Grooved Whale

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.