The Whale's downs


The Whales' song

This term is given to describe the repetitive and predictable sounds uttered by whales, that vary according to the species. These messages allow whales to know accurately the distance, the nature, direction and speed of objects they will come across, even at a distance of several hundred meters! They are used for food by certain groups of whales, which attack shoals of fish; or by certain male whales at the mating season.

And yet, there is a whale that has been living alone for over 20 years. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been tracking her because she utters a unique sound ; her voice is unlike any other baleen whale. While the rest of her kind communicate between 12 and 25Hz, she sings at 51.75Hz. Besides, she is going through the wrong paths instead of following the usual baleen whale's migratory channels. Scientists have different theories as to the true nature of this "52 Hertz whale"; one of them is that she might be a weird hybrid, one of a kind. Maybe she-or he, as we don't really know the whale's sex-is the last member of her species.


Whales in music

Whale songs are an inspiration to man! The whale is also part of musical creation, by being one of the main characters in "l'Opéra du Pauvre" by Léo Ferret or the hero in the short film by Walt Disney "the Whale who wanted to sing at the Met".

Thanks to advances in science, interspecies musical duets are now possible between man and whale: David Rothenberg, a professor in the department of humanities at New Jersey Institute of Technology and a musician has carried out an incredible experiment : by placing microphones (for the recording) and speakers (for the coming out of the sound) under the water clinging to the hull of his boat, the clarinettist was able to record duets with whales from Russia or Canada via Hawaii!

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A true masterpiece released in 1946, this short film from Walt Disney has two distinctive features: Nelson Eddy provides the voice of both the narrator and various characters and the story is the only drama ever made at Walt Disney's time ending with the hero's death.
It is about a whale, called Willie, that has a wonderful opera-voice and dreams of singing at the Met, the greatest Opera in New York. His hopes finally come true and he becomes famous. Nevertheless as he has reputed musical abilities, a man called Tetti Tatti believes that he has actually swallowed a whole orchestra and decides to kill him. However, even though Willie is long gone, his spirit lives on in heaven, singing in a hundred voices, for angels.

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