The Whale Song Translation: A Voyage of Discovery To Neptune and Beyond by Howard Steven Pines

Author:Howard Steven Pines [Pines, Howard Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pacific Reefs Publishing
Published: 2013-10-04T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

After they’d adjourned the meeting, Lila escorted Andrew and Seema to the lab where she analyzed whale song recordings. “It looks like a scaled-down version of SoCalSci’s Signal Processing Lab,” Andrew observed. They were surrounded by a cluster of high-performance computer workstations and laptops for displaying and editing the waveforms.

“Look at this.” Seema pointed to a fancy keyboard synthesizer perched atop a stand.

“I love music.” Lila brushed her fingers across the keys of the instrument. “I think that’s the main reason I joined PICES. It’s the sheer beauty and mystery of the humpback’s songs. I love to jam along with the recordings or sample and integrate the vocalizations into my own compositions. As Peter mentioned, I’m in a New Age jazz combo.”

Andrew’s eyes opened wide. “Lila, did you know that Seema is also a gifted musician?”

“I don’t know about being gifted,” replied Seema. “I’m a classical violinist, but I’ve occasionally jammed with my jazz-aficionado sidekicks.”

“Hey,” said Andrew, “how about you two do a quick duet?”

Lila did not hesitate. “Wait just a sec.” She disappeared into the back room and emerged with a violin case. “This is Hawaii, where work and play go hand in hand. Let’s do it.”

Andrew clapped his hands enthusiastically while Seema removed the violin from its case.

After a few warm-up exercises, they were ready to jam. Lila started the session with an improvisational rendition of a melody from a Norah Jones song. Thirty seconds into Lila’s solo, Seema began to bow a single continuous vibrato chord, like the shruti drone of an Indian raga. Once she had synched up to the key of the song, she launched into a riff of rhythmic chord progressions that complemented Lila’s melody. After a while they switched roles, with Seema bowing a lively jazz-rock version of a Jean-Luc Ponty violin solo.

Captivated by the music from the next room, the other team members drifted into the lab. The newcomers reacted instinctively, bouncing to the beat and clapping their hands. While Andrew hand-slapped a syncopated rhythm on a desktop, Greg hooted his approval. When the duo’s harmonizing crescendoed to a scintillating finale, the musicians were rewarded with a rousing ovation.

“No problem here with team chemistry.” Hawkins directed his remarks to Dmitri, still snapping his fingers to the memory of Lila’s up-tempo rhythm. “As I mentioned, Lila’s combo is performing tomorrow night at a local supper club. We insist you be our guests for an evening of dinner and music.”

“Besides that,” added Melanie, “the place has the most mouth-watering sushi on the island.”

“Speaking of mouth-watering,” replied Seema, “I’ve been dying for a taste of fresh Maui pineapple.”

Lila looped her arm around Seema’s. “Seema, my friend, I’ve never met an Indian woman who fiddles like you. I’ll see you dine like royalty on all of the freshest treats that Maui has to offer. Welcome to the Maui community of cetacean artists and scientists.”

Dmitri observed the felicitous scene. Andrew looked happy as heck standing next to Lila, which didn’t seem to bother Seema at all.

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