Grooved Whale

When I look at the many different avenues I have explored over the past decade in my search for music in other species, one of the main differentiators I see between us and other creatures is that the human species has many songs and we have to create each and every one of them.

How is a song brought into being? Why is it brought into being? What is its lifespan? Why do some outlive others? Can everyone create music? What is the ratio of creators to listeners? Why do composers compose? Why do I compose?

What would the human species look like if we only had one song? Would we still consider ourselves be a musical animal?

Over the course of the Grooved Whale Project and my research into whale song I’ve radically altered how I process the world. I’ve become accustom to analyzing myself and my behaviors much as I would do another species. The challenge I had with analyzing my musical behavior was that when my brain was in the state of music, no logic was allowed to enter. Let me explain:

When I am fully involved in music (most often while playing my violin) I am in a place where the sound plays me. There is no conscious decision of what notes to play, of moving the bow up and down. There is no conscious recognition of individual notes, patterns or progressions. The music just is. It pulls me in and directs me where to go.

This state is recognizable – I see it in performers when they hit the zone. Have a look at this James Brown video but first turn the sound down. If you were a non-musical species studying this behavior, what would you conclude?

While my research has been mainly focused on understanding the humpback whale and its form of sonic logic, I’ve come to realize that my own species has variations of perception and communication that I can’t even begin to imagine.

Often while composing I play with the idea of inhabiting an alternate biology, re-visioning my music to fit a human with 6 fingers instead of 5, or playing with the idea of extending our hearing range or rhythmic acuity. I have to wonder tho, how I would write music for the creator of the video below? How would my music need to sound to fit into her world?

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.
Lionel Trilling

Studying humpback whale song has made me interested in where human songs come from and the idea of copyright. Are songs the creations of our own mind or do we use other songs for inspiration? Humpbacks seem to borrow and trade quite freely, as noted by researcher Mike Noad when the east coast humpbacks in Australia adopted the tune sung by the west coast whales.  (More on this here).  I have to wonder if before money was attached to copyright, our species did the same.

Where is the dividing line between inspiration and out-and-out stealing? The Black Eyed Peas are currently being sued by Phoenix Phenom for the song below. A valid lawsuit? Check out these videos.

Much has been written about how music can heal, but can music harm?

Since first traveling to Alaska to hear the Humpback feeding call in 1996 I have often wondered if these animals had a root sense of music. The patterned play of notes seemed too close to my ear to discount this possibility.

On my journey from being a musician to being a “music researcher” I had to drastically change the way I interacted with sound. Basically I had to remove all of music’s hold on my brain so that I could study it without being influenced by it.

My main technique was to compose with tracks out of alignment, making my music sound absolutely horrendous. Listening to my creations caused multiple physical reactions – from my back tensing up, to jaw aches and migraines.

Not many people get a chance to listen to “wrong” music (as opposed to bad music or music you might not understand) as by the time a song hits production, the alignment and symmetry of a piece are usually fixed.

Below are examples of what I would deem “right” music and “wrong” music (created using two trax: a clave bell pattern against a filter-swept arpeggio). Which do you prefer?

Right Music by whalegroover

Wrong Music by whalegroover

I always thought of the violin as a western instrument and was pleasantly surprised to find out it has a long history in west Africa. Check out Senegalese musician Issa Sow’s tunes on his nianiooru.