Going boating for a while. Keep 'em coming, Odious! I'll see you gentle readers in time for opera season in late July.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Save the mountain walrus!
No comment. What it's doing hidden in the rather useful Gunroom of H.M.S. Surprise, I do not know.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Aficionados of far-flung music won't want to miss this bravura lyre solo, interpreting the alleged oldest extant written melody, a Hurrian hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal from c. 1400 B.C. More information is here, though I find myself still very unclear how the Cuneiform is taken to be signifying melodic notation. It's good stuff, though, and if you browse around the performer's Youtube channel, you'll find all kinds of delights, from a quite nice rendition of the Song of Seikilos to lost Hungarian klezmer and "Jewgrass."
Hat tip to Never Yet Melted, via Steve.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Zebra finches and the language of God.
Biologists have discovered that zebra finches raised in isolation will, over several generations, produce a song similar to that sung by the species in the wild. The experiment provides new insights into how genetic background, learning abilities and environmental variation might influence how birds evolve "song culture" -- and provides some pointers to how human languages may evolve.The article blandly states, "[s]uch an experiment is not practical to conduct in humans". Hey, tell it to Frederick the Second.
The study confirms that zebra finches raised in complete isolation do not sing the same song as they would if raised normally, i.e., among other members of their species. It breaks new ground in showing that progeny of these "odd birds," within several generations, will introduce improvisations that bring their song into conformity with those of "wild-type" zebra finches, i.e., those raised under normal cultural conditions.
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