̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Song

Ancient Greek ‘pop culture’ discovery rewrites history of poetry and song

ta385 — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 11:45:00 +0000

New research into a little-known text written in ancient Greek shows that ‘stressed poetry’, the ancestor of all modern poetry and song, was already in use in the 2nd Century CE, 300 years earlier than previously thought.

Opinion: There’s a reason why Africa’s migratory songbirds sing out of season

Anonymous — Mon, 09 May 2016 11:15:42 +0000

Bird song has fascinated scientists for decades. Songs can be intricate, loud and, as it turns out, very important for reproductive success. In many species the males with the most complex songs secure the highest quality breeding territories and mates, and end up producing the most young. For species that spend their summers in Europe, almost every hour of daylight is crammed full with energetic and often very loud song.

For songbirds that have migrated to Africa at the end of the breeding season, singing shouldn’t be on their to-do list. Singing requires a big energetic investment and increases vulnerability to predators. ̽��ֱ��only time males should be willing to pay these costs is when there is a good chance of attracting females as mates, and that is not going to happen in Africa outside of the breeding season.

Despite this, several species of migratory songbirds, from Wood Warblers to Nightingales, are known to sing a great deal in Africa. This prompted us to ask: what is the purpose of singing in Africa, when the breeding grounds are thousands of kilometres away? To answer this question, we focused on a drab-looking but raucous singer, the Great Reed Warbler. This species breeds in Europe and spends the northern winter in the wet grasslands and savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa.

Testing a long-held hypothesis

We began by testing a long-held hypothesis for the persistence of singing in Africa. Perhaps singing is being used as a means to defend individual winter-feeding territories. It might be acting as a “keep out” sign to other individuals encroaching on the territory holder’s space.

In territorial systems, distinct boundaries are expected between the spaces used by each individual in combination with an aggressive reaction when that territorial boundary is breached. We used radio transmitters to track bird movements through the tall grasses of the study site in Zambia, and used models of Great Reed Warblers with recorded song to simulate territory intrusions. We found no support for the expectations of territoriality. Great Reed Warblers overlapped widely in their use of space, and individuals were unperturbed by other birds in their space.

Radio transmitters were used to track bird movements Jason Boyce

Given that Great Reed Warblers did not have a territorial system, this long-held hypothesis of singing for territorial protection didn’t hold up.

Singing for song improvement

Next, we tackled an intriguing but yet untested hypothesis. Perhaps, given the importance of song quality for males during breeding, they were using their downtime in Africa to improve the quality of their songs.

To find out, we combed through the literature and spoke to other researchers in Africa to determine which of the 57 migratory songbird species that migrate from Europe sing while in Africa and, importantly, how much. If this hypothesis is true, the benefits of singing in Africa should be most important for species in which song is especially valued when choosing a mate. Those should be species with the most complex songs, but conversely with the dullest appearance. So, when males are drab, females are expected to pay more attention to flashy song rather than flashy plumage.

Sure enough, we found that species with more complex songs, and those with drab plumage colouration, sing most often when in Africa. We argue that the costs associated with practice are probably well worth the investment for those species that stand to benefit most from producing the highest-quality songs.

A final piece of evidence comes from the Great Reed Warblers themselves. If songs function to defend territories, then they should sing the short territorial warnings they use to defend their breeding territories. But instead, recordings from Zambia showed that African songs are much more like those sung during mate attraction on the breeding grounds, when attracting a female is paramount. But there are a couple of important differences.

In Africa, songs are much longer and with many more switches between syllables than those sung in Europe. Given that songs in Africa are sung without a female receiver in mind, this may be the best way to practice. In Europe, when songs are mixed amongst the racket from competing males, repeating complex syllables up to five times is important to ensure that they are received loud and clear by females.

With the evidence tallied, both from Great Reed Warblers and across the dozens of songbird species that migrate between Africa and Europe, this puzzling non-breeding singing behaviour appears best explained as a rehearsal period before the big show the following spring.

To conclusively test this hypothesis, researchers would need to follow individual birds between their breeding and non-breeding grounds and monitor changes to their song and their breeding success. But this is close to impossible given the current tracking devices available. For now, this study points towards an intriguing new explanation for this previously unstudied behaviour. It also offers insight into the lives of migratory songbirds during the lengthy, but little-known part of their lives spent in Africa.

Marjorie Sorensen, Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow, Goethe ̽��ֱ�� Frankfurt am Main and Claire Spottiswoode, BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow and Hans Gadow Lecturer, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Claire Spottiswoode (Department of Zoology) and Marjorie Sorensen (Goethe ̽��ֱ�� Frankfurt am Main) discuss why several species of migratory songbirds sing a great deal in Africa when their breeding grounds are thousands of kilometres away.

Son of Groucho

̽��ֱ��African Golden Weaver, Zanzibar

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Licence type:

Attribution

̽��ֱ��sweet sound of science

sjr81 — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:29:46 +0000

Musical comedian Ashley Frieze will be presenting his theory of song in ̽��ֱ��seven deadly sings on March 21. Developed with ideas from neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and Elton John, Frieze will comically claim every song is based on one of seven patterns.

At ̽��ֱ��musical brain on March 12, musician and neuropsychologist Gert-Jan de Haas will examine brain functions that can be applied to learning and performing music and ultimately will prove that the musical brain really knows nothing.

Hands-on events include Festival of the spoken nerd: breaking boundaries on March 17, marking the return of Festival favourites Matt Parker, Helen Arney and Steve Mould and their popular comedy show.

Featuring geeky and aquatic songs, an exploration of sea life through music takes place at Helen Arney’s heroes and villains of the high seas on March 18. Meanwhile, Overtone: Aphex Twin meets Jimi Hendrix on March 24 will provide the opportunity to create different types of music using expressive programming interfaces.

For those who prefer music in a more traditional setting, the Festival choral evensong will be led by Professor Adrian Dixon at Great St Mary’s Church on March 18 and there will be a theremin concert performed by the classically-trained thereminist Charlie Draper on March 23 for Music at the Whipple.

Dr Carolin Crawford and conductor Mark Austin will be giving an informative lecture on March 9. This will be followed by planetary projections during a performance of Holst’s ̽��ֱ��Planets by ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Graduate Orchestra.

Cellist Anna Bull and multi-talented Robin Gillan’s performance of traditional English and American songs on March 25 will be accompanied with a talk by Profesor Jim Woodhouse on how instruments makers control the tone and loudness of their products at the event Ping, plunk, twang - why do musical instruments make different sounds?

For further details of all the events taking place at this year’s Science Festival and to book, visit www.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival.

Most events are free but some require pre-booking.

Musicians and music-lovers alike are invited to this year’s Cambridge Science Festival – the UK’s biggest free science festival – which runs from March 12-25 at venues across the ̽��ֱ�� and City.

Featuring geeky and aquatic songs, an exploration of sea life through music takes place at Helen Arney’s heroes and villains of the high seas on March 18.

Cambridge Science Festival

Music at the Whipple - part of Cambridge Science Festival 2012

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

Yes