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“The speaker worked quite well broadcasting my soprano saxophone underwater to the beluga whales."

—David Rothenberg—

"Here are some sound clips of my interactions in Chicago, along with a sonogram of a beluga imitating the soprano saxophone."

Beluga and Clarinet Mix

Beluga and Sax Sonogram

In book THOUSAND MILE SONG, the speakers figure prominently as in this diagram.

Remark: David Rothenberg (b. 1962) is a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with a special interest in animal sounds as music. He is also a jazz musician whose books and recordings reflect a longtime interest in understanding other species such as singing insects by making music with them.

Dr. Rothenburg graduated from Harvard and took his PhD from Boston University.

He is the author of Why Birds Sing, published in six languages and turned into a BBC TV feature-length documentary. Rothenberg has also written Sudden Music and co-edited The Book of Music and Nature. As a clarinetist he has six CDs out under his own name, including On the Cliffs of the Heart, named as one of the top ten CDs of the year by Jazziz Magazine. He has performed all over the world, and written music for theater productions at Derek Walcott’s.

David Rothenberg performs two one-man shows presenting his upcoming CD WHALE MUSIC and forthcoming book THOUSAND MILE SONG (Basic Books) at the Garage Theatre’s SoloFest in Teaneck, NJ.

The first Sunday he performs at the Puffin Foundation, the second at the Garage Theatre on the Fairleigh-Dickinson Teaneck Campus.

Deep in the sea the whales of the world are singing incomprehensible songs. What better way to try to figure them out than to play along with them? Rothenberg presents a one-man show of music and stories based on his adventures traveling the globe trying to make music live along with humpback, beluga, and killer whales, from the waves of Hawaii to the wilds of the Russian arctic.

"A pioneer in world music”

—NY Times—

“WHALE MUSIC reminds me of these lines from Rumi: ‘The singing art is like a cresting wave, whose graceful movements come from a pearl somewhere on the ocean floor.’ Rothenberg’s words and sounds reveal a fine and subtle music that crosses the boundary between land and sea.”

—Jon Hassell—

Remark: Composer/trumpeter Jon Hassell is the visionary creator of a style of music he named Fourth World, which he describes as "coffee-colored classical" - a mysterious, unique hybrid of musics that unfolds between the polarities of ancient and digital, composed and improvised, Eastern and Western.

A rough cut of a section for a French TV documentary made in 2011 about the song of the humpback whale and the many ways people in Hawaii respond to it. Narration is in French but Rothenberg speaks…

Here's a little excerpt from a French film where the speakers can be seen…

Remark: The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 m (39–52 ft) and weigh about 36,000 kg (79,000 lb). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers. Males produce a complex song lasting 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours at a time. Its purpose is not clear, though it may have a role in mating.