Let The People Sing? Irish Rebel Songs, Sectarianism, and Scotland’s Offensive Behaviour Act

Irish rebel songs afford Scotland’s Irish diaspora a means to assert, experience, and perform their alterity free from the complexities of the Irish language. Yet this benign intent can be offset by how the music is perceived by elements of Scotland’s majority Protestant population. The Scottish Government’s Offensive Behaviour Act (2012) has been used to prosecute those singing Irish rebel songs and there is continuing debate as to how this alleged offence should be dealt with. This article explores the social function and cultural perception of Irish rebel songs in the west coast of Scotland, examining what qualities lead to a song being perceived as ‘sectarian’, by focusing on song lyrics, performance context, and extra-musical discourse. The article explores the practice of lyrical ‘add-ins’ that inflect the meaning of key songs, and argues that the sectarianism of a song resides, at least in part, in the perception of the listener.

Seasonal variation in dawn song characteristics in the common nightingale

Many male temperate zone passerines show a marked peak of singing activity before sunrise. The two main functions of this so-called dawn chorus are mate attraction and territory defence. We examined how seasonal patterns of different dawn song characteristics were related to mating status and to the breeding cycle of females in the common nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos. We investigated two measures of song output: song rate and percentage performance time. We also calculated the proportion of 'whistle songs', a song category that is thought to be important in female choice. We predicted that if the main function of dawn singing in nightingales is to attract a social mate, then mated males should change their dawn singing behaviour after pair formation. In contrast, if dawn singing is mainly used in territory defence, we expected no difference in song traits between mated and unmated males throughout the season. We found that song rate and the proportion of whistle songs were low at the beginning of the season and did not predict future mating status. After arrival of females, all measures of dawn song performance remained largely constant throughout the breeding season, and we did not find significant differences in the seasonal variation between mated and unmated males. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that song at dawn is important to defend a territory throughout the breeding season. (c) 2005 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acoustic features of song categories and their possible implications for communication in the common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)

In many passerine species, males sing more than one distinct song type. Commonly, songs are assigned to different song types or song categories based on phonological and syntactical dissimilarities. However, temporal aspects, such as song length and song rate, also need to be considered to understand the possible functions of different songs. Common nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) have large vocal repertoires of different song types but their songs additionally can be grouped into two distinct categories (particular groups of song types): whistle songs and nonwhistle songs. Whistle songs are hypothesised to be important to attract migrating females. We studied temporal properties of whistle songs and nonwhistle songs and examined the relationship between those song parameters and song output parameters, such as song rate and song length. To investigate how song parameters vary among males, we calculated the coefficients of variation for different song traits. We found that the variation in the proportion of whistle songs was significantly higher among males than variation in other song parameters. Furthermore, the proportion of whistle songs was negatively correlated with other sona output patterns. These findings suggest that the production of whistle songs might be constrained and/or that whistle songs and their succeeding pauses may act as a functional unit in communication.

"Thought-Tormented Music": Joyce and the Music of the Irish Revival

"In this special issue's opening essay, Martin Dowling devotes almost half of "'Thought-Tormented Music': Joyce and the Music of the Irish Revival" to what he calls "the situation of music in the Irish literary revival." He focuses chiefly on 1904, which was both an intensely productive period for the revival movement and a year chock-full of crucial events and decisions for Joyce. Drawing on the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Jaques Lacan, Dowling explores the revivalists' efforts to "de-anglicize" Irish music, to remove foreign influences that distorted the "pure tradition of Irish song," and to achieve an improbable harmony between the music favoured by the disappearing Anglo-Irish aristocracy and the Irish-speaking peasantry. Inevitably, disputes occurred over what constituted "authentic" Irish music. Factions quarrelled over whether pristine Irish music existed in the Atlantic seaboard or more inland; whether "authentic" songs were sung with or without instrumental accompaniment; and whether the piano, rather than the traditional harp, was a legitimate instrument of accompaniment. Having delineated the historical and theoretical context, Dowling offers a richly detailed analysis of Joyce's story "A Mother." He reveals how almost every element in the story--from the Eire Abu Society to the Antient Concert Rooms, from the conflict between Mrs. Kearney and Hoppy Holohan to the plight of Kathleen Kearney--is charged with meaning by the subtextual conflicts of the revivalists' agenda. Dowling explains also the "authenticity" in Joyce's depiction of vocal performances of "The Lass of Aughrim" in "The Dead" and "The Croppy Boy" in "Sirens," which he calls two "true gems" of authentic Irish music." --Introduction by Charles Rossman and Alan W. Friedman, Guest Editors, pp. 409-410

Aggressive responses to broadband trills are related to subsequent pairing success in nightingales

In sexually selected signals, distinct components often have specific signal value in mate choice or male-male competition. In songbirds, structural song traits such as trills, that is, a series of repetitive notes, can be important in female choice. However, little is known about their signal value in male-male interactions. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that males assess the competitive abilities of rivals based on the use and performance of rapid broadband trills produced within songs. Using a 2-speaker playback experiment, we exposed territorial male nightingales, Luscinia megarhynchos, that differed in their subsequent pairing success, to a simulated vocal interaction between 2 unfamiliar rivals. The singing of the 2 simulated rivals differed in the number of songs containing rapid broadband trills. Subjects responded significantly more strongly to the loudspeaker that broadcast songs containing such trills than to the loudspeaker that broadcast exclusively songs without such trills. Moreover, responses also depended on the fine structure of trills. Males that became paired later in the season significantly increased their response intensity with increasing trill performance, whereas males that remained unpaired responded in the opposite way and decreased their response intensity with increasing trill performance. These results indicate that rapid broadband trills are a signal of aggression and that the nature of the response in vocal interactions reflects aspects of the challenged male's fitness. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved.


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Influence of preparation conditions on the characteristics of activated carbons produced in laboratory and pilot scale systems

The central theme of this investigation is to evaluate the feasibility of using bituminous coal as a precursor material for the production of chars and activated carbons using physical and chemical activation processes. The chemical activation process was accomplished by impregnating the raw materials with different dehydrating agents in different ratios and concentrations, prior to heat treatment (ZnCl2, KCl, KOH, NaOH and Fe2(SO4)3·xH2O). Steam activation of the precursor material was adopted for the preparation of activated carbon using physical activation technology. Different types of bituminous coal; namely, contaminated Columbian (contaminated with pet. coke), pure Columbian, Venezuelan and New Zealand bituminous coal were used in the production processes. BET surface area, micropore area, pore size distribution and total pore volume of the chars and activated carbons were determined from N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm, measured at 77 K. Charring conditions, charring temperature of 800 °C and charring time of 4 h, proved to be the optimum conditions for preparing chars. Contaminated Columbian were found to be the best precursor material for the production of char with reasonable physical characteristics (surface area = 138.1 m2 g-1 and total pore volume of 8.656 × 10-0.2 cm3 g-1). An improvement in the physical characteristics of the activated carbons was obtained upon the treatment of coal with dehydrating agents. Contaminated Columbian treated with 10 wt% ZnCl2 displayed the highest surface area and total pore volume (surface area = 231.5 m2 g-1 and total pore volume = 0.1227 cm3 g-1) with well-developed microporisity (micropore area = 92.3 m2 g-1). Venezuelan bituminous coal using the steam activation process was successful in producing activated carbon with superior physical characteristics (surface area = 863.50 m2 g-1, total pore volume = 0.469 cm3 g-1 and micropore surface area = 783.58 m2 g-1).

Behavioral plasticity allows short-term adjustment to a novel environment

Many species are currently experiencing anthropogenically driven environmental changes. Among these changes, increasing noise levels are specifically a problem for species relying on acoustic communication. Recent evidence suggests that some species adjust their acoustic signals to man-made noise. However, it is unknown whether these changes occur through short-term and reversible adjustments by behavioral plasticity or through long-term adaptations by evolutionary change. Using behavioral observations and playback experiments, we show that male reed buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus) adjusted their songs immediately, singing at a higher minimum frequency and at a lower rate when noise levels were high. Our data showed that these changes in singing behavior were short-term adjustments of signal characteristics resulting from behavioral plasticity, rather than a long-term adaptation. However, more males remained unpaired at a noisy location than at a quiet location throughout the breeding season. Thus, phenotypic plasticity enables individuals to respond to environmental changes, but whether these short-term adjustments are beneficial remains to be seen.

Berryman, Sexton and the Possibilities of Poetic Language

This paper examines a select number of poems by Middle Generation poets John Berryman and Anne Sexton in relation to questions of death, silence and the task that literature sets itself as understood in key works by Blanchot, Heidegger, and Levinas. Rather than recourse to the overtrodden critical path of confessional interpretations of their work, this paper connects Berryman’s The Dream Songs (1969) and two Sexton poems (‘Oh’ and ‘The Silence’) to the philosophical determinations of what it is language can say and what demands literature makes of the writer prepared to risk their own being in answer to its call. Central issues such as suicide and the originating silence of the work of art are intricately interwoven with Berryman’s and Sexton’s work. Leaving aside their biographies, and by approaching suicide as a philosophical problem with which their poetry wrestles, a restructured approach to their work becomes available. The impulse to suicide and the mental processes involved in considering and committing the act are instincts and responses located within an individual’s own psychology. For these writers particularly such issues are sited within a philosophical debate about language, what it can and cannot represent. If poetry articulates language’s argument about its own capability, it is the ideal forum for philosophical confrontations with the possibilities of existence as represented by the grave decision to take one’s own life. © The Author 2013.

The role of formal structure in liking for popular music

The effect of restructuring the form of three unfamiliar pop/rock songs was investigated in two experiments. In the first experiment, listeners' judgements of the likely location of sections of novel popular songs were explored by requiring participants to place the eight sections (Intro - Verse 1 - Chorus 1 - Verse 2 - Chorus 2 - Bridge (solo) - Chorus 3 - Extro) of the songs into the locations they thought them most likely to occur within the song. Results revealed that participants were able to place the sections in approximately the right location with some accuracy, though they were unable to differentiate between choruses. In Experiment 2, three versions of each of the songs were presented in three different structures: intact (original form), medium restructured (the sections in a moderately changed order), and highly restructured (more severe restructuring). The results show that listeners' judgments of predictability and liking were largely uninfluenced by the restructuring of the songs, in line with findings for classical music. Moment-by-moment liking judgements of the songs demonstrated a change in liking judgements with repeated exposure, though the trend was downwards with repeated exposure rather than upwards. Detailed analysis of moment-by-moment judgements at the ends and beginnings of sections showed that listeners were able to respond quickly to intact songs, but not to restructured songs. The results suggest that concatenism prevails in listening to popular song at the expense of paying attention to larger structural features. © 2012 by the regents of the university of california all rights reserved.

Re-Envisioning the Artist Hero Through Two Cole Porter Biopics

Songwriter Cole Porter is unusual in having had two biopics based on his life: Night and Day (1946) starring Cary Grant, and De-Lovely (2004), starring Kevin Kline. The differences in the treatment of the character of Cole Porter between the films are striking, and indicate a change in the way that society envisions its artists, and the very act of creativity. Night and Day was conceived partly as a showcase of Porter's songs, but also as a means of providing inspiration to soldiers returning wounded from World War II, based on Porter's recovery from a traumatic riding accident. It depicts Porter as an everyman following a trajectory of achievement, from having little to great success, which was positioned as easy to emulate. De-Lovely, on the other hand, is about the relationship between Porter and his wife Linda, and the way that his creativity was influenced by his changing relationships with various people. Drawing on the work on biopics of scholars such as G.F.Custen, together with research into the shifting ideas of how creativity operates and is popularly understood, this article uses these biopics as case studies to examine the representation of changing concepts of the artist and the act of creativity through Hollywood film. It also considers how these changing conceptions and representations connect to shifts in American society.

A Document in Madness:Ophelia's Music of Insanity

This paper considers the musicological aspects of the songs performed by Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet. It proposes a reconsideration of the concept of madness and insanity by an attentive, attuned and learned listening to the songs sung by Ophelia and the ways in which they are performed and received.

Here I am yet cannot hold this visible shape:The Music of Gender in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Music has always been used as an important dramaturgical strategy in Western theatre to create a holistic theatrical experience. In Shakespeare’s plays, music was employed as a unique dramaturgical device for various purposes. Twelfth Night distinguishes itself from among the many plays that employ music because it begins, ends and progresses with music. Music pervades Twelfth Night and is tightly interwoven into the thematic concerns of the play such as love and gender. Because of music’s elusive nature and the difficulty of discussing a musical aesthetics, Shakespearean music critics have approached music in the play as a theme or an idea. This paper hopes to develop upon older scholarship by introducing an alternate framework of considering music’s musicality through a musicological analysis of the songs in Twelfth Night. In so doing, the paper hopes to show how and why music can modulate our responses to the play and in particular, to the theme of gender, a problematic issue that produces the elusive and darker nature of this festive comedy.