The idea that music might exist in other species fascinates me. It’s not too much of a stretch to think that if it does, its qualities would differ from human music. Perhaps influenced by the creature’s hearing range, aesthetic preference, or environment, one could logically expect its “music” to take on all different kinds of expressive outcomes.
While many species may end up evidencing musicality, for me it is the Humpback Whale that holds the most promise for discovery.
Over the past 13 years I have looked and listened to their song through the lens of human music and have discovered this to be an exceptionally valuable method of inquiry - allowing me “into the mind” of another creature and into the logic of its song.
This site will detail my explorations - from the Humpback’s feeding grounds in Alaska to the roots of drumming in Africa - and provide tools and techniques for others to discover for themselves the fertile ground that lays at the intersection of music and science.
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At 45 feet and just as many tons, the Humpback Whales of the northwest Pacific congregate each summer to feed in the waters of southeast Alaska and journey each winter to the tropical breeding grounds of Hawaii. The fifth largest of the great whales,
Classified as a Cetacean - or marine mammal - Humpbacks are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, use lungs to breath and retain similar sensory organs to ours - eyes, ears, nose (blowhole) and are thought to be descendants of land mammals similar to present day cows.
Humpbacks are named for the distinctive arch thier backs make when diving. Other identifying features include the small dorsal notch on the back, elegant flukes and extraordinarily long pectoral fins - which gives rise to their scientific name: megaptera noveangiliae (translation: Big Wings of New England).
Most often, the underside of the fluke has a unique black and white pigmentation pattern that allows for easy identification of the individual. Some flukes are entirely black, in which case the shape of the fluke becomes its identifying character. Other times, a notch or tear in the fluke provides the necessary information.
In summer, Humpbacks feed on two types of food - Krill (tiny shrimp-like creatures) and Herring. When Herring is on the menu, the whales coordinate efforts in a behavior known as lunge or group feeding which entails a group of whales encircling a ball of Herring in an underwater trap known as a bubblenet. As the bubbles rise, a whale trumpets a feeding call for to a minute or two before sweeping the frequency upwards to cue a synchronous lunge to the surface.
Between mid October and November the feeding stops in Alaska and the whales swim to the warm protected waters of Hawaii for the breeding and birthing season - a 2,818 mile (4535 km) journey that has been documented as taking as little as three weeks.In Hawaii, the Humpbacks display another quality of vocalizations - the Humpback’s famous mating song, sung exclusively by the males.
The song lasts between 20 - 35 minutes with each whale singing the same arrangement of verse, chorus, verse - though not in unison. Whereas in Alaska the Humpbacks maybe vocalize once every twenty minutes, the Winter Song is a continual presence in the waters of Hawaii.Posted in Whale Research | Edit
Grooved Whale
In 1996 I was invited to join a research team in southeast Alaska studying the acoustics of the Humpback Whale. It was thought that with my musical background I might be able to shed light on the humpback’s feeding call. To my musician’s ear, what struck me most was that no feeding call was ever the same twice – each whale had its individual signature “style” varying their notes like one would an arpeggio over the course of the call.
I began learning about how to analyze data and found that through careful examination subtle qualities began to emerge in the vocalizations - qualities such as overtones, cadences and rhythmic cycles that lent themselves more to terms of music and composition than pure scientific vocabulary.
My goal then became twofold: to learn more about Humpback’s system of acoustics from a purely observational point of view, listening and analyzing the sounds much like a scientist would do while at the same time playing with the inherent rhythms and phrases within the sounds to create building blocks of musical compositions.
While I wasn’t out to “prove” anything with Grooved Whale, it seemed to me that investigating these questions of acoustics through the discipline of musical composition was an extremely valuable method of inquiry for the Humpback Whale.
The album received international airplay, rave reviews and took home NAV’s 2001 Electronic Album of the Year. I’m now working on a follow-up album and all kinds of wonderful projects that I will be sharing very soon!
In the meantime, you can explore my previous work from my last album, Grooved Whale .Posted in music | Edit
Welcome to the new Grooved Whale website.
