Here's a shameless plug for the FSGW Getaway: Both Linda Rice-Johnston and Judy Cook will be doing half hour mini concerts of their wonderful unaccompanied singing, leading or contributing to workshops, and just being part of the music all weekend. Just a small part of the magic of the Getaway. Ok, sorry. I get carried away.

Alice, when I was in Italy I heard a whole lot of the kind of singing you're describing, for example, I would hear women's voices from houses I passed and I assumed they were singing as they cooked, washed and cleaned. Very Italian indeed.

Barry, I don't know about animals but birds do respond to musical instruments. I had a canary that sang loudly when I played the zither. And I used to play guitar and sing at Great Falls Park, on fall evenings when there weren't many people there. I was amazed to see that birds, chipmunks, etc. came very close to me while I was singing. (even a garter snake.) Maybe it's just because I didn't move around very much.