PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The music of a culture reflects the intonation of language, rhythms of speech, noises in the environment and different aspects of life – all of which is culturally based. Every culture has music that is distinctive and an important aspect of its identity.
Defining an 'Australian musical sound' is about recognition of rhythmic patterns derived from our environment and a sense of place, as well as the Indigenous and the culturally diverse aspects of Australian life. Indigenous music in Australia uses the environment itself to generate unique sounds and rhythms.
You've all herd of classical music but Australia's is a bit different. Classical music is usually based on traditional forms, such as a sonata or symphony. Australian classical music is represented by ensembles like the Australian String Quartet, Guitar Trek and the Stellar Quintet.
Jacqui Way, The Australian String Quartet, 2006, photograph. Image courtesy of Jacqui Way
Some of the earliest music in Australia had its origins in the folk genre, music originating and handed down as everyday experience. Similar to other colonial societies, early Australian bush music told of the hardships and isolation endured in the harsh new land.
Australian folk song idioms have been influenced by successive waves of migrants from diverse backgrounds, beginning with the British, Irish, Scottish and Welsh convicts. Folk styles from around the world are represented through Australian musicians, including Gaelic, Celtic, Ceilidh, Sevdah, Romany, African, Cajun, Breton, American country, Bluegrass and Klezmer.
Country music in Australia has its origins in the folk songs sung from the 1780s to the 1920s based around themes of Australian folklore, especially bush ranging, loneliness and isolation, endurance, drought, floods, droving and shearing.
Jazz, which is based on an Afro-American tradition, originated in New Orleans, USA around 1917, and is marked by frequent improvisation and syncopated rhythms. By the 1920s Australian jazz began to flourish as a new dance music phenomenon.
a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia potentially within the last 1,500 years and still in widespread use today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe". Musicologists classify it as a brass aerophone.
