Program Notes

Bubble-Net is inspired by an experience I had in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska watching humpback whales perform what I believe is an incredible act of music.

Humpback whales are rather solitary creatures in comparison to the socialite orca. They are rarely observed to pack-hunt as much of their diet consists of tiny organisms like krill and herring. But for a few weeks every summer, humpbacks in Resurrection Bay have learned to work together in a highly choreographed effort to feast as much as possible. This hunting technique is called “bubble-net feeding”, wherein each whale has a unique role that is imperative to the collective whole’s yield of fish. One whale, the “Ringleader”, swims in a circle around a school of fish, continuously blowing bubbles in an upwards spiraling motion that trap the fish in an artificial “net”, supported by the “Herders” that ensure the fish are not able to escape. The “Caller” dives below the shoal with a deafening cry, a trumpeting call, a banshee scream, a sound so loud that the fish are stunned and swim upwards out of panic. Finally, all the whales gather below the “net”, and with wide-open mouths, they burst through the surface of the water and engulf the shoal in its entirety. A massive flock of seagulls screech above them, trying to grab extra scraps from the agape mouths without accidentally being swallowed.

I cannot emphasize enough what an insane sight this was. It’s like watching tectonic plates shift or planets colliding. It’s simply inhuman. It was orchestral. It was music. I feel like I wrote Bubble-Net in real-time as I watched the whales a few hundred feet away from me. I could hear everything. This piece is my attempt to capture the experience in the orchestral medium—like the whales, orchestral music can only be accomplished through intense and clever cooperation from a synergetic whole.

The humpback whale itself is an incredibly musical being which has inspired countless composers before, including myself. The beginning of Bubble-Net is an homage to the late George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae (1971), focusing solely on the ethereal combination of piano, solo flute, and solo cello. Other incredibly influential works to this piece include Carola Bauckholt’s Zugvögel, Andrew Norman’s Sustain, Charlie Richardson’s Progressive Abstractions on the Humpback Whale, and Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails.