My goal as an artist is to develop a pattern-based “lingua franca” to communicate with the singing whale. My theory is that deep in evolutionary history, humpback whale song and human music were encoded with similar structural qualities. This shared structure opens possible pathways for communication between our species.
I was first introduced to humpback whales in Alaska in 1996. It was thought with my musician’s ear I could help reveal patterns in the feeding calls that were not readily evident to the scientist. My first musical interaction with the whales was in 1999 in Hawaii. I fed my violin sounds underwater with a waterproof speaker and had a whale
I was first introduced to humpback whales in Alaska in 1996. It was thought with my musician’s ear I could help reveal patterns in the feeding calls that were not readily evident to the scientist. My first musical interaction with the whales was in 1999 in Hawaii. I fed my violin sounds underwater with a waterproof speaker and had a whale come underneath the boat and sing with me.
But was I imitating him or he me?
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My aim as a composer is to push the rules and boundaries of music and provide insight as to how the possibility of music in other species might be investigated. I have studied both classical violin and African drumming to discover the melodic and rhythmic aspects of human music and have applied this insight to identify traits we share with the singing whale.
If humpback song and human music share a foundational structure and logic, we should be able to design a system to interact with these beings in a meaningful way.
My aim is to develop pattern recognition tools and tease out the secret of whale song.