Bill Pirkle wrote: >Anyone who is interested in whether or not birds can compose music should >read this fascinating article: > > http://www.sciencenews.org/20000415/bob2.asp Thanks to Bill for this great article, in which you can download the birdsongs that are similar to familiar phrases in classical music. On a somewhat similar note, I have just read "Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy" by Robert Jourdain, Avon, 1997. It is a remarkable explanation of how music interacts with our auditory system and our brains to produce pleasure. He spends a fair amount of time on the question of meaning in music and on whether music is a language, which was a long and interesting thread on this list a few months ago. Bill Walsh Auburn, AL