Nerding About Cetaceans
Beluga whales can change the shape of their melon at will, and chitter and tweet so much that they were called "sea canaries" by early sailors, because their calls could be heard through the hulls of ships
No one knows how baleen whales (humpbacks, blues, etc) even communicate because they don't have melons or vocal chords. (there's some theories, but nothing conclusive)
Also baleen whales have two seperate jawbones, one on either side
Cetaceans are so weirddd <3
Nerding About Cetaceans & Music Theory
[4-6 notes] = subphrase
[subphrase + subphrase] = phrase
[phrase repeated for 4~mins] = theme
[n themes] = song
(aiui from a very brief skim of the topic)
I wonder how much inversion & recursion there is in terms of of subphrases/phrases/themes..
The structure is rlly reminding me of reading about how Bach put phrases together & toyed with them to compose music in highly structured & mathematical ways. 🤔
That's a cool link to think about.
Nerding About Cetaceans
[Humpback songs]
"A whale will typically repeat the same phrase over and over for two to four minutes. This is known as a theme. A collection of themes is known as a song. The whale will repeat the same song, which last up to 30 or so minutes, over and over again over the course of hours or even days."
Confirmed: Phillip Glass is a whale who has learnt to walk on land and blend in with the humanfolk