, genre, or other song features.

Reversible inhibition of the basal ganglia prolongs repetitive vocalization but only weakly affects sequencing at branch points in songbirds.

Although vocal signals, including languages and songbird syllables, are composed of a finite number of acoustic elements, diverse vocal sequences are composed of a combination of these elements, which are linked together by syntactic rules. However, the neural basis of syntactic vocalization generation remains poorly understood. Here, we report that inhibition using tetrodotoxin (TTX) and manipulations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors within the basal ganglia Area X or lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (LMAN) alter and prolong repetitive vocalization in Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica). These results suggest that repetitive vocalizations are modulated by the basal ganglia and not solely by higher motor cortical neurons. These data highlight the importance of neural circuits, including the basal ganglia, in the production of stereotyped repetitive vocalizations and demonstrate that dynamic disturbances within the basal ganglia circuitry can differentially affect the repetitive temporal features of songs.

Variability in Temporal Characteristics of the South Eastern Indian Ocean Pygmy Blue Whale Song

The temporal characteristics of whale song are considered to be amongst the most stable elements of song production, though very few studies have looked at the timing of discrete sounds or the silences between them. This study indicates that the temporal characteristics of the song of the southeast Indian Ocean pygmy blue (SEIOPB) whale are highly variable. While the song repetition interval, or inter-song interval (ISI), appeared to remain consistent within a song event, defined as a consistent bout of singing presumed to come from an individual animal, it was found to be variable between song events. Song structure was a confounding factor in the analysis of variability in ISI with songs comprised of longer phrases naturally having a longer song repetition interval. The songs of the SEIOPB whale are characteristic of the species with only three primary song types. The three-unit song (units I, II and III) has the longest mean ISI of ~ 200 s, approximately twice that of songs composed of only two units (II and III) at a mean of ~ 100 s ISI which is approximately twice the ISI of a one-unit song (unit II only). The results of this study suggest that variability in ISI cannot be attributed to change in one element of a song but is driven by temporal changes in all elements of the song including phrase structure, unit duration and the length of the intervals between song units. Thus, the temporal characteristics of blue whale song appear to be under the control of the animal and may vary between individual whales, and within songs of an individual. It is concluded that the temporal characteristics of song potentially encode contextual information about the singer and may be influenced by audience effects, including audience composition and singer density.

Melody Master Tchaikovsky: Analysis of Ethnic Colors in the Piano Suite "Four Seasons"

Tchaikovsky was a great musician in Russia during the Romantic period. Due to his melodic works, he was known as the "master of melody" in Russia and received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. His creative genres cover a wide range of opera, dance, symphonies, concertos, and piano works. His music incorporates the characteristics of folk songs and his works reflect the oppressive psychology of the Russian people under the Tsar's rule, as well as their longing and longing for a better life in the future. He is committed to revealing the conflicting emotions within people's hearts. His later works are full of strong dramatic conflicts, his own thoughts on life, and fiery emotional colors. This article takes Tchaikovsky's piano suite "Four Seasons" as the text, and analyzes the ethnic characteristics of Tchaikovsky's works from the perspective of ethnology, using acoustic methods. The aim is to clarify the ethnic colors in "The Four Seasons" and reveal the profound ethnic connotations in Tchaikovsky's music works by utilizing elements such as harmony and melody.

Ecological factors drive the divergence of morphological, colour and behavioural traits in cactus wrens (Aves, Troglodytidae).

The study of ecological mechanisms influencing organisms' phenotypic variation is a central subject of evolutionary biology. In this study, we characterized morphological, plumage colour and acoustic variation in cactus wrens Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus throughout its distribution. We assessed whether Gloger's, Allen's and Bergmann's ecogeographical rules, and the acoustic adaptation hypothesis relate to geographical trait variation. We analysed specimen coloration in belly and crown plumage, beak shape and structural song characteristics. We tested whether the subspecific classification or the peninsular/mainland groups mirrored the geographical variation in phenotypes and whether ecological factors were associated with patterns of trait variation. Our results suggest that colour, beak shape and acoustic traits varied across the range, in agreement with two lineages described by genetics. The simple versions of Gloger's and Allen's rules are related to variations in colour traits and morphology. Conversely, patterns of phenotypic variation did not support Bergmann's rule. The acoustic adaptation hypothesis supported song divergence for frequency-related traits. Phenotypic variation supports the hypothesis of two taxa: C. affinis in the Baja California peninsula and C. brunneicapillus in the mainland. The ecological factors are associated with phenotypic trait adaptations, suggesting that divergence between lineages could result from ecological divergence.

Perceived rhythmic regularity is greater for song than speech: examining acoustic correlates of rhythmic regularity in speech and song.

Rhythm is a key feature of music and language, but the way rhythm unfolds within each domain differs. Music induces perception of a beat, a regular repeating pulse spaced by roughly equal durations, whereas speech does not have the same isochronous framework. Although rhythmic regularity is a defining feature of music and language, it is difficult to derive acoustic indices of the differences in rhythmic regularity between domains. The current study examined whether participants could provide subjective ratings of rhythmic regularity for acoustically matched (syllable-, tempo-, and contour-matched) and acoustically unmatched (varying in tempo, syllable number, semantics, and contour) exemplars of speech and song. We used subjective ratings to index the presence or absence of an underlying beat and correlated ratings with stimulus features to identify acoustic metrics of regularity. Experiment 1 highlighted that ratings based on the term "rhythmic regularity" did not result in consistent definitions of regularity across participants, with opposite ratings for participants who adopted a beat-based definition (song greater than speech), a normal-prosody definition (speech greater than song), or an unclear definition (no difference). Experiment 2 defined rhythmic regularity as how easy it would be to tap or clap to the utterances. Participants rated song as easier to clap or tap to than speech for both acoustically matched and unmatched datasets. Subjective regularity ratings from Experiment 2 illustrated that stimuli with longer syllable durations and with less spectral flux were rated as more rhythmically regular across domains. Our findings demonstrate that rhythmic regularity distinguishes speech from song and several key acoustic features can be used to predict listeners' perception of rhythmic regularity within and across domains as well.

Cultivation Strategy of Western Classical Aesthetics in Senior Vocal Music Teaching

In order to cultivate students' mastery of the basic skills of professional vocal music and enhance their musical literacy through professional aesthetics, the classical aesthetics of the Western Renaissance period are introduced into the teaching of vocal music in normal universities. Dig deeply into the unique music style of this period, with smooth and beautiful song melody, the overall span of the range is not obvious, showing elegant and simple feelings, with a strong spirit of humanism. On the basis of summarizing the style characteristics of Western classical art songs, this paper explores how to reasonably apply Western classical art songs in vocal music teaching in normal universities, analyzes the role of Western classical art songs in vocal and aesthetic teaching in normal universities, and believes that vocal music songs have a limited range and are suitable for singing. Music literacy can be improved by enriching genres, and students can pay attention to musical emoticons by singing softly and slowly, feel the changes brought by different symbols to music. Choose a suitable singing art style, and the singer has their own artistic understanding and aesthetic ability when performing. To have artistic aesthetic ability, one must have an understanding of music history and culture. And an empirical study was conducted using the song "Amaryly" in vocal teaching in normal universities as an example, hoping to cultivate more excellent and comprehensive vocal teaching staff for the vocal teaching career.

Machine learning and statistical classification of birdsong link vocal acoustic features with phylogeny

Birdsong is a longstanding model system for studying evolution and biodiversity. Here, we collected and analyzed high quality song recordings from seven species in the family Estrildidae. We measured the acoustic features of syllables and then used dimensionality reduction and machine learning classifiers to identify features that accurately assigned syllables to species. Species differences were captured by the first 3 principal components, corresponding to basic frequency, power distribution, and spectrotemporal features. We then identified the measured features underlying classification accuracy. We found that fundamental frequency, mean frequency, spectral flatness, and syllable duration were the most informative features for species identification. Next, we tested whether specific acoustic features of species’ songs predicted phylogenetic distance. We found significant phylogenetic signal in syllable frequency features, but not in power distribution or spectrotemporal features. Results suggest that frequency features are more constrained by species’ genetics than are other features, and are the best signal features for identifying species from song recordings. The absence of phylogenetic signal in power distribution and spectrotemporal features suggests that these song features are labile, reflecting learning processes and individual recognition.

Here comes the sun: music features of popular songs reflect prevailing weather conditions.

We examine associations between prevailing weather conditions and music features in all available songs that reached the United Kingdom weekly top charts throughout a 67-year period (1953-2019), comprising 23 859 unique entries. We found that music features reflecting high intensity and positive emotions were positively associated with daily temperatures and negatively associated with rainfall, whereas music features reflecting low intensity and negative emotions were not related to weather conditions. These results held true after controlling for the mediating effects of year (temporal patterns) and month (seasonal patterns). However, music-weather associations were more nuanced than previously assumed by linear models, becoming only meaningful in those months and seasons when changes in weather were the most notable. Importantly, the observed associations depended on the popularity of the music: while songs in the top 10 of the charts exhibited the strongest associations with weather, less popular songs showed no relationship. This suggests that a song's fit with prevailing weather may be a factor pushing a song into the top of the charts. Our work extends previous research on non-musical domains (e.g. finance, crime, mental health) by showing that large-scale population-level preferences for cultural phenomena (music) are also influenced by broad environmental factors that exist over long periods of time (weather) via mood-regulation mechanisms. We discuss these results in terms of the limited nature of correlational studies and cross-cultural generalizability.

Odraz ľudovej piesne v ponáškach Janka Kráľa

Slovak folklore played an important role in the Slovak national revival movement in the 19th century. Incorporating the elements of folk songs in poetry meant simplifying the language, substituting classical verses for syllabic ones, thus proceeding to a new romantic era. The authors were able to introduce and disseminate revolutionary ideas to common people in a comprehensible way. That is how “ponáška” - a syncretic genre of poems resembling to folk songs - was created. The aim of this paper is to analyse the similarities and differences of Slovak folk songs and “ponášky” to describe this syncretic genre more closely. Initially, basic features of Slovak folk songs - parallelism, natural imagery, typical repetitive motifs, importance of form - are presented. These are then identified in the interpretations of poems “Žíznim, mám studničku”, “Krajinská pieseň” and “Verše” by a major author of the syncretic genre: Janko Kráľ. The analysed texts resemble authentic folk songs both in form and meaning. The author uses isosyllabic verses to fit folk song melodies; incorporates traditional natural and social motifs; and most of all, applies the parallelism at all levels (form, content, and composition). On the other hand, the unique author's contribution in distinguishing ponáška from folk song is manifested in various means. He reflects the historical and social context in strong agitating images of “Krajinská pieseň”; or uses the theme of un-freedom, which is atypical for folklore. However, the crucial difference is a result of a perceptible and heartfelt dive into the lyrical subject, who experiences feelings typical of a romantic hero, such as loneliness, misunderstanding, even conflict.

Cultural communication and diversity along the Grand Canal of China: a case study of folk songs in intangible cultural heritage

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Grand Canal of China has a rich intangible cultural heritage along its route. The intangible cultural heritage of folk songs is an important representative. The study of its distribution characteristics and influencing factors is of practical and social significance for promoting the protection and development of intangible cultural heritage in relevant areas and the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt. This paper uses the theories of musicology, geography, sociology, data statistical analysis and spatial analysis to analyze the distribution pattern of intangible cultural heritage items in the Grand Canal basin from the dimensions of geographical space and folk song genre, and from the perspective of natural and social conditions. The results show that the spatial distribution of folk songs in the Grand Canal basin shows a trend of “distribution along the river, two cores and two belts”. Water system, landform and regional culture are the main influencing factors for the formation and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage of folk songs. At the same time, compared with the mountainous areas in western China, the economic and social development and frequent population flow in the Grand Canal basin lead to the diversified and unified musical culture characteristics of folk songs. Finally, this paper proposes the suggestions that the folk songs should be integrated into the local social and economic activities.

Regularities in spectral entropy variations within humpback whale song sessions

Consecutive songs produced by humpback whales recorded off the coast of Hawaii show recurrent patterns of acoustic variation. Analyses of spectral entropy, a measure of the uniformity of energy distribution in the frequency domain, revealed that spectral entropy cycles in predictable patterns within song sessions. At time scales spanning tens of minutes, variations in spectral entropy appear to track changes in received intensity levels, which are correlated with song duration and may reflect the diving behavior of singers. Intra-individual variations in spectral entropy suggest that singing humpback whales may also vocally control entropic features of songs, both by gradually modulating the acoustic characteristics of units and by varying the amount of time they spend producing specific patterns of units. Preliminary analyses suggest that variations in spectral entropy within song cycles are indicative of the amount of time and energy singers spend producing constant-frequency (CF) elements versus more frequency-modulated/broadband elements. CF elements of units are generally more difficult to spatially localize, but easier to detect over long distances, suggesting that singing humpback whales may be varying the production of consecutive songs in ways that affect auditory spatial processing.

지역 정체성을 통해 바라본 초등 음악교과서 분석

Objectives From a regional perspective, Jeju-related songs and Characteristics of Jeju folk songs included in elementary music textbooks, Understand the distribution and notation of Jejueo, culture and festivals. Based on cultural identity, we seek the direction and tasks of textbook revision in terms of the transmission, preservation, and development of Jeju culture.
 Methods Analysis of 34 music textbooks revised in 2015 for a total of 4 grades from 3rd to 6th grade of elementary school, All contents related to Jeju being described were extracted, Jeju-related songs with musical scores, and all songs related to Jeju described regardless of musical scores were checked. By extracting all contents related to Jeju including Jeju language. It was analyzed by concentrating on deriving the current status and problems.
 Results Except for one textbook, Jeju-related contents are relatively faithfully recorded, there are many work songs, mainly musical characteristics are not defined, and they are described as folk songs with a strong local color composed of Jeju-do's unique dialect, and various Jeju words are used. It can be seen that there are differences in the interpretation and notation of Jejueo in each textbook and Jeju Chilmeoridang Yeongdeung-gut and Jeju Haenyeo culture.
 Conclusions Differences must be acknowledged, education must be conducted from the perspective of diversity, Thinking of the educational meaning of various Jeju cultures that were positive in preservation, not negative historical isolation, In the future, it is necessary to clearly describe Jejueo, Jeju folk songs, and Jeju myths in the compilation of music textbooks.

Terminal flourishes but not trills differ between urban and rural Chaffinch song

Animals can evade interference from anthropogenic noise using strategies such as shifting frequencies upwards or increasing the duration of their signals. In this study, we compared the time and frequency‐related characteristics of songs and rain calls of Common Chaffinches Fringilla coelebs inhabiting rural forests and an urban park in Turkey. Most of the song phrases and rain calls did not differ in any of the characteristics measured between urban and rural Chaffinches but, contrary to our predictions, terminal flourish phrases of the songs had lower minimum frequencies and broader bandwidth in urban territories. These results suggest either that noise has limited effect on the Chaffinch vocalizations or that Chaffinch vocalizations in urban habitats are less well adapted for efficient transmission.

Female preferences for high vocal effort in singing mice

Abstract Although vocalizations are essential to mammalian sociosexual behaviours, little is known about female preferences for male vocal displays in non-model mammalian species. Here, we characterized female preferences for the advertisement songs of male Alston’s singing mice (Scotinomys teguina). We developed procedures for inducing oestrus, using vaginal perforation as a morphological indicator of oestrus. We then broadcasted ‘high-effort’ and ‘low-effort’ songs recorded from wild-caught males to virgin laboratory-reared females, using a two-choice experiment. Our results indicate that females spent more time investigating speakers playing high-effort songs; surprisingly, this phonotactic response is independent of oestrus status. In wild singing mice, acoustic characteristics of high-effort male songs positively correlate with body condition. Our data suggest that females could use acoustic cues to select mates in good condition, thus providing preliminary support for adaptive mate choice hypotheses. More generally, our results support the hypothesis that elaborate Scotinomys song may be shaped by female choice.

Distinctive features of folk songs that serve in the spiritual and moral formation of pupils.

Distinctive features of folk songs that serve in the spiritual and moral formation of pupils.

Musical Characteristics of Tibetan Folk Songs in Baima

Musical Characteristics of Tibetan Folk Songs in Baima

Evolution of calling songs in the grasshopper subfamily Gomphocerinae (Orthoptera, Acrididae)

AbstractThe evolution of the calling songs in Gomphocerinae was evaluated via estimating a phylogenetic signal of the song characters and an ancestral character state reconstruction. Analyses of the calling songs in 80 palearctic gomphocerine species allowed us to define 24 characters describing the temporal pattern of the sound and the stridulatory leg‐movement pattern. The ancestral song of Gomphocerinae was shown to consist of numerous short echemes lasting on average 0.9 s; each echeme comprised only one syllable produced by movements of only one leg. The next step of the song evolution could be producing longer echemes or longer echeme‐sequence. Later, echeme duration again decreased, but this was accompanied by increasing of echeme or syllable complexity. The characters describing the echeme structure were found to be conservative in their evolution. By contrast, most characters of the syllable temporal structure were shown to be relatively labile and more likely under natural or sexual selection. Our study shows that the song evolution in Gomphocerinae implied not only increasing but also decreasing complexity of the syllable temporal structure.