How Mockingbirds Compose Songs Just Like Beethoven

What do the remarkably complex songs of the mockingbird have in common with Tuvan throat singing, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the song "Show Yourself" from Frozen 2, and Kendrick Lamar's "Duckworth"? There have been numerous studies of mockingbird songs over the decades, which is how scientists know that mockingbirds typically repeat each syllable three to five times, separated by tiny breaths, before switching to something new. This new study is the first attempt to qualify or quantify the specific compositional strategies the mockingbird uses when putting together its musical stylings: so-called "morphing modes," akin to variations on a theme. "When confronted with a complex mockingbird song, a musician will hear one thing, an ornithologist another, and a signal analyst something else," the authors wrote of the reasoning behind this interdisciplinary approach.