Song Elements Research Articles

Eksistensi Tembang Mamaca (Macapat) dalam Dimensi Kultur, Mistik dan Religius

This study examines the historical terminology of mamaca (macapat) in the Modung Bangkalan West Serabi Village. "The focus of the study is" How is the existence of the Macapat songs in the cultural, the mystical and religious dimensions of the Modung Bangkalan West Serabi Village community? " The West Serabi Village community, the mystical and religious dimensions of Modung Bangkalan. The results of the study concluded and explained that the elements of the West's Song (macapat) in the Modung Bangkalan consist of: (1) personal beliefs about the old teachings as a truth, (2) the public's heritage in always upholding ancestral heritage, (3) the teachings of goodness in the world that are relevant to the culture of society, (4) customs that tend to be mystically influenced by old cultures that are still used from generation to generation, ( 5) The value and guidance of many and individual citizens.

Neuronal Encoding in a High-Level Auditory Area: From Sequential Order of Elements to Grammatical Structure.

Sensitivity to the sequential structure of communication sounds is fundamental not only for language comprehension in humans but also for song recognition in songbirds. By quantifying single-unit responses, we first assessed whether the sequential order of song elements, called syllables, in conspecific songs is encoded in a secondary auditory cortex-like region of the zebra finch brain. Based on a habituation/dishabituation paradigm, we show that, after multiple repetitions of the same conspecific song, rearranging syllable order reinstated strong responses. A large proportion of neurons showed sensitivity to song context in which syllables occurred providing support for the nonlinear processing of syllable sequences. Sensitivity to the temporal order of items within a sequence should enable learning its underlying structure, an ability considered a core mechanism of the human language faculty. We show that repetitions of songs that were ordered according to a specific grammatical structure (i.e., ABAB or AABB structures; A and B denoting song syllables) led to different responses in both anesthetized and awake birds. Once responses were decreased due to song repetitions, the transition from one structure to the other could affect the firing rates and/or the spike patterns. Our results suggest that detection was based on local differences rather than encoding of the global song structure as a whole. Our study demonstrates that a high-level auditory region provides neuronal mechanisms to help discriminate stimuli that differ in their sequential structure.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sequence processing has been proposed as a potential precursor of language syntax. As a sequencing operation, the encoding of the temporal order of items within a sequence may help in recognition of relationships between adjacent items and in learning the underlying structure. Taking advantage of the stimulus-specific adaptation phenomenon observed in a high-level auditory region of the zebra finch brain, we addressed this question at the neuronal level. Reordering elements within conspecific songs reinstated robust responses. Neurons also detected changes in the structure of artificial songs, and this detection depended on local transitions between adjacent or nonadjacent syllables. These findings establish the songbird as a model system for deciphering the mechanisms underlying sequence processing at the single-cell level.

Transcending the moment

Abstract Our paper argues that British singer Billy Bragg performs protest songs that cleverly draw upon musical forms underpinning his positioning as a voice of, and for, the ordinary person, ultimately disenfranchised by governmental adherence to neoliberal policies. While political songs are a product of their time, many of them can also transcend that historical moment and have a longer shelf-life in terms of their capacity to inform political thinking and action. Our song(s) of choice in this paper do so not just in terms of the relevance of their ‘literal’ message but also in how they draw upon traditional structures of feeling and generic elements of folk song to underpin this sense of ‘grass-roots’ critique via a modified, acoustic ballad form and a performance style. This serves to authenticate and legitimate the singer and his message and, in turn, allows Bragg to accumulate political and cultural capital.

Negotiating Violence and Creative Agency in Commissioned Mexican Narco Rap

This article explores agency as an ability to act and exert power creatively when failure implies literal death. It draws on interviews with an ex‐narco and rappers who willingly accept narco‐commissions in 2010s Tamaulipas, Mexico, a context where precarity and necropolitical logics prevail. It asserts that many rappers exert power creatively, despite the risks. Rappers shape narco‐aesthetics by determining the lyrical and sonic elements of songs; draw on experiences of narco‐life to contribute to narco‐ethics; and mould narco‐masculinities by encouraging listeners to stay firm. It proposes that prevalent discursive Us–Them dichotomies facilitate Othering and stigmatisation of actors in the narco‐world, and serve to accentuate narco‐power.

Is neurogenesis in two songbird species related to their song sequence variability?

Neurogenesis takes part in the adult songbird brain and new neurons are integrated into the forebrain including defined areas involved in the control of song learning and production. It has been suggested that the new neurons in the song system might enable vocal variability. Here, we examined the basal levels of neurogenesis in two songbird species, zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata) and Bengalese finch ( Lonchura striata var. domestica), which do not learn new song elements as adults but differ in the level of song sequence variability. We found that Bengalese finches had less linear and stereotyped song sequence and a higher number of newborn cells in the neurogenic subventricular zone (SVZ) as well as the number of newly born neurons incorporated into the vocal nucleus HVC (used as a proper name) in comparison to zebra finches. Importantly, this vocal sequence variability in Bengalese finches correlated with the number of new neurons in the vocal nucleus HVC and more plastic song was associated with higher neuronal incorporation. In summary, our data support the hypothesis that newly generated neurons facilitate behavioural variability.

Evolutionary relationships of courtship songs in the parasitic wasp genus, Cotesia (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

Acoustic signals play an important role in premating isolation based on sexual selection within many taxa. Many male parasitic wasps produce characteristic courtship songs used by females in mate selection. In Cotesia (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae), courtship songs are generated by wing fanning with repetitive pulses in stereotypical patterns. Our objectives were to sample the diversity of courtship songs within Cotesia and to identify e underlying patterns of differentiation. We compared songs among 12 of ca. 80 Cotesia species in North America, including ten species that have not been recorded previously. For Cotesia congregata, we compared songs of wasps originating from six different host-foodplant sources, two of which are considered incipient species. Songs of emergent males from wild caterpillar hosts in five different families were recorded, and pattern, frequency, and duration of song elements analyzed. Principal component analysis converted the seven elements characterized into four uncorrelated components used in a hierarchical cluster analysis and grouped species by similarity of song structure. Species songs varied significantly in duration of repeating pulse and buzz elements and/or in fundamental frequency. Cluster analysis resolved similar species groups in agreement with the most recent molecular phylogeny for Cotesia spp., indicating the potential for using courtship songs as a predictor of genetic relatedness. Courtship song analysis may aid in identifying closely related cryptic species that overlap spatially, and provide insight into the evolution of this highly diverse and agriculturally important taxon.

Two unit analysis of Sri Lankan pygmy blue whale song over a decade.

Sri Lankan pygmy blue whale song consists of three repeated units: (1) low frequency pulsive unit, (2) frequency modulated (FM) upsweep, and (3) long tonal downsweep. The Unit 2 FM unit has up to three visible upsweeps with energy concentrated at approximately 40, 50, and 60 Hz, while the Unit 3 (∼100 Hz) tonal downsweep is the most distinct unit lasting 20-30 s. Spectral characteristics of the Units 2 and 3 song elements, along with ocean sound levels, were analyzed in the Indian Ocean from 2002 to 2013. The peak frequency of the tonal Unit 3 calls decreased from approximately 106.5 to 100.7 Hz over a decade corresponding to a 5.4% decrease. Over the same time period, the frequency content of the Unit 2 upsweeps did not change as dramatically with only a 3.1% change. Ambient sound levels in the vocalization bands did not exhibit equivalent patterns in amplitude trends. Analysis showed no increase in the ambient sound or compensated peak amplitude levels of the tonal downsweeps, eliminating the presence of a Lombard effect. Here it is proposed that each song unit may convey different information and thus may be responding to different selective pressures.

Редкие и уникальные элементы как инструмент исследователя былин

[full article, abstract in Russian; abstract in Lithuanian and English]
 The author of this article shows on concrete patterns how the systematization and analysis of rare or unique elements of Russian epic songs (bylinas) help in solving some scientific problems. Non-standard details, formulas, personal names serve as reliable indicators that the texts are changed by recorders or editors, that they are dependent on books or even falsified. Besides, they help to reveal variants related by birth and to determine their genealogic relationship. Often, they reflect details of early medieval history or life conditions, contain poetic forms similar to the literary monuments of ancient Russia.However, their analysis must be done on the background of all recorded texts of bylinas. Authors who use only limited variants of epic songs (V. P. Anikin, B. A. Rybakov and others) sometimes come to doubtful or erroneous conclusions.

Acoustic stability in hyrax snorts: vocal tightrope-walkers or wrathful verbal assailants?

Vocal quality allows listeners to derive information on properties of the caller such as body size and state of arousal. Male rock hyraxes advertise themselves by singing. We found that the stability of a single song element can be used to predict both body size and social rank of the singer. We also showed that other hyraxes may consider this information when deciding how to interact with the singer.

“Ficedula”: an open-source MATLAB toolbox for cutting, segmenting and computer-aided clustering of bird song

Qualitative and quantitative assessments of bird song repertoires are important in studies related to song learning, sexual selection and cultural evolution. Despite methods for automatic analysis, it is still necessary to engage in manual cutting, segmenting and clustering of bird song elements in many cases. Here, we describe a program, the Ficedula Toolbox, which has been made available for free to the bird song research community and has recently come into extensive use. The main advantages of this package are the opportunity to conduct all processing steps in one framework and the option of carrying out computer-aided manual clustering. Output files are ready for further analyses, such as estimation of repertoire size, sequential analysis and repertoire overlap calculation. With this program, findings based on empirical data from the Collared Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) song show high inter-observer similarity, and thus, reproducible results. The toolbox may be especially applicable to the analysis of song in species with moderately high repertoires.

An Aboriginal Women’s Song from Arrwek, Central Australia

Songs are a fundamental part of Indigenous Australian cultures. They are vehicles for transmitting experiences about a region, including the stories and ancestral entities from the creation. Yet relatively little is known about the musical characteristics of songs from many parts of Australia. In this article we present the first musical analysis of traditional songs of the Anmatyerr people of central Australia. We analyse a selection of songs from recordings of a women’s song set owned and performed by the landholders of Arrwek, an estate that straddles the Anmatyerr-speaking and Warlpiri-speaking regions. We analyse three basic acoustic elements of a central Australian Aboriginal song: rhythmic text, pitch, and the relationship between them. Our analysis finds that these have much in common with Warlpiri songs, despite their Anmatyerr geographic affiliation.

Identifying Cinema Cultures and Audience Preferences

For this study we have adopted a comparative approach to better understand the regularities and differences of cinema markets and cultures. Our subject is the film preferences and choices of audiences in the cities of Ghent (Belgium), Utrecht (Netherlands) and Bolton (United Kingdom) in 1934 and 1935. Saturday, January 5th, 1935 serves as a pivotal date and the starting point for analysis of the film programming data of these three cities. Our findings show that by adopting a comparative approach it is possible to detect ‘unique’ titles that reflect the peculiarities of the local film culture. The data confirms that audiences in Bolton, Ghent, and Utrecht were attracted strongly to films originating in their own or neighbouring countries, particularly if they contained elements of song and dance.

Animal choreography of song and dance: a case study in the Montezuma oropendola, Psarocolius montezuma

Many multimodal displays incorporate choreography, which occurs when animals modulate how body movements are timed across the display. Choreography typically involves pairing specific gestures with vocalizations. This allows the signaller to effectively produce a display that is more complex than either of its components in isolation. Moreover, some animals appear to use a special case of choreography that can augment vocal performance. Expanding the multimodal framework to incorporate choreography is therefore a necessary step towards understanding how combining two signals into one impacts a display's structure. We explore this in a case study of free-living Montezuma oropendolas, Psarocolius montezuma, a polygynous songbird that performs a dramatic song and dance. We found that two elements of this display (bow and wing spread), are each choreographed with the song's loudest note (dBmax) and lowest peak frequency (LPF), respectively. This suggests that oropendolas electively time the swing and wing spread gesture with key song elements. Interestingly, there was a correlation between the depth of an individual's swing and LPF, which was not explained by body size or social context. However, social context did predict a difference in vocal performance in terms of frequency modulation. Meanwhile, there was no relationship between wing display performance and dBmax. This means that oropendolas choreograph their swing gesture to predict LPF, which might reflect an individual's motor skill or even directly influence vocal performance. Altogether, our data suggest that animals can incorporate phenotypically distinct forms of choreography into their display repertoire, where each instance of choreography serves as an opportunity to generate a novel signal when one did not exist before.

Journey of Goranis’ from Bogomils’ to Islam

The Gora region today is located in the border triangle between Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. For several decades, the identity of this population isunder dispute. There have been numerous attempts by Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians, and they continue today, to represent the population of this region as having Serbian, Bulgarian or Macedonian origin. Based on the history of this region and a number of elements of culture, characteristic houses, national dresses, songs, dances, habits and customs that are preserved among the residents, it is unclear because the language is a mixture of Slavic languages while the habits and customs are very close to those of Albanians. One of the versions of ethnic identity of Goranis’is the connection with Torbeshis’as the last remnants of Bogomils’, a heretical religious movement. Same as Opojans’ also the Goranis’ today belong entirely to the Muslim religious group. There are numerous evidences for cult objects such as mosques and shrines built earlier than the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in our region. With the expansion of Ottoman Empire in the Albanian lands, also the population of Opoja and Gora embraced Islam, today this population is entirely Muslim, and in each village, there are mosques of modern architecture and very beautiful minarets.

Use of transition and abstract rules by budgerigars in auditory pattern processing

Budgerigars, a small species of parrot, are open-ended vocal learners that produce a long, rambling warble song. Past work has shown that these birds are sensitive to changes in the order of their song elements but it is not clear what rules they may use to process changes in sounds sequences. Here, we used operant conditioning and psychophysical techniques to ask how budgerigars discriminate among patterned auditory sequences. In these experiments, auditory sequences of the form AAB, composed of pure tones or natural warble elements, were played to the bird as a repeating background until the bird pecked a key to initiate a trial. During a trial, either a target sequence played that differed from the background in the order of the elements or a sham trial occurred where there was no change. Results show that budgerigars use rules about the transitions between elements to detect targets. Further experiments using multiple background sequences show that the birds are also sensitive to the underlying abstract pattern of sounds (same-same-different). Thus, with their ability to attend to surface transition rules (phonology-like) and deeper abstract patterns (syntax-like), budgerigars are a useful vocal learning model for studying the neurobiology and evolution of language.

Song parameters of the fuscous honeyeater Lichenostomus fuscus correlate with habitat characteristics in fragmented landscapes

Both avian abundance and species richness decline in response to habitat loss and fragmentation. Studying variation in bird song structure across modified landscapes can provide insights into the effects of habitat alterations on coherence of social interactions within populations. Here, we tested whether fragmentation or change of habitat quality within box‐ironbark forest of central Victoria impacted cultural connectivity and song characteristics in fuscous honeyeater, a declining common Australian bird. First, we tested whether geographic distance and/or spatially‐explicit landscape connectivity models can explain patterns of song similarity across fragmented landscapes. We found no evidence that distance or habitat fragmentation impacts the nature and transmission of fuscous honeyeater song, and concluded that acoustic connectivity at the scale of our study is high. Second, we tested whether variation in habitat quality explains variation in song characteristics. In accordance with acoustic adaptation to habitat structure, birds sang longer songs in sites with more large trees and produced longer common song elements in sites with greater tree height. However, the acoustic adaptation hypothesis cannot explain the finding that in less‐disturbed landscapes with higher tree‐cover birds sang songs (and song elements) with higher maximum frequency and wider frequency bandwidth. We also found that birds sing longer and more variable songs of wider frequency bandwidth in less disturbed sites with a greater number of large mature trees, which may represent better feeding resources. Our study suggests that changes in song structure with habitat degradation could signal disturbed population processess, such as changes in the acoustic communication among resident birds.

Muzički elementi u pesmama, baladama, poemama i dramama Laze Kostića

Muzički elementi u pesmama, baladama, poemama i dramama Laze Kostića

The neural response of female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to conspecific, heterospecific, and isolate song depends on early-life song exposure

The auditory forebrain regions caudo-medial nidopallium (NCM) and caudo-medial mesopallium (CMM) of songbirds exhibit differential expression of the immediate-early gene ZENK in response to playback of different song stimuli, and dependent on early-life auditory experience. Similarly, song preferences depend both on auditory experience and unlearned biases for particular song features. We explored the contributions of early-life auditory experience and the type of song stimuli on the Zenk response in the auditory forebrain of female zebra finches. Females were raised in three different early tutoring conditions: conspecific tutors that sang isolate song, heterospecific tutors, or conspecific tutors that sang wild-type song. At maturity, these females were exposed to one of five different playback conditions: wild-type song, isolate song, tutor song, heterospecific song, or white noise. Subsequently, the number of cells immunoreactive for ZENK in CMM and NCM was measured. We predicted that birds exposed to conspecific song early in life, and during the song playback in adulthood, would have the highest neural response. Instead, we found that the Zenk response varied across playback conditions with the highest response to conspecific wild-type and conspecific isolate song. In addition, we found a main effect of tutoring, with the lowest overall Zenk response in females tutored by males singing isolate song. Most importantly, there was a significant interaction in that females tutored by wild-type conspecific or heterospecific songs showed a similar increased response to zebra finch songs (wild-type or isolate), but females tutored by isolate song showed no differential response to conspecific song and only showed elevated Zenk response to the particular songs they were tutored with. Combined, our results indicate that unlearned response biases to conspecific song elements depend on previous auditory experience. That is, early experience appears to modulate the expression of innate biases.

Tafsir Alegoris, Konstruksi Teologis, dan Unsur Erotis dalam Kitab Kidung Agung

Song of Songs is afforded relatively rare attention in church, where an allegorical mode of reading often continues to serve as the default interpretative strategy for examining this particular book of the Bible. And this remains the case, despite the development of numerous other approaches that can better account for elements of eroticism as contained in that book. In this essay, discursive problematics arising from the interpretation of Song of Songs are considered in detail, in order to ascertain the reason for the church's aversion toward using some such exegetical method that would be more attuned to the erotic elements within Song of Songs. One's own willingness to be open to such erotic elements in Song of Songs may even assist in bringing the church to realize the riches to be found therein. Such riches may then also serve as basis for a more progressive constructive theology concerning human sexuality. As such, the church may thus regard Song of Songs as its biblical warrant for constructing a theology that regards sexuality in a more positive manner.

Plasticity of signaling and mate choice in a trilling species of the Mecopoda complex (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

Males of a trilling species in the Mecopoda complex produce conspicuous calling songs that consist of two motifs: an amplitude-modulated motif with alternating loud and soft segments (AM-motif) and a continuous, high-intensity trill. The function of these song motifs for female attraction and competition between males was investigated. We tested the hypothesis that males modify their signaling behavior depending on the social environment (presence/absence of females or rival males) when they compete for mates. Therefore, we analyzed acoustic signaling of males in three different situations: (1) solo singing, (2) acoustic interaction with another male, and (3) singing in the presence of a female. In addition, the preference of females for these song motifs and further song parameters was studied in two-choice experiments. As expected, females showed a preference for conspicuous and loud song elements, but nevertheless, males increased the proportion of the AM-motif in the presence of a female. In acoustic interactions, males reduced bout duration significantly compared to both other situations. However, song bouts in this situation still overlapped more than expected by chance, which indicates intentionally simultaneous singing. A multivariate statistical analysis revealed that the proportion of the AM-motif and the duration of loud segments within the AM-motif allow a reliable prediction of whether males sing in isolation, compete with another male, or sing in the presence of a female. These results indicate that the AM-motif plays a dominant role especially in close-range courtship and that males are challenged in finding a balance between attracting females and saving energy during repeated acoustic interactions.Significance statementMales of acoustic insects often produce conspicuous calling songs that have a dual function in male-male competition and mate attraction. High signal amplitudes and signal rates are associated with high energetic costs for signal production. We would therefore predict that males adjust their signaling behavior according to their perception of the social context. Here we studied signal production and mate choice in a katydid, where males switch between loud and soft song segments in a dynamic way. Additionally, we examined the attractiveness of different song elements in female choice tests. Our results show how males of this katydid deal with the conflict of remaining attractive for females and competing with a costly signal with rivals.