Urban areas are a unique and growing habitat type. Animals living in this novel habitat are faced with new challenges, but may also encounter novel opportunities. Though urban animals have been observed to differ from their rural counterparts in a variety of behavioral and physiological traits, little is known about the specific features of urban areas that drive these differences and whether they are adaptive. Understanding this process is important from a conservation perspective and also to gain insight into how animals colonize novel habitats more generally. Using song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), a native songbird commonly found in urban areas, I explored responses to urbanization and the drivers and consequences of these responses with an eye toward understanding whether song sparrows had successfully adapted to urban habitats (Chapter I). I began by comparing body condition and levels of corticosterone, a hormone associated with energy management and the stress response in birds, between urban and rural populations (Chapter II). There was more variation across years than between habitats, suggesting that a variable environmental factor common to both habitats is the primary driver of these traits. I then compared territorial aggression levels and tested the effect of food availability on aggression (Chapter III). Fed rural birds and all urban birds had higher aggression levels than unfed rural birds, indicating that territorial aggression is related to resource availability in this species and that urban habitats may be perceived as more desirable. Finally, I looked for differences in reproductive timing and success and for relationships between reproductive success and aggression (Chapter IV). Higher reproductive success in urban populations, coupled with differences in the timing of successful nests between habitats, suggest differences in predation risk and predator community structure between habitats. In Chapter V, I synthesize my major findings and suggest directions for future research building on these results. I conclude that urban song sparrows differ from rural birds, that these differences are influenced by resource availability, and that urban habitats can potentially support stable song sparrow populations, though more research is necessary to determine the fitness impacts of specific traits that change with urbanization. / Ph. D.

The following analysis of Franz Schubert's (1797-1828) song cycle Schwanengesang (1828) was undertaken in the hope that such a treatment of the final contributions of this important master of song literature would prove of interest to students of this field.The materials examined comprise the fourteen songs collectively known as Schwanengesang (Dying Strains), taken from the G. Schirmer's Edition of Schubert's Songs with English translations by Theodore Baker. From a synopsis of the art song concluded with critical remarks on Schubert's style and contributions to the art of writing songs, the author has proceeded to a few general statements on the song cycle itself. This is followed by an analysis of each song from the point of view of the text, the general harmonic scheme, the vocal line, and the function and type of accompaniment.

In field behavioural and ecological studies, it is often necessary to identify specific individuals. In birds, colour rings are often used as individual marks. However, rings might be difficult to observe, especially in small species and dense habitats. Thus recently, individual acoustic monitoring is becoming more commonly used to study of birds. This method is based on the recognition of individuals and often on the difference between temporal and spectral parameters of their vocalizations. However, in passerine species with more complex song these acoustic characteristics may not be reliable. In my thesis I used an alternative approach for the individual acoustic monitoring, based on differences in syllable repertoires of individual Tree Pipit males (Anthus trivialis). So far I have not found any study that would use a similar approach with other migratory passerine species with more complex song. The main aim of my study was to test the possibility of using syllable repertoires for recognition of specific individuals and to determine if this method is more efficient than identification by colour banding. From four years of research on the Tree Pipits population in the selected location in Brdy I received acoustic data from 59 males that I subsequently analyzed in a bioacoustic program. The...

This diploma thesis focuses on using music (primarily songs) in teaching English as a foreign language. The theoretical part deals with different aspects of the benefits of music. The first chapter covers the discipline of music therapy, it is followed by a chapter about Stephen Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis and subsequently about music and brain. Then there is a chapter about the role of motivation through music and the outline of possible criteria for choosing a good song. A chapter about different aspects of using songs: to teach grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and culture close this part. The goal of the practical part is to provide examples of using songs in an English lesson. A short chapter is concerned with other activities connected to music. The practical part consists of two surveys: the first one is a survey of a textbook series and the second one deals with the results of a survey carried out at different types of schools. Key words: music therapy, motivation, song, exploitation of the song

A comunidade cientifica, ao longo dos anos, comprovou aprendizagem vocal em tres ordens de aves (papagaios, beija-flores e passeriformes oscines). Contudo, mais recentemente, estudos feitos em tres especies de Suboscines, Sayornis Phoebe, Procnias tricarunculata e Chiroxiphia linearis revelaram a existencia de um sistema rudimentar do canto e/ou extensivas variacoes vocais quantitativas e qualitativas entre as populacoes reprodutivas, sugerindo que estas especies sao capazes de aprender o seu canto. Esta evidencia incita a investigacao de outras especies de passaros Suboscines, visto que a distincao entre passaros aprendizes e nao-aprendizes vocais nao e tao obvia quanto se pensava. Uma especie de passaro Suboscines amazonica, Myiozetetes cayanensis, desperta o nosso interesse devido a complexidade estrutural do canto em dueto que pode inferir alguma aprendizagem do canto. Com o intuito de identificar as regioes de controle da producao do canto nestes animais nos utilizamos diferentes tecnicas de marcacao celular coloracao de Nissl, hibridizacao in situ radioativa e injecao de tracadores neuronais; ferramentas neuroanatomicas estas que nos forneceram pistas sobre a presenca de areas cerebrais potencialmente envolvidas no sistema de controle do canto. Dos tres nucleos envolvidos na producao do canto, conseguimos identificar apenas o nucleo hipoglosso - porcao traqueosiringeal (NXIIts) e somente atraves da injecao do tracador neuronal CTB. Identificamos o NXIIts tanto em macho quanto em femeas e ao quantificar os dados verificamos que o volume deste nucleo e 2 vezes maior nos machos do que nas femeas, inferindo um possivel dimorfismo sexual. Ao compararmos o volume total de NXIIts entre o nosso animal experimental e uma especie de passaro Oscine, Taeniopigia guttata, verificamos que este nucleo foi quase 2 vezes maior em Taeniopigia guttata machos e femeas. Nao foram identificados nucleos telencefalicos que se assemelhassem ao HVC e ao RA de Oscines por meio de nenhuma das tecnicas utilizadas, o que nos leva a concluir que, em Myiozetetes cayanensis, nao haja sistema de controle do canto e que seu canto seja inato / Along the years vocal learning has been repeatedly demonstrated in three bird orders (parrots, hummingbirds and the oscine songbirds). But recently some studies developed in three spicies of suboscine birds, Sayornis Phoebe, Procnias tricarunculata e Chiroxiphia linearis, demonstrated the existence of a rudmentary song system and/or extensive qualitative and quantitative vocal variations between reproductives populations suggesting that these species are capable of learning their songs. This evidence instigates the investigation of other suboscine songbirds spieces, since the distinction between learning and non-learning vocal birds is not that clear as thought. An amazon uboscine bird, Myiozetetes cayanensis, has attracted our attention due to the structural complexity of its duet song that may imply some vocal learning. Therefore, we tried to identificate the song control regions in this animals by means of different technics: Nissl staining, radioactive in situ hibridization and injections of neural tracers; neuroanatomical tools that provided important clues of cerebral areas implicated in the song system control. We identified only one of the three nuclei involved in the controlling of song production, the NXIIts and only by the injection of the neural tracer CTB. The NXIIts was identified both in males and females. When we quantified the data, we observed that the NXIIts was 2 times larger in males than in females, indicating a possible sexual dimorphism. We also compared the total volume of NXIIts between our experimental animal and a oscine species, Taeniopygia guttata. The volume of NXIIts was almost 2 times larger both in males and females of Taeniopigia guttata. We didint identified any nucleus that guards some resemblence to the oscine HVC or RA through none of the techniques that we tested. Therefore, we can assume that Myiozetetes cayanensis have no song control system and that their song are inate

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo discutir o papel do timbre no edifício teórico da Semiótica da Canção, entendida aqui como a vertente teórica da semiótica francesa desenvolvida principalmente por A. J. Greimas mas também por demais integrantes da assim chamada Escola de Paris voltada para o estudo da canção popular brasileira. Preconizada pelo semioticista Luiz Tatit, essa linha de estudos vem se consolidando gradativamente como um instrumental analítico especializado no estudo da canção popular tomada como uma unidade orgânica constituída pela integração entre letra e melodia. Após um primeiro período de formulação e consolidação das ferramentas analíticas que constituem a base do modelo, assistiu-se ao surgimento de diversos estudos que buscaram expandir seu escopo de abrangência em direção aos elementos não contemplados até o momento, como é o caso do timbre. Dentre estes, as teses de doutorado de Carmo Jr. (2007), Coelho (2007) e Dietrich (2008) assumem posição de destaque por levantar questionamentos primordiais para delimitar o estatuto semiótico do timbre enquanto elemento produtor de efeitos de sentido. As proposições apresentadas por estes autores foram submetidas a uma revisão crítica a fim de extrair os vetores teóricos e metodológicos que deverão orientar as investigações futuras sobre esse objeto. Desse confronto de perspectivas, elaboramos a hipótese de que o timbre se comporta como elemento pertinente ao domínio das semióticas conotativas, conforme o modelo de análise hierarquizada idealizado pelo linguista Louis Hjelmslev (2006). Essa abordagem visa elucidar os mecanismos pelos quais o timbre participa na construção de efeitos de sentido, embora ele possa ser descartado como dado variável e secundário até determinado estágio da descrição semiótica. Com esse objetivo em mente, foi realizado um levantamento da presença da conotação nos textos do semioticista A. J. Greimas a fim viii de determinar seu lugar de pertinência no edifício conceitual da teoria e delimitar com maior precisão as potencialidades analíticas desse conceito. As diretrizes teóricas e metodológicas traçadas até esse ponto foram aplicadas em dois momentos. No primeiro, foi analisado como a descrição verbal presente em manuais de instrumentação e orquestração registra de maneira implícita as cifras tensivas subjacentes ao timbre. No segundo, foi analisado o papel do timbre no álbum Música de Brinquedo da banda Pato Fu, observando especialmente quais efeitos de sentido eram produzidos pelas substituições tímbricas do arranjo desse álbum em comparação com o arranjo original. As análises permitem concluir que, enquanto fenômeno da ordem da conotação, o timbre pode criar fisionomias no âmbito do uso, ora pela instauração de assimetrias e irregularidades, ora pelas variações implicadas nas práticas de rearranjo musical. Em ambos os casos, verifica-se que o lugar privilegiado de pertinência do timbre está no campo do uso e da práxis enunciativa. Graças a essas distinções conceituais, a perspectiva linguística e discursiva pode trazer contribuições valiosas para compreender de maneira sistemática o timbre nos processos de significação. / This work aims to discuss the role of timbre (tone color) within the theoretical framework of the Semiotics of Songs, defined as a special field of French Semiotics developed mainly by A. J. Greimas but also by other members of the so-called Paris School of Semiotics and applied to the Brazilian popular song. Developed by the semiotician Luiz Tatit, this line of research is being consolidated as an analytical tool specialized at the study of popular music, this being understood as an organic unity made up of lyrics and melody. After the first phase of the theory, at which the basic analytical tools were formulated and enhanced, several researches sought the expansion of the theorys analytical scope towards issues not discussed until then, e.g. timbre. The doctoral theses of Carmo Jr. (2007), Coelho (2007) and Dietrich (2008) stand out among these studies as they raise essential issues to explain the semiotic role of timbre in the production of meaning effects. The propositions presented by these authors were critically reviewed in order to draw out the methodological and theoretical guidelines, which shall support this work as much as future research on this subject. From this confrontation of perspectives, one can draw the hypothesis that timbre belongs rather to the field of connotative semiotics, according to the analytic model of hierarchic levels outlined by the linguist Louis Hjelmslev (2006). This approach aims to explain how timbre plays a role at the meaning-effects construction, although it can be regarded as a secondary and variable element up to a certain extent of the semiotic description. In order to achieve this goal, the concept of connotation was researched in A. J. Greimas work in order to determine more precisely its role within the theoretical framework of semiotics as much as its analytical possibilities. The theoretical and methodological guidelines drawn out until this point were applied in two different scenarios. The first one analyzed how the verbal descriptions given by orchestration handbooks implicitly encode x tensive algorithms underlying timbre. The second one analyzed the role of timbre in the album Música de Brinquedo of the Brazilian pop band Pato Fu, especially regarding the meaning effects triggered by the timbre shifting in comparison to the songs original arrangement. The result of the analyses leads to the conclusion that, as a connotative phenomenon, timbre can generate physiognomies either by the emerging of irregularities and asymmetrical combinations, or by the variations created through the musical re-elaboration. In both cases, one can verify that privileged place of timbre lies in the domain of usage and enunciative praxis. Such conceptual distinctions show that the linguistic and discursive perspective can bring valuable contributions to a systematic understanding of timbre at meaning processes.

Baseada na teoria semiótica, nos estudos realizados por Mikhail Bakhtin sobre a assunção do discurso alheio e principalmente na teoria erigida por Luiz Augusto de Moraes Tatit (Semiótica da Canção), a tese O Arranjo como Elemento Orgânico Ligado à Canção Popular Brasileira: uma proposta de análise semiótica tem como objetivo precípuo demonstrar que, assim como o criador da Semiótica da Canção convincentemente instituiu a idéia segundo a qual ao analisarmos somente a letra de uma canção popular estamos prescindindo da metade de seu sentido, qualquer análise de canção popular que dispense a abordagem do arranjo está prescindindo de um terço de seu sentido. Desse modo, propõe também que, em lugar de analistas de canções, reconheçamo-nos como analistas de fonogramas. Para tanto, retomamos clássicos conceitos erigidos pela semiótica, estudando-os, analisando-os e, também, quando necessário, criticando, senão o próprio conceito, o processo de sua constituição. Investigamos, aqui, a constituição da noção de existência semiótica para estabelecer os modos de existência da canção popular; as relações antagônicas do arranjo na canção popular brasileira; o uso como elemento determinante para a escolha dos instrumentos que compõem um arranjo; a apropriação do discurso alheio pelo arranjo da canção popular brasileira. Por fim, aplicamos os termos a que chegamos numa completa análise da canção ?JackSoulBrasileiro?, de Lenine. / Based on the semiotic, in the studies which were carried out by Mikhail Bakhtin about the assumption of the discourse of someone else and mainly on the theory created by Luiz Augusto de Moraes Tatit (The Semiotic of the Song), the thesis The Arrangement as an Organic Element Linked to the Brazilian Popular Song: a proposal of semiotic analysis has as its main objective to demonstrate that, as the creator of the Semiotic of the Song convincingly imposed an idea that according to the fact that if we analyze only the lyrics of a popular song, we will lack half of its meaning, each and every analysis of the popular song which has its arrangements not been taken into consideration will lack one third of its meaning. Thus, it is proposed that other than being known as song analysts, we must be known as phonogram analysts. For a complete analysis, we have brought back the classic concepts of the semiotic by studying them, analyzing them, and also when necessary, criticizing either the concept itself or its constitution. Here we examined the constitution of the notion of the semiotic existence to establish the means of existence of the popular song; the existing polemic relations found in the arrangements of the Brazilian popular song; the use of a determining factor in order to make the choice of the instruments which compose the arrangements; the use of the discourse of someone else in the arrangements of the Brazilian popular song. All the conclusions which we have come to so far were applied for a complete analysis of the song ?JackSoulBrasileiro?, a song composed by Lenine.

Baseada na teoria semiótica, nos estudos realizados por Mikhail Bakhtin sobre a assunção do discurso alheio e principalmente na teoria erigida por Luiz Augusto de Moraes Tatit (Semiótica da Canção), a tese O Arranjo como Elemento Orgânico Ligado à Canção Popular Brasileira: uma proposta de análise semiótica tem como objetivo precípuo demonstrar que, assim como o criador da Semiótica da Canção convincentemente instituiu a idéia segundo a qual ao analisarmos somente a letra de uma canção popular estamos prescindindo da metade de seu sentido, qualquer análise de canção popular que dispense a abordagem do arranjo está prescindindo de um terço de seu sentido. Desse modo, propõe também que, em lugar de analistas de canções, reconheçamo-nos como analistas de fonogramas. Para tanto, retomamos clássicos conceitos erigidos pela semiótica, estudando-os, analisando-os e, também, quando necessário, criticando, senão o próprio conceito, o processo de sua constituição. Investigamos, aqui, a constituição da noção de existência semiótica para estabelecer os modos de existência da canção popular; as relações antagônicas do arranjo na canção popular brasileira; o uso como elemento determinante para a escolha dos instrumentos que compõem um arranjo; a apropriação do discurso alheio pelo arranjo da canção popular brasileira. Por fim, aplicamos os termos a que chegamos numa completa análise da canção ?JackSoulBrasileiro?, de Lenine. / Based on the semiotic, in the studies which were carried out by Mikhail Bakhtin about the assumption of the discourse of someone else and mainly on the theory created by Luiz Augusto de Moraes Tatit (The Semiotic of the Song), the thesis The Arrangement as an Organic Element Linked to the Brazilian Popular Song: a proposal of semiotic analysis has as its main objective to demonstrate that, as the creator of the Semiotic of the Song convincingly imposed an idea that according to the fact that if we analyze only the lyrics of a popular song, we will lack half of its meaning, each and every analysis of the popular song which has its arrangements not been taken into consideration will lack one third of its meaning. Thus, it is proposed that other than being known as song analysts, we must be known as phonogram analysts. For a complete analysis, we have brought back the classic concepts of the semiotic by studying them, analyzing them, and also when necessary, criticizing either the concept itself or its constitution. Here we examined the constitution of the notion of the semiotic existence to establish the means of existence of the popular song; the existing polemic relations found in the arrangements of the Brazilian popular song; the use of a determining factor in order to make the choice of the instruments which compose the arrangements; the use of the discourse of someone else in the arrangements of the Brazilian popular song. All the conclusions which we have come to so far were applied for a complete analysis of the song ?JackSoulBrasileiro?, a song composed by Lenine.

The song cycle, Two Orchestral Songs, is a setting of two texts by Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941–1987) from her 1969 collection, The Shadow-Maker. The texts are symbolic in nature and discuss the question of personal sacrifice. In “The Sacrifice,” the narrator observes leaves falling in autumn and compares this “necessary death” against the “unnecessary” sacrifices that we make when we lay down our most beautiful aspects, our “golden selves,” at the “altars of the world” in order to please some external arbiter (the “shapeless ghost”). However, much like a man raking leaves in autumn, these dropped aspects get gathered up by “the Gardener” (a metaphor for Time), and we are left questioning whether our deliberate sacrifices enabled us to achieve the divine end to which we were intended. “How Weeps the Hangman,” employs similar imagery of leaves representing the “season’s sacrifice” of “pain, love, glory, blood.” The titular metaphor of the Hangman, however, draws on tarot imagery, specifically the twelfth Major Arcana card known as The Hanged Man, which depicts a man hanging upside-down by one foot from a cross or living tree; the man’s facial expression is usually neutral, not an expression of suffering. The card is interpreted in various ways as meaning sacrifice, letting go, surrender, and acceptance. In MacEwen’s poem, the narrator places herself (and us) on the way to the scaffold to offer up our seasonal sacrifices, but the lingering question focuses not on the object (us, The Hanged Man), but on the agent of change, the hooded Hangman who “does his duty to you and me.” She wonders what pain our own whimpering in the sacrificial process causes to him, whether he and the “embarrassed tree” weep at our losses. The musical language of this composition employs extended tonal key areas based on synthetic scales, in particular the four transpositionally related enneatonic scales. The harmonies are largely tertian in structure, with added tones and superimposed sonorities creating an effect of bitonality. The imagery of dropping leaves is recreated musically by the prominent use of descending seconds and descending thirds in the melodic and accompanying parts.

The song cycle, Two Orchestral Songs, is a setting of two texts by Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941–1987) from her 1969 collection, The Shadow-Maker. The texts are symbolic in nature and discuss the question of personal sacrifice. In “The Sacrifice,” the narrator observes leaves falling in autumn and compares this “necessary death” against the “unnecessary” sacrifices that we make when we lay down our most beautiful aspects, our “golden selves,” at the “altars of the world” in order to please some external arbiter (the “shapeless ghost”). However, much like a man raking leaves in autumn, these dropped aspects get gathered up by “the Gardener” (a metaphor for Time), and we are left questioning whether our deliberate sacrifices enabled us to achieve the divine end to which we were intended. “How Weeps the Hangman,” employs similar imagery of leaves representing the “season’s sacrifice” of “pain, love, glory, blood.” The titular metaphor of the Hangman, however, draws on tarot imagery, specifically the twelfth Major Arcana card known as The Hanged Man, which depicts a man hanging upside-down by one foot from a cross or living tree; the man’s facial expression is usually neutral, not an expression of suffering. The card is interpreted in various ways as meaning sacrifice, letting go, surrender, and acceptance. In MacEwen’s poem, the narrator places herself (and us) on the way to the scaffold to offer up our seasonal sacrifices, but the lingering question focuses not on the object (us, The Hanged Man), but on the agent of change, the hooded Hangman who “does his duty to you and me.” She wonders what pain our own whimpering in the sacrificial process causes to him, whether he and the “embarrassed tree” weep at our losses. The musical language of this composition employs extended tonal key areas based on synthetic scales, in particular the four transpositionally related enneatonic scales. The harmonies are largely tertian in structure, with added tones and superimposed sonorities creating an effect of bitonality. The imagery of dropping leaves is recreated musically by the prominent use of descending seconds and descending thirds in the melodic and accompanying parts.