My primary research explores the relationship between humans and whales through sound, and the impact that their vocal expression as song in the 1970s prompted “Save the Whales” and many efforts to stop whaling. SEM News recently published my initial study, “Singing With Whales: Exploring Human and Non-Human Connections,” where I explore some of the ways in which humans connect to whales across the world.
I am a PhD candidate in Musicology at Brandeis University, working with my advisor Bradford Garvey.
In my research I ask, is the conceptualization of whales’ sounds as song what shifts humans’ perception of their uniqueness and therefore their rights of recognition as sapient species? And what are the stakes of understanding music as a human phenomenon when birds and whales also sing? I examine the interaction between humans and whales as mediated through sound, both within music compositions, scientific studies, indigenous epistemologies, and more informal human-whale interactions that happen through singing, drumming, and real-time improvisations with whales.
As part of this research, I am conducting field work in Tahiti, Hawaii, and New Zealand, to explore how whale songs as sung by humans and humpback whales, and listened by musicians, scientists, and First Nations, continue to advance environmental action. While in Mo’orea, Tahiti, for example, I was able to conduct informal interviews with local Tahitians, with tourists seeking to experience whale’s singing “live,” and with stakeholders in whale eco-tourism. On the one hand, I recorded in writing stories about human-whale interactions across the island, and I learned some about how Tahitians people relate to whales as spiritual being; on the other hand, I had many informative interactions with “whale groupies,” people who seek “live” whale performances out of passion, desire of connection, and sometimes in pursuit of healing. In the last decade, the ever more sophisticated technologies that allow many people to video record themselves with whales underwater and the center stage that social media have in people’s lives, created a boom of ecotourism.
Throughout my dissertation I explore three main themes that are at the crux of human-whale relations:
The first theme of this dissertation is humans’ breaking of the sonic boundaries between water and air. The development of underwater microphones (hydrophones) during WWI led to the discovery of humpback whale songs and sparked a revolution in how we perceive the ocean—not as silent and dull, but as endlessly fascinating and complex. At the center of this history are Roger and Katy Payne, musicoscientists who framed humpback vocalizations as “song” in 1970 and released Songs of the Humpback Whale, which became the bestselling nature recording of all time. They shared these recordings with popular musicians in hopes of awakening a commitment to save whales. Within a few years, humpback songs inspired concert works by Alan Hovhaness and George Crumb, and toured globally with Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, and Paul Winter, helping to inspire a popular movement for whales and oceans. This cultural shift coincided with increased regulatory activity; at the time of the Hovhaness concert in 1971, whales were still being killed at a rate of 50,000 per year, despite whaling regulations dating back to 1931. In the years following the discovery of humpback songs, whaling regulations dramatically sped up—Roger Payne even played whale songs on his cello at International Whaling Commission meetings to elicit a deeper emotional response. In the first part of the dissertation, I provide a detailed historical account of how recognizing whale vocalizations as song propelled activism and regulatory action against whaling, alongside musical analyses of the art and popular music that broadcast a message of change.
The second overarching theme is gender, which has had a huge, albeit rarely discussed, impact on how whales and their sounds are studied and perceived. Early women’s work on humpback songs often appeared in non-scholarly outlets but is rarely seen in peer-reviewed journals. More critically, research has focused almost entirely on humpback males. While we now know that humpback females whisper to their calves and teach songs through quiet sonic exchanges to avoid suitors and predators, it was long believed that only males sang and that females were silent. Gender classification of free-ranging whales remains difficult, often relying on whether a whale cares for a calf (female) or sings (male), resulting in gendered nomenclature that labels males as “singers” or “non-singers,” and females as “cows.” Technologies like tag-attached hydrophones—developed through research often led by women—opened new pathways for studying female vocalizations. Yet, through informal interviews with leading scientists, I found that researchers who challenge the male-dominated paradigm of whale songs face significant obstacles to publishing their work. These struggles echo long-standing traditions in musicology, where women’s musical contributions have been dismissed and genius has been attributed almost exclusively to males. My dissertation explores how the classically trained musicoscientists who studied whale songs were predisposed to perceive gendered patterns: males as singers, females valued mainly for reproductive labor—a familiar trope that requires careful yet relentless dismantling.
The third theme engages with contemporary politics around sonic exchanges between humans and whales, as fostered by the growth of ecotourism. The desire to swim with whales and hear them sing live has shifted relations between indigenous populations, scientists, immigrants, and tourists. On Mo’orea, for example, native locals participate in the whale-watching economy, yet feel conflicted about practices that violate their way of life. Carlos, a native Tahitian driver for a whale-watching business, shared that locals feel the whale’s power by witnessing them from the coast—going into the water to seek them out feels like a violation. He recalled a baby humpback’s death in the bay: while locals mourned through ceremony and song, scientists dissected the calf on the beach, a profound violation of the whale’s spirit. In contrast, French immigrants and whale groupies expressed concerns about predatory sharks drawn to the carcass, citing risks to the human-whale-shark balance and the local economy. Mo’orea, Hawaii, and Aotearoa have become major destinations for whale groupies who spend heavily to hear humpbacks sing, often booking multiple tours and promoting unsustainable practices like circling whales all day. While these interactions mark progress from whaling, they continue to commodify humpbacks and violate indigenous cultural connections. Despite long-standing obstacles from legislation and land theft, First Nations have increasingly led efforts to protect whales. In 2024, the Māori of Aotearoa (New Zealand), along with Tahitian and Cook Island leaders, signed a historic treaty recognizing whales as legal persons. How this changes stakeholder relations remains to be seen, but commercial ships will now be held responsible for injuring whales, with substantial fines. It will be interesting to see whether indigenous leaders will push for stricter regulation of whale-watching tourism. By highlighting these diverse perspectives, my dissertation aims to build bridges between seemingly contrasting positions that ultimately share a commitment to the wellbeing of whales.
An ever growing timeline highlighting the history of human and whale’s entanglements, focusing on music and environmental action. Scroll to listen countless musical pieces highlighting existing relations between humans and whales through sound.
Humpback whales making wave through the Anthropocene
A larger chapter titled “A Reimagined Silence: How Whale Songs Inspired an Environmental Commitment to the Ocean,” is forthcoming as part of the edited volume titled Listening to the Swan Song: Towards a Subjectivity of Non-Human Organisms in Music and (Music-Related) Literature of the Past and Present, edited by Piotr Kociumbas and Joanna Godlewicz-Adamiec. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlag, Imprint of BRILL Deutschland.
First recorded by accident in the early twentieth century by a U.S. Navy installation, and later popularized through Roger Payne’s album Songs of the Humpback Whale in 1970 (history’s most popular nature recording), whale’s songs brought about a dramatic reimagination of whale-human relations. Since then, musicians have interacted with whales by incorporating their song into art music, bringing humpback songs into concert halls and worldwide tours. Shortly after people heard them sing, a global outcry led by the NGO Save the Whales emerged, resulting in a ten-year moratorium on commercial whaling, which led in 1986 to worldwide ban (with the exclusion of Norway, Japan, and Island). Thus, humpbacks’ cultural complexity had tremendous political power and inspired a new relationship of care towards whales and the ocean.
In this chapter I analyze John Tavener’s 1965 dramatic cantata The Whale – where the whale is ominously silent – and compare it with Alan Hovhaness’s symphonic poem And God Created Great Whales premiered in 1970. While the lived experience of humans takes center stage in Taverner’s piece, Hovhaness gives whales the prominent role of soloists and constructs the piece in service of their singing. In 1971, George Crumb’s “Vox Balaenae” was premiered and is yet another attempt to decenter humans making whales and their sonorities protagonists on stage. These attempts continue in the twenty-first century, for example, through the work of composer Emily Doolittle, and her 2006 composition “Social Sounds from Whales at Night.” Popular musicians also played a significant role in the widespread of humpback songs, writing music to foster a newfound commitment to whales. Among them stand out Judy Collins, Pete Seeger, Paul Winter, and Kate Bush. The associations between whales and culture as fostered by these musicians, arguably had an important role in stirring large numbers of people to act and demand a change in how oceans and marine mammals are valued and protected.
Humpback Whale Recording, Mo’orea, Tahiti, October 2023 – possibly mother and calf – made with hydrophone
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