Whale Song: Musical Practices in the Cultures of the Humpback Whale Megaptera Novaeangliae

Abstract

The vocal practices and songs of humpback whales have been the subject of much research in terms of function, temporal change, hierarchical structure, complexity and meaning. These studies, which need an interdisciplinary approach, are nowadays; continues to attract scientists from many fields such as ethology, marine biology, evolutionary anthropology, bioacoustics, zoomusicology, ethnomusicology, linguistics and cognitive psychology. The purpose of this article is to present the findings of whale song research and zoomusicological studies within the framework of vocal learning and in relation to our understanding of music. For this purpose, the basic research method on which the study is based is literature review. The literature of different disciplines such as marine biology, bioacoustics, ethology, zoomusicology and ethnomusicology has been examined on the axes of animal music, vocal learning and whale song, and the relevant findings have been compiled. Humpback whales, which have an average lifespan of 60 years and are among the largest living animal species, are taxonomically included in the baleen whales suborder of the cetacean order. Developed vocal practices which are the most interesting elements of humpback whale cultures, have made this species one of the focus of marine biology and also zoomusicology. In the 1970s, hydrophone recordings of long and complex vocal performances by humpback whales were studied in detail by marine biologists. After analyzing the sonogram images of these sound recordings Roger Payne, Kathy Payne, Scott McVay, and Howard Winn determined that the long, complex performances of male humpback whales had a predictable hierarchical structure and introduced the term “whale song” to the scientific literature. Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) display long, complex and patterned vocalization practices called “whale song”. Although the function of songs is not yet fully understood, it is likely that they are both a courtship behavior and a form of communication that gives various messages to other male individuals. Songs are made up of various hierarchically arranged units and repetitions: single notes-like units form sentences, sentences combined together form themes. The themes that are organized and recurring in certain ways make up the songs. Humpback whales in the same population sing the same song within a certain period of time. However, during the season, due to the deformation of the sound units, the changing of the order or the repetition, the songs become more and more complex and turn into completely new songs. Humpback whale songs have similarities with human music due to their arranged/ patterned structure and transmission between individuals and communities. Michael Noad, Ellen C. Garland and their colleagues, who approached the transformation of humpback whale songs at different populations level, found that there was a continuous cultural transfer from west to east. Thus a “cultural revolution” for humpback whale song was first voiced, as songs performed at the mating and breeding grounds on the west coast of Australia were also sung by humpback whales on the east coast after just a few seasons. Zoomusicologist Dario Martinelli re-asks John Blacking’s famous ethnomusicological question in a way that takes our curiosity about the phenomenon of music beyond the limits of the human species: “How musical is a whale?”. Blacking’s approach and basic question point to the capacity of human beings to produce and perceive music and to decode the codes and meanings of music. In the same way, Martinelli’s question focuses on the capacity to produce and perceive musical sounds as patterned sequences. The production and evaluation of hierarchically structured sound sequences, called whale songs, relies on a certain biological capacity (musicality) shared by all individuals of the species and social learning processes acquired through intra-communal interactions, just as in human music. At this point, “vocal learning” is a critical concept. Vocal learning is concerned with several different aspects of the communication process: (1) associating existing signals with new contexts, (2) an individual learning to modify (or reproduce) vocal signals in a particular form by hearing the calls produced by other individuals. The ability to learn songs is a special form of vocal learning that includes melodic, rhythmic and timbre features. This skill possessed by humpback whales is not very common in nature. Moreover, unlike songbirds, humpback whales can learn new songs throughout their lives, just like humans. The songs of humpback whales served as a kind of savior for these creatures, which were at risk of extinction. Produced by Roger Payne in 1970, a record containing only vocal recordings of humpback whales has sold more than a hundred thousand copies, making humpback whales an adored species and an icon for preserving ocean diversity. Today, however, global warming, ocean pollution and overfishing, as well as low-frequency noise from commercial activities continue to threaten the musical culture of whales and adversely affect their survival capacity. Therefore, spreading the knowledge that whales have a musical culture that has similarities with human music may increase awareness for the protection of large predatory species in the oceans.