David
Rothenberg studied the sound of killer whales in his work "The Whales
Song". As he mentions, whales are also the first animals that scientists
have tried to prove have a culture. Another reason for him to investigate the
sounds of a whale.
"Whales
Song" begins with a harmonious and peaceful sound that he backs with his
saxophone to imitate the sound of a whale. Throughout the piece, he plays
recordings of whales, and each time the whales make a louder sound, he backs it
up with a more powerful saxophone sound. The use of the saxophone gives the
piece a slight touch of a jazz number. It must be mentioned that Rothenberg
himself is a passionate jazz musician. In general, he works a lot with animal
sounds, such as birds, in his works.
The sounds
of the whales are usually deeper and sometimes sound very sad, if you can put
it that way. In the middle part of the piece, the sounds of the whales get
louder and sound like a loud "aaahh" of a human being. At the same
time, he once again emphasizes the sounds of the whales with his saxophone,
reproducing the emotions with his instrument. Towards the end, the sounds
become softer again and seem sadder, which can also be seen in the way he
plays.
I
personally found the use of the saxophone beneficial in that I could better
identify and possibly match the sounds of the whales. In my opinion, he uses
his instrument to reproduce the emotions he himself feels when listening to the
whale sounds and to make them more tangible to the human ear.
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