Klarinet Archive - Posting 000387.txt from 2002/07

From: alevin@-----. Levin)
Subj: Re: [kl] Orca song
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 14:00:05 -0400

There have been recordings of humpbacks and (I think) blue whales and
orcas. One of the earliet recordings was the stimulus for a composition by
George Crumb : "Vox balaenae" They should still be on the market somewhere.

At 10:44 AM 7/17/02 -0700, you wrote:
>CNN devoted a few minutes to an orca (killer whale) who swam ashore sick
>was rescued and was eventually released back into the ocean.
>
>It turns out that orcas are highly social and they remain in the 'pod'
>of their birth for their entire lives. Pods interbreed during mating
>season, and therefore inbreeding is not a problem.
>
>What interested me is the social role of orca song. The potential
>relevance to human music and language is obvious --- even if we can't
>make music underwater the way the Squidward does.
>
>When an orca swims ashore, how can you identify the pod from which it
>came? (In this case, the biologist who was interviewed on CNN even
>knew which individual in a certain pod was the baby's grandmother and
>that the mother was no longer in the pod and presumed dead.)
>
>The answer, according to the biologist, is by the pod's song . Each
>pod shares a characteristic song, and each pod's song is distinct from
>the song of other pods.
>
>The abandoned orca still remembered its own song. So they released it
>near the proper pod. The baby may --- the outcome is still uncertain,
>there's more involved than just the song --- may be re-accepted into the
>pod. Otherwise the animal in trouble.
>
>....anyway, this situation started me to wondering if orca song (or
>dolphin or whale or bird song?) includes 'harmonic elements'? Or is
>harmonic structure unique to humans? By 'harmonic element', I mean
>small-integer ratios of overtones and notes, a pre-selected scale, and
>so forth? I assume that some portions of orca calls are not harmonic,
>just as some human calls are not; but does orca song include the
>harmonic aspect also?
>
>I wish I had time to read another book. I'm sure this has been
>researched. Does anyone here know the answer?
>
>Thanks,
> Bill
>
>
>==========================
>
>My best guess is that music became possible because of some anatomical
>invention that just happens to facilitate interactions between other,
>older functions --- for example between some of the brain that does
>planning for paths in space and some of the parts involved with
>language, or story-like memory systems. [...] It might explain
>why hearing certain kinds of sounds might come to give you the feeling
>that you understood something, or give you the experience of being in
>some other place.
> ---Marvin Minsky
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------

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