Recordings Of Songs Research Articles

Sound properties affect measurement of vocal consistency in birdsong: Validation of the spectrogram cross correlation method (SPCC).

In songbirds, singing with precision (vocal consistency) has been proposed to reflect whole-organism performance. Vocal consistency is measured using spectrogram cross correlation (SPCC) to assess the acoustic similarity between subsequent renditions of the same note. To quantify how SPCC is sensitive to the acoustic discrepancies found in birdsong, we created a set of 40 000 synthetic sounds that were designed based on the songs of 345 species. This set included 10 000 reference sounds and 30 000 inexact variants with quantified differences in frequency, bandwidth, or duration with respect to the reference sounds. We found that SPCC is sensitive to acoustic discrepancies within the natural range of vocal consistency, supporting the use of this method as a tool to assess vocal consistency in songbirds. Importantly, the sensitivity of SPCC was significantly affected by the bandwidth of sounds. The predictions derived from the analysis of synthetic sounds were then validated using 954 song recordings from 345 species (20 families). Based on psychoacoustic studies from birds and humans, we propose that the sensitivity of SPCC to acoustic discrepancies mirrors a perceptual bias in sound discrimination. Nevertheless, we suggest the tool be used with care, since sound bandwidth varies considerably between singing styles and therefore, SPCC scores may not be comparable.

DISCO: A deep learning ensemble for uncertainty-aware segmentation of acoustic signals.

Recordings of animal sounds enable a wide range of observational inquiries into animal communication, behavior, and diversity. Automated labeling of sound events in such recordings can improve both throughput and reproducibility of analysis. Here, we describe our software package for labeling elements in recordings of animal sounds, and demonstrate its utility on recordings of beetle courtships and whale songs. The software, DISCO, computes sensible confidence estimates and produces labels with high precision and accuracy. In addition to the core labeling software, it provides a simple tool for labeling training data, and a visual system for analysis of resulting labels. DISCO is open-source and easy to install, it works with standard file formats, and it presents a low barrier of entry to use.

The Significance of B. B. Granovsky's Activity in the Study of Song Folklore from the Archive of V. F. Odoevsky (to the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of B. B. Granovsky)

The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the musical and folklore heritage of V. F. Odoevsky is of great value for modern musicology, since it contains many unique recordings of Russian folk songs and songs of 26 other ethnic groups. V. F. Odoevsky is the first folklorist who recorded song folklore in a scientific way. His recordings are the first reliable examples of folklore in the history of Russian musicology. At the same time, the archives of V. F. Odoevsky are practically not studied. The article examines the publications of B. B. Granovsky, since this scientist has been deciphering materials from the archive of V. F. Odoevsky for many years and introducing them into scientific circulation. The article considers that these publications reveal the style of the scientific method of V. F. Odoevsky, which is of great value in the study of the history and development of Russian ethnomusicology. Thanks to the works of B. B. Granovsky, rare songs of the peoples of Russia, which were recorded by V. F. Odoevsky, have been studied. In addition, the article shows that B. B. Granovsky not only deciphered many archival recordings of V. F. Odoevsky, but also published them in a musical collection of Russian folk songs.

An Acoustic Analysis and Comparison between Remotely Collected and In-Person Laboratory Collected Data in Vocal Imitation of Pitch

ABSTRACT Restrictions on face-to-face interactions due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in early 2020 have impacted experimental behavioral research. The rapid change from in-person to online data collections has been challenging in many behavioral studies, especially those that require vocal production, and the quality of the remotely collected data needs to be investigated. The current study examines the recording quality and corresponding measures of vocal production accuracy in online and in-person settings using two measurements: harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR) and fundamental frequency, f 0. Participants imitated pitch patterns extracted from recordings of song or speech, either in a laboratory or via an online platform. The results showed that the recordings from the online setting had higher HNR than those from the in-person setting, whereas the pitch imitation accuracy in both settings did not differ. We also report an experiment that simulated differences between the online and in-person settings within participants, focusing on software used, type of microphone, and presence of ambient noise. Pitch accuracy did not differ according to these variables, except ambient noise, whereas HNR again varied across conditions. Based on these results we conclude that measures of pitch accuracy are reliable across these different types of data collection, whereas finer-grained spectral measures like HNR might be affected by various factors.

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.

Darwin’s finches in human-altered environments sing common song types and are more aggressive

Human-altered landscapes may act as an environmental filter benefiting species or individuals with specific sets of capacities or behaviors. Yet the effects of human activity on culturally transmitted traits in animals are still poorly understood. Combining song recordings and simulated territory intrusions, we investigated whether songs (a cultural trait) and aggressiveness (a personality trait) in small ground finches (Geospiza fuliginosa) differed along a gradient of human activity levels (high-low-high) spanning two habitats with contrasting levels of rainfall (arid lowlands, humid highlands). We found that more common syllable types were more prevalent in arid lowland sites and at sites with high human activity. The number of syllables per song, song duration, song tempo and song rhythmicity did not differ across habitats or levels of human activity. During simulated territorial intrusions, small ground finches living in areas with higher levels of human activity and in the arid lowlands (regardless of human activity) showed the strongest aggressive response compared to those living in areas with lower levels of human activity or in the humid highlands. Thus, prevalence of aggression and syllable commonness correlated with each other across sites. Our results support the idea that resource distribution and human-impacted environments may select jointly for specific behavioral phenotypes such as aggression as well as common cultural traits.

Acoustical analysis of Taylor Swift’s speech and singing throughout her career

Taylor Swift has changed geographic environments, speaking communities, and singing communities throughout her career, inviting question into changes in her voice acoustics. Capitalizing on the availability of interviews and multiple song recordings, we tracked changes in vowel formant trajectories and other vocal properties from different points in her life to see how her voice might have been influenced by these changes in community (e.g switching from country to pop style, moving from Philadelphia to Nashville). Comparing vowel space from 2012 to 2019, we observe higher tongue position (lower frequency F1) for numerous vowels, especially for /eɪ/ and /aʊ/. Rounding for /ɔ/ was reduced, and /æ/ was pronounced farther back in the mouth. We also observed reduced distinction between the varieties of /ɑɪ/ before voiced and voiceless consonants (e.g., ride versus write), as well as greater front-back movement for /u/. Studio re-recordings show remarkable consistency of word timing and intensity. Conversely, Swift’s live singing voice includes some variation from the recording, including fewer silences between words. Live versions feature extended duration for words that are emphasized for emotion, and/or ends of phrases, compensated by shorter durations for other segments so that the overall song length was very consistent.

Time alters urban singing strategies in a North American songbird

AbstractLocal habitats shape animal vocalizations through selection to improve transmission of signals to receivers. This process can be variable, however, when landscapes are changing continuously due to urbanization or other factors. Studies have shown that some birds alter the frequency, amplitude and structure of their songs in urban habitats. Because songbirds learn their songs from other individuals, this cultural transmission can result in substantial change over time. Urban bird populations may therefore show rapid shifts in song form and variation may result from the combined or interacting effects of time and anthropogenic habitat change. In this study, we used historic and recent song recordings to investigate changes in spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) songs over 45 years across an urban-to-rural gradient in northern California. We found that pre-trill and trilled song parts covaried differently with urban development at the two time-points, with more change occurring in trill phrases than pre-trills. Additionally, we found that birds in 1970 adjusted trills in urban areas by raising maximum frequencies and broadening bandwidths, while birds in 2015 narrowed song bandwidths by decreasing maximum frequencies in more urban areas. These results did not fit our prediction that urbanization would have a consistent effect on song at two time-points. We suggest that habitat, cultural evolution and cultural drift can act on song elements in complicated ways that vary over time.

Володимир Отроковський – дослідник подільських говірок

In the article the work «Malorusskii hovor sela Kobilevky, Podolskoi hub., Bratslavskaho ujezda» by V. Ostrokovskiy is analyzed, as well as folklore texts and texts of oral speech of this region residents submitted to the scientist after the work. It has been defined that the researcher presents his own writing system, which will be used to accurately reproduce the sound composition of words and texts recorded in this area. In general, he used the diacritical signs specified in the preface to «Programs for collecting features of the Malorossiya dialects» by K. Mikhalchuk and A. Krymskyi. Folklore texts and examples of folk speech reflect to some extent local pronunciation features: у in place of unstressed o; strong р on the place of normative р’; form of genitive case of plural on -ый; form of the third person of singular and plural of the present tense and the second person of plural of the imperative mood on the strong final -т; non-reduplicated soft consonants: жытьа́ , попадьа́ , корі́ньа and etc. Recordings of songs, fairy tales and riddles are of great scientific importance and are a significant contribution to Ukrainian folkloristics and dialectology. This interesting material, which presents the main features of the Podillia dialect, can serve as a valuable and reliable source for studying the dynamics of Podillia dialect speech.

Changes in humpback whale song structure and complexity reveal a rapid evolution on a feeding ground in Northern Norway

Singing behaviour by male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) has traditionally been associated with low-latitude breeding grounds. However, in recent years, this vocal behaviour has been increasingly reported outside these areas. All singers in a given population sing the same version of a song and this song is continually evolving over time with modifications on different levels within the song structure. Tracing changes in whale song will help to undercover the drivers underlying this vocal display and contribute to the understanding of animal culture and its evolution. To determine the progressive changes in songs found on a subarctic feeding ground and migratory stopover, a detailed analysis of humpback whale song recordings from Northern Norway was conducted. Passive acoustic data from the Lofoten-Vesterålen Ocean Observatory (LoVe), collected using a bottom-moored underwater hydrophone, were used from January - April 2018 and January 2019. Two measures of the song structure were examined: (1) sequence similarities using the Levenshtein distance and (2) song complexity using a principal component analysis (PCA). In total, 21 distinct themes were identified which presented highly directional, structural changes over time. Two themes from 2018 reoccurred in 2019, whereas all other themes in 2019 appeared to be evolved versions of 2018 themes. All songs grouped into three general clusters, reflecting the rapid evolution over the study period. With all sampled animals singing the same version of the song, this might indicate that the singers are either from the same breeding population or that song learning occurred before the study period. Song complexity appeared to follow the trend of song progression; songs became more complex as they evolved over the months in 2018 and decreased in complexity between the years, returning to a more simplified song in 2019. The results confirm that humpback whale song exhibits a rapid progression on a shared subarctic feeding ground, with strong potential for song exchange and opportunities for cultural transmission between populations in the North Atlantic.

Сторіччя «Русалки Дністрової» у тогочасному видавничому контексті

Based on the books edition of Ukrainian publishing organizations of Galicia, the author is analyzed the place of the 100th anniversary of “Rusalka Dnistrova” — the first literary and folk issue of native language in the western Ukrainian territory, in the publishing practice of the interwar period. An attempt was made to find out the influence of the almanac on the cultural development of the region, the idea of the unity of the people on the both coasts of the Dnieper, and the formation of the national consciousness of Ukrainians throughout the century. Almanac “Rusalka Dnistrova” is a book that was destined to start a new vernacular, folk literature in Western Ukrainian, and at the same time, the Ukrainian cultural and political revival of the region. This book, on the eve of the appearance of Shevchenko’s “Kobzar”, was compiled by the Lviv romantics, theological seminarians Markiyan Shashkevich, Ivan Vahylevych and Yakiv Holovatskyi, named “Rus’ka Triitsia”. The issue was printed in Budapest in 1837. Although the title states “Rusyn folk songs”, the compilers submitted not only recordings of folk songs from different regions of Galicia, but also their original poetry, prose and examples of translation work. In the introductory comments to individual chapters of the almanac, M. Shashkevich and I. Vahylevych review the content of the publication retrospectively and prospectively, presenting the historical genesis of the material, its thematic and genre stratification, and its lexical and stylistic features. The book is filled with love for Ukrainian folklore, antiquity and everything native. It has a strong spirit of conciliarism of Ukraine. Almost all Galician magazines in one form or another responded to the jubilee almanac, including historical, literary and journalistic articles and artistic works. The 100th anniversary of the first book in the Ukrainian vernacular was commemorated by a lot of public organizations in Galicia. In addition to publications in the columns of periodicals about the celebration of the anniversary of “Rusalka Dnistrova”, new book editions have appeared for a wide Ukrainian audience. Literary scholar and folklorist Mykhailo Wozniak favorably evaluated the movement work of the “Rus’ka Triitsia” and on the occasion of the anniversary period (1833–1837) prepared new information about the activities of the group under the name “In the century of “Zoria” by Markiian Shashkevich (1834–1934)”. The content of the “Calendar for everyone for 1937” edition of the Ivan Tiktor publishing house is almost entirely dedicated to the centenary of “Rusalka Dnistrova” as evidenced by the thematic art cover by Edward Kozak and the anniversary publication of the collection. And in general it can be said that the calendar is dedicated to the national revival of Ukrainians. The support of the national idea of M. Shashkevich is evidenced by a considerable list of donors, placed on the last page of the illustrated one-day magazine “In the century of “Rusalka Dnistrova”, which on the occasion of the solemn celebration of the anniversary on August 1, 1937 at Bila Hora in Pidlyssia and in the artistic thematic cover of the work of the artist Myron Levytskyi was issued by the Zolochiv branch of the “Prosvita” society. For the centenary of the almanac, the jubilee collection published a circle of “Ridna Shkola” named after Markiyan Shashkevich in Sambir, which became the first printed publication of the society and another printed issue. The appearance of “Rusalka Dnistrova” was a significant event in the development of the literary process in Western Ukraine in the conditions of social and national oppression of the Ukrainian people. The collection defended its right to exist, to develop language and culture, and over the centuries the almanac has not lost its relevance. Keywords: almanac “Rusalka Dnistrova”, “Rus’ka Triitsia”, Markiyan Shashkevych, Ukrainian folklore, national consciousness.

A new species of tree cricket (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Oecanthinae) from Chihuahuan Desert gypsum dunes in the United States and a key to the nigricornis species group

A new species of tree crickets, Oecanthus beamerisp. nov., is described from the gypsum dunes of White Sands National Park in New Mexico, United States. The new species is currently known only from the type locality, where it appears to be specific to the gypsophile plant hoary rosemary mint (Poliomintha incana). This new species has the narrowed tegmina and calling song that are found in the nigricornis species group. Although it has morphological similarities to O. quadripunctatus and O. celerinictus, there are differences in the subgenital plates, tegminal measurements, coloring, tibial markings, song frequency, and song pulse rate. This new species has been given the common name White Sands tree cricket. We provide a key to all species in the nigricornis group. Video and song recordings are available online as Suppl. materials 1–8.

Community engagement and data quality: best practices and lessons learned from a citizen science project on birdsong

Citizen Science (CS) is a research approach that has become popular in recent years and offers innovative potential for dialect research in ornithology. As the scepticism about CS data is still widespread, we analysed the development of a 3-year CS project based on the song of the Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) to share best practices and lessons learned. We focused on the data scope, individual engagement, spatial distribution and species misidentifications from recordings generated before (2018, 2019) and during the COVID-19 outbreak (2020) with a smartphone using the ‘Naturblick’ app. The number of nightingale song recordings and individual engagement increased steadily and peaked in the season during the pandemic. 13,991 nightingale song recordings were generated by anonymous (64%) and non-anonymous participants (36%). As the project developed, the spatial distribution of recordings expanded (from Berlin based to nationwide). The rates of species misidentifications were low, decreased in the course of the project (10–1%) and were mainly affected by vocal similarities with other bird species. This study further showed that community engagement and data quality were not directly affected by dissemination activities, but that the former was influenced by external factors and the latter benefited from the app. We conclude that CS projects using smartphone apps with an integrated pattern recognition algorithm are well suited to support bioacoustic research in ornithology. Based on our findings, we recommend setting up CS projects over the long term to build an engaged community which generates high data quality for robust scientific conclusions.

Struktur dan Fungsi Sosial Nyanyian Rakyat Tale di Sebukar Kecamatan Tanah Cogok Kabupaten Kerinci

Folk songs have various forms, one of which is tale which comes from the word monotheism which means to unite God. This tale is made a tradition and sung to release the departure of pilgrims. Over time, the tale song seems almost extinct because the younger generation of the Sebukar area, Tanah Cogok District, Kerinci Regency, has not been able to preserve it. This study aims to describe the social structure and function of the tale of departure folk song in Sebukar, Tanah Cogok District, Kerinci Regency. This research uses the type of literary-qualitative research and descriptive method. recording of tale folk songs, and data collection are techniques used in collecting data from local informants. Data analysis techniques in this study are the stages of classification, discussion, conclusion and reporting. The research findings include the structure of the folk song of the tale in Sebukar Kecamantan Tanah Cogok, Kerinci Regency, namely (1) the physical structure in the form of lines, stanzas, diction, and sound, (2) the inner structure in the form of themes, feelings, tones, and mandates. Then the social function of the folk song of the tale in Sebukar, Tanah Cogok District, Kerinci Regency, namely a means of entertainment, hope and prayer, a tool of da'wah, and an heir of oral tradition.

Seasonal and diel patterns in singing activity of humpback whales migrating through Bermuda

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) produce song and non-song vocalisations, which allows their presence to be detected through passive acoustic monitoring. To determine the seasonal and diel acoustic presence and acoustic behaviour of humpback whales at the migratory stopover site off Bermuda, three hydrophones were deployed between March 2018 and April 2019 on Challenger Bank and the Bermuda platform. Song was the predominant vocalisation type encountered, with 65% of song recordings containing whale chorus and a clear seasonal trend of humpback whale occurrence in the spring and winter months from late December to mid-May. A strong diel pattern in singing activity was detected. Singing activity significantly increased at night relative to the daytime (p<0.01), whilst twilight periods were characterised by intermediate levels of singing. The song structure encountered in spring 2018 consisted of 18 units, 6 themes and 5 transitional phrases. The high occurrence of whale chorus and the strong seasonal and diel patterns of male humpback whale singing activity highlights the importance of Bermuda not just on their northward migration during spring, as described historically, but also on their southward migration during winter. Bermuda therefore constitutes a two-way migratory stopover site for humpback whales. The present study also provides Bermuda’s planning authorities with better constraints on the duration and intensity of anthropogenic activities in these waters.

Data Scraping YouTube for the Study of Lieder Reception

A growing body of literature has shifted aesthetic attention from composition to performance, or the performing activity, and asserts that the act of performance creates meaning.1 Scholars have emphasized differences between the passive consumption and active making of – or even listening to – music.2 As I sought to understand the impact of performance on Alma Mahler's legacy, I identified the need to gather as much data as possible on who, what, where, when, why, and how her songs were performed. This need led me to evaluate the metadata associated with recordings of Alma Mahler's songs in the WorldCat union catalogue and the video sharing platform YouTube. Recent studies have shown the utility of leveraging big data for musicology, although few scholars have done so to investigate reception history. This essay outlines one approach to data scraping YouTube with emphasis on the value to those researching recent Lieder reception, and in doing so highlights some of the promise and limitations associated with web scraping.

Development and Evaluation of an Intelligent System for Calibrating Karaoke Lyrics Based on Fuzzy Petri Nets

ABSTRACT In the home entertainment system, karaoke is a popular leisure facility in our daily life. Via the karaoke system, users can sing along with the lyrics based on the recordings of pop songs. However, a lot of karaoke systems can display lyrics semi-automatically. Traditionally, some lyrics are input manually and need to be synchronized with the tonal music stepwise, which is time-consuming. One of the famous musical phrase segmentation theories is a generative theory of tonal music, through which we have implemented a karaoke system in C# programming language. This intelligent system can automatically segment music phrases and use a high-level fuzzy Petri net model to calibrate the lyrics in pop songs. Fifty Chinese pop songs are selected to evaluate its performance. The experimental results have shown that the average calibration precision value (92.78%) and recall value (90.46%) are highly acceptable.

Song recordings suggest feeding ground sharing in Southern Hemisphere humpback whales

The Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean (ASSO) has one of the highest densities of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) compared to other polar and subpolar regions, which attracts migratory baleen whale species to aggregate in this area for feeding. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) also sing extensively while on the Southern Ocean feeding grounds which allows for the exploration of song similarity between feeding grounds and breeding populations which helps to understand population mixing. The results of comparative song analyses between the ASSO and the Ecuadorian and Brazilian breeding populations and recordings from the Chilean, South African and Namibian migration routes/mid-latitude feeding grounds revealed that individuals from at least three humpback whale breeding populations most likely migrate to shared feeding grounds in the ASSO. Humpback whales from different populations potentially mix at different times (i.e., years) at feeding hotspots in variable locations. The ASSO seems to provide sufficient prey resources and seems to present an important area for both cultural and maybe even genetic exchange between populations supporting the maintenance of large gene pools. Assuming that multi-population feeding hotspots are also suitable habitat for krill and other krill-dependent predators, these areas in the ASSO should be carefully managed integrating population, ecosystem and fisheries management.

Composing with cetaceans: Countering human exceptionalism through a practical zoömusicology

There is something paradoxical about the fact that while whales and dolphins produce some of the most complex vocalizations on Earth, they have little political representation or ‘voice’ and despite the success of past anti-whaling campaigns, continue to face existential threats from entanglement, ship strikes and underwater noise pollution. In this article, I argue that this paradox is sustained by a belief in human exceptionalism – exemplified by the claim that music is unique to humans – and review biological and musicological evidence that contradicts this claim. Overcoming the paradox may require more than logical argument, however, and I survey the use of humpback whale song field recordings in works of human music, analysing them along the dimensions of ‘distance’ and ‘difference’. I argue that although it is important to recognize the continuity between human music and humpback song, a more effective use of whale song recordings also requires attention to be paid to the differences between human and whale vocalizations to avoid the risk of collapsing into naïve anthropomorphism. Such an animalcentric compositional voice would operate according to the ideals of ‘difference without distance’ and ‘proximity without indifference’ to facilitate empathic relationships between humans and other animals.

Seasonal turnover of avian community assembly in a highly fragmented Tumbesian dry forest of southwestern Ecuador

ABSTRACT Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened and yet the most biodiverse Neotropical ecosystems. However, current patterns of biological occupancy in these forests remain poorly studied. Here, we document the diversity, patterns of seasonal turnover and change of species composition over time of birds in a highly exploited but protected tropical dry forest of southwestern Ecuador, Bosque Protector Puyango. Using a combination of mist netting, song recording and direct observations, we surveyed the study site over a 2-month period of fieldwork during both the dry and rainy seasons. We then performed a literature review of the species reported in this site and compared the changes in composition over time using a historical survey. One hundred sixty-one species of birds belonging to 40 families were recorded inside the area. One hundred and six species were found in this survey and 55 were recovered from the literature. Seasonality did not significantly affect species abundance and richness; however, species dominance changed notably. Although the overall species richness of the site has been maintained, we found an overwhelming change of species composition during the last two decades in this forest. Our results show that this highly threatened forest still hosts a unique high avian diversity. Conservation actions should be encouraged in the region, motivating the local communities to develop non-extractive economic practices, such as birdwatching and ecotourism.