The Appearance of the “Ideal” and Other Topoi in Bartók’s Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano nos. 1–2

The early Violin Concerto (1907–1908) dedicated to the young violinist, Stefi Geyer, is regarded as one of the most personal compositions by Béla Bartók. The transparent structure, and the ethereal, unearthly tone of the first movement, probably inspired by Stefi Geyer’s playing, belongs to the warmest and most intimate tone used by the composer. Presumably, its re-emergence in certain passages of the two Violin-Piano Sonatas (1921 and 1922) was not by chance. It might have been the composer’s reaction to Jelly d’Arányi’s violin playing that evoked the memory of the early concerto and its source of inspiration. However, despite their similarities the “ideal” tone of the Sonatas is not the same as that in the Violin Concerto. It is still recognisable, but it has a different, perhaps more mature character and, furthermore, within the material surrounding it, we can detect the kernel of those Bartókian types which gain their definite form only in his 1926 emblematic piano pieces, for instance some elements of his “night music” type, his mourning song type, and some characteristic traits of his “chase” music. In the present article, besides following the process of transformation of the “ideal,” I make an attempt to identify the newly developed musical types, and to find an explanation of all these changes.

Using Song Dialects to Assess the Migration Strategy of the Golden-crowned Sparrow

Most techniques used to study migration of wild birds require capture for banding or for attachment and/or recovery of tags or transmitters. We took advantage of the fact that the Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) sings in winter, combined with published data on the distribution of its distinct song dialects in the breeding range, to assess its migration strategy and migratory connectivity by means of these dialects. Using recordings of the Golden-crowned Sparrow’s song across much of its winter range, we categorized these birds by song type to identify their likely origin in some subset of the breeding range. This method allows examination of migration without the need to capture birds. Our results fit best with a pattern of chain migration, with the northernmost breeders wintering in the northernmost part of the winter range, and the southerly breeders wintering farther south. The results suggest strong migratory connectivity between segments of the breeding and winter ranges, though our small sample size makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions on connectivity.

Song type variations of Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) and their geographic distributions

Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) is a familiar singer in the Western Hemisphere family Parulidae, yet apparent geographic variations in its song and potentially related causal mechanisms have not received detailed examination in previously published studies. Here, we analyzed song pattern variations of 651 Louisiana Waterthrush singers in audio spectrogram recordings obtained from our field work and publicly accessible bioacoustics archives. Visual and auditory assessment of the introductory note sequence of each song identified three distinct song types (A, B, and C) and most of the songs were assigned to one of these types. Linear Discriminant Analysis and Random Forest methods were used to verify the assignments and showed strong agreement for Type A with slightly less agreement on Types B and C. User error rates (proportion of the Linear Discriminant Analysis classifications that were incorrect) were low for Types A and B, and somewhat higher for Type C, while producer error rates (proportion of the song type for which the Linear Discriminant Analysis was incorrect) were somewhat higher for Types A and C than the minimal levels achieved for Type B. Our findings confirmed that most between-individual variation was in the number of notes and note sequence duration while most within-individual variation resulted from the percent of downstrokes. The location of each singer was plotted on a map of the breeding range and results suggested the song types have large-scale discrete geographic distributions that co-occur in some regions but not range-wide. Evaluation of the distributions provided tentative support for a hypothesis that two of the song types may independently exhibit congruence with the geographic extent of Pleistocene glacial boundaries and the third song type may be distinguished by a lack of congruence, but further investigation is needed to elucidate whether the song variations represent subpopulations with three separate evolutionary histories.

The communicative value of complex singing in passerine birds

Birdsong is one of the most complex signals in the animal world, as it may consist of many different sounds grouped according to certain rules. Singing acts as a distant signal, indicating, e.g., the species and gender identity of the singer. However, territorial songbirds also use singing as an interactive social signal during territorial disputes, as well while interacting with female. In these contexts, males vary the type and timing of their songs to convey graded information about their motivational state, and those variations can play a role in communication. In this review, we considered how male songbirds vary their singing in territorial context. To study such variations, researchers usually simulated territorial intrusion by broadcasting conspecific singing in territories, including singing modified in a manner necessary for the researcher. For comparison, we considered briefly how singing vary in intersexual context. The author of the paper focuses on the role of singing complexity in communication. Therefore, not all known context-dependent changes in singing are considered, but only those related to “complexity”: the diversity of song/sound types and the transitional patterns of different song/sound types in the course of singing. Our review has shown that males change their singing when they detect environmental changes such as the appearance of a female or a competitor as follows: 1) song rate increases, 2) syllable rate increases, 3) song-type switching rate increases, 4) song-type diversity increases (i.e., the observed repertoire size), and 5) longer and more complex songs are predominantly used. In some species, the song bout organization may also change, but the data is still scarce. Typically, one or more, but not all the aforementioned acoustic behaviors have been found in a given song-bird species. All these behaviors (tactics) come down to a single strategy, namely: maximizing the acoustic diversity over a short period of time (e.g., several minutes), that is, increasing the number of different song and/or note types. The proximate causes of how the increased acoustic diversity work in the territorial competition context might lie in a sensory, or perceptual bias of the receiver. Namely, habituation should occur to repeated presentation of the same song type faster than to presentation of different song types. Therefore, by vocalizing more diversely, males more effectively influence the signal recipient’s behavior.

Auditory perception of self and others in zebra finches: evidence from an operant discrimination task

Vocal communication is essential for social interactions in many animal species. For this purpose an animal has to perceive vocal signals of conspecifics and is often also required to discriminate conspecifics. The capacity to discriminate conspecifics is particularly important in social species in which individuals interact repeatedly. In addition, auditory perception of self plays an important role for vocal learners. It allows a vocal learner to memorise vocalisations of conspecifics and to subsequently modify its own vocalisations in order to match the memorised vocalisations. Here we investigated auditory perception of self and others in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), a highly gregarious songbird species and vocal learner. We used laboratory colonies in which founder males had been previously trained to produce the same song type. This resulted in artificial dialects in the song of founders and their offspring. We investigated whether those birds would be able to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics based on song. Furthermore, we examined whether they would classify their own song as familiar or unfamiliar. We found that birds were able to discriminate between songs of familiar versus unfamiliar conspecifics, despite the fact that all songs were imitations of the same song type. This suggests that such discrimination is possible even based on songs with a high acoustic similarity. None of the subjects classified their own song as unfamiliar. Three out of eight males classified their own song as familiar. Thus zebra finches might recognise their own song. Further experiments are needed to confirm such self-recognition.

The Influence of Perch Height Selection on Vocalization of Pied Triller, Lalage nigra (Aves: Campephagidae) in Suburban Landscapes, Sarawak

Understanding how birds utilised songs and calls to communicate among conspecifics is crucial for their survival, yet it remains an understudied area in bird ecology. We studied the influence of perch height selection on the vocalisation of Pied Triller, a common garden bird, in two suburban landscapes namely Pustaka Negeri Sarawak Recreational Park, Kuching and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak campus, Kota Samarahan from October 2018 to February 2019. Using a Marantz recorder connected to a parabolic reflector, we recorded calls and songs during morning (0630-1030 hr) and late afternoon (1600-1830 hr). Perch object, tree species, roost substrate and perch height from the ground were identified and measured. Clear and good quality spectrograms were used directly to describe song and call types. Photos and video recordings were analysed to describe perch behaviour. The vocal output representatives were then matched to the corresponding behaviour displayed. Our results revealed that Pied Trillers emit four different vocal outputs namely (i) song type, (ii) call type A, (iii) call type B and (iv) call type C. A total of nine behaviours were observed, of which the perch-hop behaviour was observed the most from both male and female Pied Trillers (33.71%), followed by perching (29.21%), foraging (20.22%), preening (7.78%), defecating (2.25%), eating (2.25%), roosting (2.25%), bill wipe (1.12%) and flight (1.12%). They prefer to roost on high perch to emit calls compared to songs. This probably suggest that Pied Triller prioritised vocal transmission and signalling to avoid being masked by surrounding anthropogenic noises and to avoid being conspicuous to potential predators. The most frequently visited perch object was the Weeping fig tree, Ficus benjamina. Keywords: Call, perch height, Pied Triller, song, suburban landscapes

A new blue whale song-type described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean

Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Indian Ocean (IO) are currently thought to represent 2 or 3 subspecies (B. m. intermedia, B. m. brevicauda, B. m. indica), and believed to be structured into 4 populations, each with a diagnostic song-type. Here we describe a previously unreported song-type that implies the probable existence of a population that has been undetected or conflated with another population. The novel song-type was recorded off Oman in the northern IO/Arabian Sea, off the western Chagos Archipelago in the equatorial central IO, and off Madagascar in the southwestern IO. As this is the only blue whale song that has been identified in the western Arabian Sea, we label it the ‘Northwest Indian Ocean’ song-type to distinguish it from other regional song-types. Spatiotemporal variation suggested a distribution west of 70°E, with potential affinity for the northern IO/Arabian Sea, and only minor presence in the southwestern IO. Timing of presence off Oman suggested that intensive illegal Soviet whaling that took 1294 blue whales in the 1960s likely targeted this population, as opposed to the more widely distributed ‘Sri Lanka’ acoustic population as previously assumed. Based upon geographic distribution and potential aseasonal reproduction found in the Soviet catch data, we suggest that if there is a northern IO subspecies (B. m. indica), it is likely this population. Moreover, the potentially restricted range, intensive historic whaling, and the fact that the song-type has been previously undetected, suggests a small population that is in critical need of status assessment and conservation action.

Regilaulude teema-analüüs: võimalusi ja väljakutseid / Topic analysis of Estonian runosongs: Prospects and challenges

Artikkel uurib regilaulu teema-analüüsi võimalusi teemade modelleerimise meetodi abil. Meetodi kasutamisel on probleemiks regilaulu keele piirkondlik varieeruvus. Laulutekstide esmane analüüs näitas, et sisukamaid tulemusi annab teema-analüüs ühtlasema keelega kogumite puhul. Lähemaks vaatluseks valitud Hiiumaa, Saaremaa ja Muhu laulude teema-analüüsil tuvastati 20 teemat, mis annavad kiire ülevaate vaadeldavate laulude temaatilisest struktuurist. Uurimus näitas, et tuvastatud teemad jaotuvad vaadeldud piirkonnas võrdlemisi ühtlaselt. Kuid arvutuslikud teemarühmad ei kattu üheselt regilaulu varasema liigitusega, arvestamata laulude žanrilisi erinevusi ning tuues esiplaanile vaadeldavas laulukogumis sagedamini esinevad laulutüübid. The article explores possibilities of computational topic analysis of Estonian runosong texts using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modelling. Runosong is an oral poetic tradition known among most of Finnic peoples. Estonian runosong texts, the material of the current research, have been collected mainly since 1880s and gathered into the Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum, where the runosong database with more than 100 000 texts has been compiled (Oras et al 2003–2020). Language of runosongs varies considerably across dialects and, in addition to that, it uses a specific archaic idiom different from the spoken language which complicates the computational analysis of the content aspects of the texts. Topic modelling is a method that enables to discover abstract topics detected statistically on the basis of the frequency of the co-occurrence of the words in the texts. In case of a runosong corpus, the method could be used to automatically detect the thematic structure of a large amount of runosong texts, to compare the thematic distribution of regional traditions of the runosong, and to analyse how the thematic distribution obtained with the help of computational methods relates to the classification of the texts resulting from folkloristic analysis. The idea of the current article is to explore whether topic modelling can give meaningful results if applied to unlemmatized and highly variative runosong texts. For LDA topic modelling I used the application MALLET (McCallum 2002). The initial trials with the whole corpus of runosong texts made it clear that the language of the songs is too variative to reach the level of content. It also became obvious that it is necessary to remove stopwords and refrain words. The topics, obtained from the runosongs from all over Estonia, represented dialectal variants of the language rather than thematic clusters and it was necessary to restrict the material. I used stylometric analysis (using R package stylo, Eder et al 2013) to divide the area into linguistically more homogenous subregions, and chose the area of Western islands of Estonia with 16 parishes and 3672 song texts for further explorations. With this material I decided to generate 20 topics. Within this smaller area the topics did not cluster regional language variants any more: (1) the linguistic variants of the main concepts of a topic were brought together under the keywords of the same topic; (2) in most cases, the detected topics were distributed among all the parishes included in the selection. Looking at the 20 keywords, the topics indeed seemed to reflect certain thematic subgroups of the songs. In several cases the most prominent song type of a topic was reflected in keywords, in other cases the keywords referred to larger groups of songs. Five of the 20 topics focused on weddings, more precisely, on different episodes of the wedding ritual: adornation and dressing, arriving and greeting, finding the bride and taking her to her new home, sharing the presents prepared by the bride, and recommendations to the bride and the groom. In all these topics the verbs refer either to the present or the future (rather than to the past which is common in narrative songs). A topic of swinging songs includes also the songs about dancing and feasts. Five topics focus on different narrative plots about the troubles of young people, about wooing and marriage. Lyric songs about the life of orphans and about singing form a separate topic each, and there is a separate male topic covering the songs of various genres related to horses, riding and the woods. The largest topic includes the songs on working at home and outside, but also the songs about premarital sex. There are two topics with the focus on well-known children’s songs and lullabies. Two topics relate to German landlords, their power and activities, and one to recruiting and the war. As a conclusion of this exploration: (1) for topic modelling it is necessary to use the texts in homogenous language variants; otherwise, the linguistic differences override the topics at some point; (2) it is possible to use unlemmatized texts for topic modelling, but in this case the grammatical features (tense, modality) interfere with topic analysis; (3) the proportions of variable and stable (recurrent) elements (song types, motifs) in the material have a clear impact on topic formation: the more frequently an element occurs in the material, and the more stable is its wording, the bigger its probability to form the centre of a topic, whereas distinct but rare themes remain unnoticed and will be shared between the topics of more prominent subjects; (4) common sets of words assembled together as the topic may, in addition to the common thematic focus, refer to a common framework, for example environments, and behavioural or communicative patterns (for example, begging for something). Compared to the folkloristic classification of folk songs, the automatic distribution of songs (1) highlights the subjects occurring more frequently in the body of songs (for example, a topic highlights swinging songs instead of calendar songs of the folkloristic classification); (2) partly overrides the genre differences (for example song games can be found under different topics, whereas forming a distinct group in folkloristic classifications).

Structure and functions of Yellow-breasted Boubou (Laniarius atroflavus) solos and duets

Background Birds have extremely well-developed acoustic communication and have become popular in bioacoustics research. The majority of studies on bird song have been conducted in the temperate zones where usually males of birds sing to attract females and defend territories. In over 360 bird species mostly inhabiting the tropics both males and females sing together in duets. Avian duets are usually formed when a male and female coordinate their songs. We focused on a species with relatively weakly coordinated duets, with male solo as the prevailing vocalisation type. Methods Instead of analysing a set of recordings spread over a long time, we analysed whole day microphone-array recordings of the Yellow-breasted Boubou (Laniarius atroflavus), a species endemic to West African montane rainforests. We described the structure of the solo and duet vocalisations and temporal characteristics of daily activity based on 5,934 vocal bouts of 18 focal pairs and their neighbours. Results Birds had small, sex specific repertoires. All males shared three types of loud whistles functioning as song type repertoires in both solos and duets. Females vocalised with five types of harsh, atonal notes with a more variable and usually lower amplitude. Three of them were produced both as solos and in duets, while two seem to function as alarm and excitement calls given almost exclusively as a solo. Solos were the most common vocalisation mode (75.4%), with males being more vocally active than females. Duets accounted for 24.6% of all vocalisations and in most cases were initiated by males (81%). The majority of duets were simple (85.1%) consisting of a single male and female song type, but altogether 38 unique duet combinations were described. Males usually initiated singing at dawn and for this used one particular song type more often than expected by chance. Male solo and duet activities peaked around dawn, while female solos were produced evenly throughout the day. Discussion Yellow-breasted Boubou is a duetting species in which males are much more vocal than females and duetting is not a dominating type of vocal activity. Duet structure, context and timing of daily production support the joint resource defence hypothesis and mate guarding/prevention hypotheses, however maintaining pair contact also seems to be important. This study provides for the first time the basic quantitative data describing calls, solos and duet songs in the Yellow-breasted Boubou.