Spontaneous Singing Research Articles

Male hyraxes increase song complexity and duration in the presence of alert individuals

The goal of vocal communication is the efficient delivery of signals to a target audience. Long and complex vocalizations are especially challenging because they are subject to environmental interference and may incur significant costs for the signaler. One of the various ways of increasing the efficiency of signal delivery is enhancement of communicational efforts only when potential audience is perceived nearby in an attempt to maximize the benefit over the cost of signaling (audience effect). Another way is signaling subsequently to events that intensify individual alertness in order to ensure audience attentiveness and sensitivity to the transmitted information. Rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) are social mammals that use complex acoustic signals to communicate. Adult male hyraxes produce elaborate vocalizations (known as songs) that serve as honest advertisements of their quality. By combining analysis of male hyrax songs recorded in the field over a period of 11 years and playback experiments, we found that songs performed during and following attention-grabbing events (agonistic interactions, alarm calls, predator presence, and songs performed as a reply to conspecific singing) have an increased structural and syntactic complexity in comparison to spontaneous singing. Male hyraxes demonstrate a cognitive ability to optimize their advertising efforts in response to multiple types of events. This signaling strategy exploits the effective communication window created by attention-grabbing events and by the presence of an alert audience to delivers structurally and syntactically enhanced signal. To our knowledge, this is the first report of syntactic complexity of vocal signaling being altered following various triggers that change conspecifics mental state in terrestrial mammals.

Are Different Song Types used in Different Contexts in Brownish-flanked Bush Warblers?

The repertoires of most songbirds consist of two or more different song types. Studies on a growing number of species have indicated that song types are used selectively in different contexts. For example, two bush warblers (Cettia diphone and C. cettia) use song types selectively in spontaneous singing and playback-evoked singing. Most male brownish-flanked bush warblers (C. fortipes) have two distinct song types. In this study, we tested whether these two song types are used selectively in different contexts. Most frequency and temporal variables are significantly different between these two song types, but neither song type is used more frequently during or after playback compared to spontaneous singing. Additionally, males did not respond differently to the two song types during playback experiments. In conclusion, these two song types differ significantly in both frequency and temporal variables, but we did not find any evidence that they are used selectively in different contexts. Comparing two related bush warblers (C. diphone and C. cettia) that selectively use different song types in different contexts, our study offers further evidence that avian vocalization is a plastic characteristic and can vary considerably, even among closely related species.

Donepezil-Induced Mania

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article LettersFull AccessDonepezil-Induced ManiaSarah Wicklund, M.D., and Mark Wright, M.D.Sarah WicklundDepartment of Psychiatry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WISearch for more papers by this author, M.D., and Mark WrightDepartment of Psychiatry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WISearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Jul 2012https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11070160AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail To the Editor: The central cholinergic system is believed to play a role in mood disorders, with inhibition of cholinergic activity correlating with mania and facilitation with depression.1 In contrast, six cases of mania related to treatment with donepezil, a centrally-acting acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, have been reported in the literature.2–4 We report a woman who developed mania after starting donepezil.“Mrs. W,” a 65-year-old woman with no personal or family history of mental illness, presented with a several day history of insomnia, hyperreligiosity, and agitation. She had a 6- to 12-month history of worsening cognitive dysfunction, personality changes, and functional impairment. Cognitive examination demonstrated recent-memory impairment and executive dysfunction.Laboratory evaluation, including TSH, MMA, cortisol, RPR, HIV, and serum cryptococcal antigen, was unremarkable. An electroencephalogram was normal. CT and MRI of the brain showed left cerebellar encephalomalacia, white-matter microvascular disease, and lacunar disease in the basal ganglia.The mania did not resolve with discontinuation of donepezil and treatment with low dose quetiapine, and the patient was transferred to a psychiatric hospital 6 days after admission. She was started on donepezil 5 mg daily for suspected Alzheimer’s disease 5 days before presentation.The patient had had a cerebellar stroke 8 years earlier and had hypertension, type II diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. She was noncompliant with all medical medications except clopidogrel.On examination, she acknowledged elevated mood and energy levels. Hypergraphia, pressured speech, and spontaneous singing were noted. Thought examination revealed over-inclusiveness, religious preoccupation, and grandiose delusions.The six patients reported previously who developed mania with donepezil ranged in age from 50 to 78. Four were women; five carried diagnoses of dementia; and one had cognitive impairment related to a cerebral aneurysm and repair. Two patients had histories of bipolar I disorder, and two had depression. Four were on other medications that can cause mania (antidepressants, carbidopa/levodopa). Mania developed in most patients within 1 week of donepezil initiation, and resolved in most within 1 week of discontinuation. Our patient resembled previous reported cases wherein she was elderly, had vascular dementia, and developed mania within days of starting donepezil. It is unclear how donepezil may induce mania; one possibility is an increase in acetylcholine leading to changes in norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, or other neurotransmitters.5 Our case and those previously reported suggest that donepezil could precipitate mania in the context of cerebrovascular or other brain diseases, mood disorders, and/or treatment with other medications that can cause mania.Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI The Authors report no conflicting financial relationships.References1 Janowsky DS, el-Yousef MK, Davis JM, et al.: A cholinergic-adrenergic hypothesis of mania and depression. Lancet 1972; 2:632–635Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar2 Benazzi F: Mania associated with donepezil. J Psychiatry Neurosci 1999; 24:468–469Medline, Google Scholar3 Collins C, Copeland B, Croucher M: Bipolar affective disorder, type II, apparently precipitated by donepezil. Int Psychogeriatr 2011; 23:503–504Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar4 Rao V, Ovitt L, Robbins B: Donepezil induced hypomania. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 2008; 20:107Link, Google Scholar5 Decker MW, McGaugh JL: The role of interactions between the cholinergic system and other neuromodulatory systems in learning and memory. Synapse 1991; 7:151–168Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byAcetylcholinesterase Inhibitors in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Role of Acetylcholinesterase in their Pathogenesis27 August 2021 | International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 22, No. 17Psiquiatría Biológica, Vol. 26, No. 3Case Reports in Psychiatry, Vol. 2018Cholinesterase inhibitors and affective symptomsMiddle East Current Psychiatry, Vol. 24, No. 3Donepezil-associated manic episode with psychotic features: a case report and review of the literatureGeneral Hospital Psychiatry, Vol. 38Compulsive versifying after treatment of transient epileptic amnesia26 August 2014 | Neurocase, Vol. 21, No. 5Academic Radiology, Vol. 22, No. 8Donepezil-Associated Mania in Two Patients Who Were Using Donepezil Without a PrescriptionJournal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol. 34, No. 6Donepezil-Induced Mania3 March 2014 | The Consultant Pharmacist, Vol. 29, No. 3Reactions Weekly, Vol. 1432, No. 1 Volume 24Issue 3 Summer 2012Pages E27-E27 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 July 2012 Published in print 1 July 2012

A Heart of Flesh: Beyond “Creative Liturgy”

A Heart of Flesh: Beyond “Creative Liturgy” Catherine Madsen In the mid‐1980s, a young acting student, Thomas Richards, took a two‐week workshop in California with the great Polish director Jerzy Grotowski. Grotowski was the intellectual heir of Konstantin Stanislavski and the founder of laboratory theater, a school of acting based on intensive improvisation and concentrated emotional power. His aim was to create what he called “a poor theatre,” in which the actor’s sharply honed skills took the place of elaborate sets and props. Sometimes he spoke of a “holy theatre,” whose spareness and intensity could raise performance to the level of ritual. As a first assignment in the workshop, Grotowski asked Richards and the other students to show him what they thought they would be doing there. They put together a short piece that involved spontaneous singing, chanting, dancing, and running barefoot into the prickly desert. To their confusion, Grotowski denounced these initial attempts as “universal human banalities” (20) and sent three of them off to renew their tetanus shots. For the first solo assignment, each student was to compose a brief “mystery play” built on a traditional song from childhood. Richards put together a sequence of symbolic actions to express his feelings for his father, added some unrehearsed elements at the last minute, and gave a performance he felt as cathartic, soul‐baring and exhausting. Grotowski watched him impassively and said simply, “Please repeat.” As Richards discovered over the next two weeks through much humiliating critique, Grotowski’s use of improvisation was not at all free‐form and spontaneous. It was highly structured and painstakingly revised. It ruthlessly cannibalized past experience and spontaneous emotion for clear and repeatable moves. Richards had assumed that emotional intensity would communicate itself simply by being intense; as it turned out, his audience only saw him working himself into a frenzy for no intelligible reason. Long afterward—by this time having worked as Grotowski’s assistant for several years—Richards reflected, “I had mistaken agitated nerves for true emotions; I had avoided true practical work, and tried to pump an emotional state” (36). Anyone familiar with contemporary liberal Jewish liturgy will recognize some of the same beginners’ mistakes. The quick and uncritical construction, the emphasis on kavvanah or “intention,” the assumption that feeling conveys itself automatically, the effort to generate ecstatic states without first having laid a solid structural groundwork: these are more or less the working methods of the Jewish Renewal movement, feminist experimental liturgy, the current Reconstructionist siddur, and (minus the ecstatic states) liberal Jewish interpretive prayer generally. The emphasis is on “having a liturgical experience,” not on “performing a liturgical act,” and the Orthodox sense of fulfilling a liturgical obligation is out of the picture. Yet an experience is not always available for the asking. Even kavvanah cannot be reliably summoned, and is apt to evaporate at the fatal imperative, “Please repeat.” Liturgy differs from theater in several obvious ways. It is meant for participants, not for spectators; it is slower‐moving and less compactly dramatic; it is in no sense an entertainment but makes a direct, naked effort to intervene in our lives. Theater, like literature generally, operates at one remove from actually giving commands. In this sense, liturgy is not and cannot be a purely literary form. But liturgy shares with theater the need for aesthetic and psychological coherence. The participant in liturgy, like the audience at a play, must have the sense of being expertly guided. Inept writing, sudden gratuitous political gestures, and a sweet tooth for novelty—those hallmarks of contemporary “creative liturgy”—produce neither holy theater nor durable prayer. The leopards in Kafka’s parable break into the temple so dependably that they finally become part of the ritual, but there are kavvanot that will never be more than irritants no matter how often we hear them. On what basis can “creative liturgy” be evaluated? Does it want to be evaluated? It turns away critique with those two dread adjectives, elitist and judgmental. But repetition leads inevitably to evaluation. A one‐time audience may not be highly critical of the play, but the actors who must produce the same effects night after night...

Singing, allogrooming, and allomarking behaviour during inter- and intra-sexual encounters in the Neotropical short-tailed singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina)

AbstractIn this study we determine whether brief interactions with unfamiliar conspecifics stimulate audible singing behaviour in the Neotropical short-tailed singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina). Specifically, we examine whether intra- or inter-sexual interactions elicit singing in males in a neutral-arena design. We conducted two experiments. In experiment 1, we recorded singing behaviour of male subjects both before and after a brief exposure to a female mouse. Males significantly increased their singing behaviour after the exposure to the female, as compared to prior to the exposure. In experiment 2, we compared the singing behaviour of male test subjects after a brief exposure with one of three different treatment animals: a male, a non-oestrous female and an oestrous female. We found that males are most likely to sing after an interaction with a female, regardless of her reproductive condition. Male subjects sang significantly less following an interaction with another male. Although spontaneous singing is known to occur in males and females, opposite sex elicited-singing behaviour was found to be sexually dimorphic. An interaction with a male was not effective in eliciting singing in females. In experiment 2, we also recorded incidences of allogrooming and allomarking by males during the interactions with males, non-oestrous females, and oestrous females. Male allogrooming and allomarking behaviours using the mid-ventral sebaceous gland tend to occur more frequently during interactions with females as compared to males, but were significantly different only in the case of allogrooming. Thus, this study clearly suggests sex differences in singing, allogrooming and allomarking, and a likely relationship between these behaviours and courtship in this Neotropical rodent.

Song length variation serves multiple functions in the white-crowned sparrow

A wide variety of hypotheses has been proposed to explain the structural diversity in bird song repertoires. Song diversity is frequently described in terms of song “types” or within-type “variants.” Male Puget Sound white-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis, produce variants of their single adult song type by altering the number of repetitions of syllables in the terminal trill. We tested whether variation in trill length correlated with distance to the receiver and with signaling context as predicted by the eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis and the strategic signaling hypothesis. In accordance with the eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis, males sang variants with shorter trills, and sang quieter and less frequently when near their mate during the incubation phase than during spontaneous singing while unpaired. Males also sang variants with short trills, but at a high rate and variable amplitude when within 10 m of an opponent during close male–male territorial interactions. In agreement with the strategic signaling hypothesis, males decreased trill length immediately before chasing an opponent, but did not change length consistently prior to flight. We conclude that the occurrence of short quiet songs sung near the mate agrees with predictions of the eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis, while short songs sung near other males are best explained by the strategic signaling hypothesis. Trill length variation may be a conventional signal of aggressive intentions in male–male contests stabilized by receiver-imposed retaliation costs.

Engaging Auditory Modalities through the Use of Music in Information Literacy Instruction

The human body is composed of multiple sensory modalities, and each of them engages a different part of the brain when stimulated. A common assumption of learning theory is that individuals prefer some sensory paths over others for learning, hence the distinction between kinesthetic, verbal, visual, and aural learners. (1) Multiple intelligences and learning style theory suggest that teachers engage the widest variety of learners in the classroom by offering differentiated instruction using multiple sensory cues. Research also suggests that all learners benefit from multiple sensory stimuli in learning regardless of their learning preferences because the brain operates at its best in complex environments. We know the brain is designed to process many inputs at once--in fact, it actually prefers it so much, a slower linear pace actually reduces understanding. (2) Thus a differentiated learning environment that activates multiple sensory paths not only accommodates the particular learning preferences of individuals, it also enhances learning for everyone. Aural learners prefer learning through hearing. They are particularly receptive to auditory stimuli that involve tone, rhythm, and pitch. Recommendations for providing aural stimuli in the classroom often have been confined to using music as a memorization device (singing the alphabet, for example) or playing background music to enhance the general learning environment. This article will suggest more meaningful ways to use music to teach information literacy (IL) skills and demonstrate that incorporating music is an excellent means for adding interest, variability, and inquiry learning into IL instruction. EXTENDING CLASSROOM LEARNING WITH MUSIC Because of the constraints on information professionals' access to learners, IL instruction often occurs in brief, standalone sessions, sometimes called one-shots in the literature. (3) The one-shot instructional session is a convenient format conducive to the thinly stretched schedules of professors, librarians, and students; however, it has several drawbacks. Incorporating music into IL instruction may ameliorate some of those drawbacks by providing a creative and efficient means for stimulating an additional sensory path to engage the brain in The first drawback of the one-shot session is time. The traditional fifty to seventy-five minutes allotted for instruction is hardly conducive to achieving complex IL learning outcomes. Kenny calls the one-shot a trailer for the full-length feature ... the ultimate goal for a one-shot ... session is to have students actively engage with the librarians and library resources to provide a glimpse into the many ways the library supports student learning. (4) Librarians often find their teaching methods constrained by time and struggle to address IL beyond the skills-building level of training. A common cultural construct, such as music, is useful in providing starting points for analogy and metaphor building, which increases conceptual While neither the instructor nor the students may have formally studied music, human beings are inherently musical. Studies have shown that rhythmic intelligence is the first of the intelligences to develop: The rhythm of the maternal heart beat and other external sounds, such as music, penetrate the womb and stimulate fetal response. (5) By the age of one, children of all cultural backgrounds engage in spontaneous singing (prior even to attaining language), and by age five they are already familiar with musical patterns and recognize when unexpected musical events occur. (6) Most students, even international students, have grown up surrounded by examples of Western music, from Happy Birthday to the international reach of pop music to the near-ubiquitous Christmas carols. By making connections to music, a subject with which students are already familiar, librarians help students extend their knowledge base more expediently. …

Stress coping styles and singing behavior in the short-tailed singing mouse ( Scotinomys teguina)

Stress coping styles have been characterized as a proactive/reactive dichotomy in laboratory and domesticated animals. In this study, we examined the prevalence of proactive/reactive stress coping styles in wild-caught short-tailed singing mice ( Scotinomys teguina). We compared stress responses to spontaneous singing, a social and reproductive behavior that characterizes this species. To establish proactive/reactive profiles for singing mice, we measured exploratory and anxiety behavior using an open-field behavioral test. We examined correlations between open-field behaviors and fecal corticosterone (CORT) metabolites, baseline plasma CORT, and stress-induced CORT. Mice with proactive behavioral responses in the open-field had higher fecal CORT titers than reactive males, but did not differ in baseline or stress-induced plasma CORT. We suggest that individual differences in CORT metabolism may contribute to this surprising pattern. Males that sang in the open-field were behaviorally proactive and had lower stress-induced CORT, indicating a link between stress responses and singing in this species. Overall, the data demonstrate that singing mice offer an interesting model for exploring how stress reactivity can shape social behaviors.

Maḥazor Ha-Ḥayyim:Life-Cycle Celebration in the Song of the Ashkenazic Synagogue

Joyous life-cycle events celebrated by American Ashkenazic Jews, especially those belonging to the more liberal denominations, invariably conclude with the singing of the wordssiman tov u-mazal tov, yehei lanu u-lekhol yisra'eil(May it bring good luck to us and to all Israel). Whether after the long anxious minutes of theberit milah, the struggle of the youngster through the Hebrew text and trope of thehaftarah, the calling up of the bridegroom (and the bride as well in most non-Orthodox synagogues) at anaufruf, or the breaking of the glass at a wedding, the spontaneous singing serves as a catharsis to relieve the built-up tensions of the communal ritual event as well as to express an outpouring of joy.

Predictive Utility of the Computer-based Music Perception Assessment for Children (CMPAC)

A Computer-based Music Perception Assessment for Children (CMPAC) was designed and administered to 49 children (31 elementary school children; 18 hospitalized children) for the purpose of field testing and standardization. CMPAC is conceptualized as an assessment tool that yields information important to music therapists regarding children's listening and musically-related behavior: These behaviors include information on music choices and the effect of music on behavior (e.g., spontaneous singing or movement). The assessment involves children "clicking on" pictures that represent genres of children's music and listening to brief musical excerpts. Musical genres on CMPAC included songs from Sesame Street, the Animaniacs, Hap Palmer, Barney, and Disney. As part of the assessment, CMPAC generates three types of data about a child's listening behaviors: (a) the frequency with which the child listens to specific songs; (b) the duration of time the child spends listening to music; and (c) the order (or chronology) in which the child listens to specific songs. Additionally, the music therapist administering CMPAC records descriptive observations of the child's listening behavior (e.g., the child sings along to the music, the child moves during music listening, the child appears easily distracted by noises/activities in the hall, the child indiscriminately clicks [or repeatedly clicks] on a picture of music without attending to the music, etc.). Data obtained from field testing and from the clinical dispositions of 10 music therapists examining data output was subjected to statistical analysis in order to determine the predictive utility of CMPAC. Results suggest that CMPAC is a useful and valid assessment for assisting music therapists in making referral decisions for hospitalized children.

Young children as active participants in the investigation of teaching and learning

SUMMARY Gathering data about children's development and learning has long been the domain of adults. However, there is increasing interest in including children's voices in their education and, a more challenging task, in research that impacts on educational practice and policy making. Techniques such as Instant Video Revisiting (IVR) offer a way for children's voices to be heard. In this paper, we discuss the use of IVR in investigations of young children and their symbol systems. Four year old children are offered opportunities to comment directly upon their experience in shared book reading and spontaneous singing. We discuss the opportunities offered by IVR and comment on the challenges faced by children, teachers and researchers when there is no shared meta-language for discussion.

Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age (review)

Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age. By Jerma A. Jackson. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. [xii, 193 p. ISBN 0-8078-2860-2. $18.95.] Illustrations, index, bibliography. Since original publication of Anthony Heilbut's The Gospel Sound in 1971, there have been not more than a handful of well-researched histories of twentieth-century African American religious music, nor have there been many good biographies of major figures in gospel music. Jerma A. Jackson's Singing in My Soul is somewhat disappointing, because it has makings of either a groundbreaking study of role of women as musical missionaries in African American churches, or a thoughtful biography of controversial gospel singer-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, but is instead an uneasy combination of two. That said, Singing in My Soul is an important, if unfocused, analysis of tradition of female solo singer in African American religious music, a line that goes through Tharpe to Sallie Martin, Mahalia Jackson, Bessie Griffin, Shirley Caesar, and countless others. Jackson, an assistant professor of at University of North Carolina, states the thought of writing a dissertation about music seemed daunting when knowledge of subject was virtually nonexistent. She received a fellowship from Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where she met folklorist-performer Bernice Johnson Reagon, who introduced me to world of early gospel and put a tape recorder in my hand and insisted that this project hinged on history (p. ix). Jackson's inexperience with both early gospel recordings and collection and analysis of are evident in writing, where these elements are less than cohesive. Jackson has conflated oral history with interview material; rather than allowing narratives, primarily taken from members of black churches in 1940s and 1950s, to tell their own particular story, they are used more as color to confirm information already gathered from secondary sources. And while her analysis of early gospel recordings is revealing, Jackson makes conclusions about these records outside context in which these recordings were made. Chapter 1, Exuberance or Restraint, examines role of religious music in black life after Reconstruction, especially as African Americans began establishing national church organizations. The National Baptist Convention, led by members of black middle class, denounced emotional religion of slave culture and promoted education and restraint (p. 12). Rather than following in call-and-response lining-out tradition of slave hymns, they used hymnbooks and choirs that severely limited spontaneous singing. A new denomination, Church of God in Christ (COGIC), arose at turn of last century, which tied early Christian practices with ecstatic worship of slave-era African Americans. It should not be surprising, then, that first stars of gospel music came out of this denomination, also known as Holiness Church or (derogatorily) as Holy Rollers. Chapter 2, I Just Do What Lord Say, looks at role of women in Holiness Church, in particular as musical missionaries. While leadership of Church of God in Christ was almost entirely men, women made up majority in pews. …

Verbal Processing within the Music Therapy Relationship

ABSTRACT: This article is intended to establish an introductory foundation for the continued development of theory and methods in the use of verbal processing in music therapy. Verbal processing may contribute toward client awareness of internal sensations, feelings and thoughts related to external events and relationships, as well as contribute toward therapist understanding of the affective, cognitive and relational material which surfaces during the musical experiences in music therapy. In addition to these functions, verbal processing provides a means for the music therapist to gather information, to test an observation, provide assessment information, stimulate activity within a therapy group, or provide feedback that can enable a return to the music. Issues that may present as resistances to the music therapist's use of verbal processing will also be explored. Case examples are provided to present demonstrations and application of the purposes of verbal processing. Finally, the article concludes with suggestions that may help the music therapist's focus on the direction of intervention in the use of verbal processing. It is suggested that music therapists continue to develop methods of verbal processing since it seems to be an integral part of a great deal of music therapy practice. Verbal processing, for the purposes of this paper, relates to the talking that facilitates the therapeutic process during, and in response to, music making or music listening. Two purposes are suggested for the use of verbal processing in music therapy. First, verbal processing provides the opportunity to increase awareness or understanding about internal (thoughts, observations, and feelings) and external events (within the music and interpersonal areas of experience). Thus, verbal processing allows for the client to integrate non-verbal with verbal realms of experience, such as when a client develops awareness, or a connection, between personal and interpersonal events experienced through the music therapy process and patterns that occur in his or her everyday world (Nolan, 1989, p. 177). A second suggested purpose of verbal processing is that it can provide the therapist with a way to gather additional information. This verbal information may verify and/or broaden the therapist's understanding of the client. Or, information gleaned from the verbal processing may contradict, or contrast, with information derived from musical experiences. In this later purpose, verbal processing may also help the music therapist become aware of countertransference material. As a result of verbal processing, the client and the therapist are able to re-enter into the musical experience (expressive or receptive) with new insights, and a more developed therapeutic alliance. This article explores verbal processing from both of these suggested perspectives. The ideas and suggestions in this article are based primarily upon the author's twenty five years of music therapy clinical experience with adults and children in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and medical settings and through clinical and academic supervisory experience as a music therapy clinical training director and university educator. References from the literature serve to reinforce the author's perspective and to demonstrate diversity in the practice of verbal processing in music therapy. Verbal processing may occur in a wide range of expressive and receptive, also known as active and passive, music therapy approaches. At times, verbal processing may include only the therapist's words or may occur in the form of the client or therapist's spontaneous singing (Austin, 2001 ). It is not restricted to spoken discourse. It is not used as a literal translation of the musical events into words. Therapist and client discussion ought not to shadow the aesthetic, spiritual, and other ineffable manifestations of the music playing or listening experience. In some music therapy orientations, or approaches, it is believed that verbal processing is contraindicated or unnecessary due to the tenant that the musical experience intrinsically contains all that is needed for client change or growth. …

Effect of Speech Task on Intelligibility in Dysarthria: A Case Study of Parkinson's Disease

This study assessed intelligibility in a dysarthric patient with Parkinson's disease (PD) across five speech production tasks: spontaneous speech, repetition, reading, repeated singing, and spontaneous singing, using the same phrases for all but spontaneous singing. The results show that this speaker was significantly less intelligible when speaking spontaneously than in the other tasks. Acoustic analysis suggested that relative intensity and word duration were not independently linked to intelligibility, but dysfluencies (from perceptual analysis) and articulatory/resonance patterns (from acoustic records) were related to intelligibility in predictable ways. These data indicate that speech production task may be an important variable to consider during the evaluation of dysarthria. As speech production efficiency was found to vary with task in a patient with Parkinson's disease, these results can be related to recent models of basal ganglia function in motor performance.

Voices of Hate, Sounds of Hybridity: Black Music and the Complexities of Racism

It is worth stating obvious. The music of African diaspora is not a recent import to Europe; rather, it has been an integral part of numerous European societies since eighteenth century. In England, these sounds were introduced through hands and voices of slave musicians, jubilee singers, jazz orchestras, reggae sound-system operators, and hip-hop DJs. It is--or should be--impossible to think about social history of Europe in general, or England in particular, without understanding place of black music within it. In Victorian England, sounds of jubilees and were assimilated across lines of class and political division. Karl Marx, who lived in London for over thirty years, would render German folk-songs and Negro spirituals while walking with his daughters in Highgate (Wheen 1999, 221). The Fisk Jubilee Singers enjoyed adulation from aristocrats and paupers alike. They entertained Queen Victoria and Prime Minister William Gladstone (Gilroy 1993, 90), and their memoir recounts a particularly eventful concert introduced by Earl of Shaftesbury at annual meeting of Freedmen's Mission Aid society, City Temple, London, on May 31, 1875: So great was gathering about building that to get even to doors was a formidable task, and chairman, Lord Shaftesbury, was delayed some minutes in reaching platform by difficulty of penetrating dense crowd that filled corridors. In ascending stand his eye caught sight of singers in gallery, whom he greeted with a cordial salutation, and in his remarks on taking chair he said: am delighted to see so large a congregation of citizens of London come to offer a renewal of their hospitality to these noble brethren and sisters of ours, who are here to-night to charm us with their sweet songs. They have returned here, not for anything in their own behalf, but to advance interests of coloured race in America, and then to what in them lies to send missionaries of their own colour to nations spread over Africa. When I find these young people, gifted to an extent that does not often fall to lot of man, coming here in such a spirit. I don't want them to become white, but I have a strong disposition myself to become black. If I thought colour was anything--if it brought with it their truth, piety, and talent, I would willingly exchange my complexion to-morrow. (Marsh 1900, 79-80). It is strange, a century later, to read that sounds of black gospel moved this peer of realm to indulge in a fantasy of self-transformation. Doug Seroff has documented a parallel story of infatuation with gospel singing at other end of social scale. He points out that another legacy of Fisk visit was formation of groups of white working-class jubilee singers. One such choir was formed in Hackney, in east London. Thirty young singers from local Ragged School toured London, raising money for Hackney Mission, in 1875--the same year that Earl of Shaftesbury introduced Fisk Singers on London stage (Seroff 1986, 48). Although Marx may have cheerfully lent his voice to spiritual melodies, reaction by twentieth-century European Marxists to black music was often less than positive. Theodor Adorno's criticism is perhaps best known, particularly for his denunciation of jazz and recorded music. Adorno's argument is easily misrepresented, in large part due to his own rhetorical excesses (for example, in one article entitled Uber Jazz, he wrote that jazz most closely resembled the spontaneous singing of servant girls [Adorno 1990, 53]). His objection is sometimes characterized as rooted in a racially loaded form of European aesthetics, but such attempts to read his position through some kind of implicit racial bad sense risk missing an important nuance in his argument. …

Song type switching in the chaffinch,Fringilla coelebs: timing or counting?

The song of many bird species is relatively constant in form, yet each bird has more than one song type, making it an excellent model for studies of the mechanisms underlying switching between behaviour patterns. The chaffinch is a good example. Males sing with eventual variety, repeating each song type in the repertoire a few times before switching to another type. The mechanism triggering these switches is not known. We investigated long continuous recordings of spontaneous singing by six wild males to test two hypotheses: (1) that a maximum number of repetitions limits bout length; or (2) that a switch occurs after a song type bout reaches a maximum duration (‘time window’). Strong evidence was found for a temporal limitation: song type bouts with many repetitions were delivered only at a fast rate, whereas bouts consisting of few songs were delivered either fast or slow.

Pitch abilities in music and language of Cantonese-speaking children

The relationship between musical and linguistic pitch abilities in young children was explored. Developmental research demonstrated that abilities in pitch perception and production in early music and language development are closely integrated. Cross-cultural evidence also illustrated the influence of language characteristics on music, children's songs and spontaneous singing. A close examination into the singing ability of the Cantonese-speaking children in Hong Kong showed that pitch abilities in language can possibly enhance pitch accuracy in singing. It was therefore suggested that musical and linguistic abilities should be encouraged in close connection during early childhood.

Singing Behavior, Song Types on Their Wintering Grounds and the Question of Leap-Frog Migration in Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrows

Singing behavior in Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetenis on their wintering grounds in California was studied. Additionally syllables from songs of overwintering birds were compared to syllables in songs recorded previously on their breeding grounds in an effort to identify wintering grounds of dialectal populations. Much singing was recorded from recently arrived birds in the fall. At least some spontaneous singing was recorded every month of the year. However, singing decreased in December and increased in February, probably in response to increasing day lengths. Song development was complete or almost so in some juveniles recorded upon arrival in California. At least some birds responded to playback with singing during all months on the wintering grounds, however, responses peaked during arrival in the fall and before departure for the breeding grounds in the spring. At each wintering locality, several dialects were sung, indicating that more northerly breeding populations do not leap-frog and winter south of more southerly breeding populations. The resident Z. l. nuttalli sometimes borrow elements from wintering Z. l. pugetenis to construct «hybrid» themes. However, syllables from alien dialects are soon lost from the population due to match-countersinging by Z. l. nuttalli males

Variation in the Song of the Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus Paludicola in Response To Playback of Different Song Structures

Songs of the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) can be classified on a structural basis into three main types, A, B and C. A songs are the shortest, and consist of one, simple phrase. B songs consist of the same simple phrase, followed by a second more complex phrase. C songs are the longest and most complex, consisting of more than two such phrases. During spontaneous singing, males produced approximately equal numbers of B and C songs. During playback, males produced hardly any C songs, about the same number of B songs, and large numbers of A songs. The number of A songs produced was inversely correlated with distance of approach to the speaker. When a mixture of A and B songs were played, males produced more A songs in response but did not approach so near to the speaker. When only C songs were played, males produced fewer A songs but approached closer to the speaker. The evidence suggest that A songs are only used as a short range aggressive signal, and B songs mainly as a long range territorial proclamation. Although there was no direct evidence, C songs may function as a long range sexual attractant. When studies on other Acrocephalus species are also considered, the overall trend is for intrasexual selection to produce short, simple territorial songs and intersexual selection to produce longer, more complex songs for mate attraction.

Song types in the corn buntingEmberiza calandra: Matching and discrimination

Corn Bunting populations in Central England have 2 song types, during spontaneous singing they are sung approximately equally frequently and in bouts. Playback of song does not elicit song matching. The tendency to approach the source of playback wanes with repeated presentation of song — the birds habituate. The approach response is restored by playback of the other song type (dishabituation) — evidence that Corn Buntings can discriminate between song types. The functional significance of song types and the reason for differences in song type use between British and European populations remain unclear.