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Bees Hum

Bees Hum

It was a warm day when I was listening to the bees humming in F in the hills of California. Do bees hum in other keys? Why are they called bees if they hum in F?

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by Leendah

Re: Bees Hum

I don't know about bees, but I know a guy who once farted a perfectly in-tune low D. Or should I say, 'bottom' D...

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by Pat Mustard

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I heard they buzz in Bb in South Africa

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by premier

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I don't know about bees but this was posted on Mandolin Cafe a while ago:

"Apparantly, mosquitoes of Aedes aegypti modulate their wing tones to produce an overtone that is a key to their initiating reproduction. When they get in proximity to each other the male modulates to 600Hz (a D) and she to 400Hz (a G). The resulting overtone of 1200Hz is what is required for mating. This tonal separation is a perfect fifth! The most beautiful of intervals. Like our mandolins! Even more interesting, in the lab, just the 1200Hz tone was played for some mosquitoes and it had the effect on them. "

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by All Moldy

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>Why are they called bees if they hum in F?

Shouldn't they be called Effing Bees?

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by Rudall the time

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I wouldn't mate with somebody who played in G while I was playing in D.

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by nicholas

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Unless her attractions compensated unequivocally for her lamentable musical sense, and even then I'm not sure.

# Posted on June 28th 2010 by nicholas

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If I get could my foot on them they would buzz in Bb

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by ruaidhri

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Over the ocean they buzz in C

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by Donough

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Canadian bees buzz quizzically in A.
(groan, eh?)

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by Will Harmon

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But what pitch(es) are the drones .... ;-)

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by Mix O'Lydian

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Shakespeare couldn't play in difficult keys: "Where the B sucks, there suck I; In a cowslip's bell I lie"

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by RichardB

Re: Bees Hum

"Why are they called bees if they hum in F?"

It's the German 'Bee', meaning B-flat. The bees are humming in B-flat; what you are actually hearing is the 3rd harmonic, which is F.

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by CreadurMawnOrganig

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The German 'B', that is.

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by CreadurMawnOrganig

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'Where the B sucks, there suck I..." - I like it!

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by nicholas

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With genetic modification we should be able to produce bees that hum at any pitch.

I'm looking forward to playing the first bee-harmonium.

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by skreech

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"Why are they called bees if they hum in F?"
They're definitely effing cees when they sting you.

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by johndsamuels

Re: Bees Hum

Tin foil hat time!

Are you sure those bees weren't in F Sharp? The most common key for Native American flutes are F Sharp. They say the King's Chamber made of quartz in the Great Pyramid resonates at F Sharp.

This geologist has found that: 'Planets that have short orbits like Mercury have higher frequencies, whereas more distant planets with longer orbits like Neptune have lower frequencies. Interestingly, it looks like all the frequencies lie close to the F sharp minor scale, Engebretson says, “so I’ve been working on why that might be.”'

http://www.earthmagazine.org/earth/article/264-7d9-9-12

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler

Re: Bees Hum

On a related subject, perhaps:
http://www.pulseplanet.com/dailyprogram/dailies.php?POP=2244

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by pennhorse

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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/images/2005/06/26/26_6_2005_BEE.jpg

# Posted on June 29th 2010 by sara505sings

Re: Bees Hum

It's really simple. Bees hum because they don't know the words. :-D

# Posted on June 30th 2010 by fiddlerdan

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