Australian composers, who do not claim direct Aboriginal influence but have gained indirectly from the culture, have been far more successful in developing a style which is recognisably Australian. These composers have disassociated themselves from European trends to varying degrees, and have examined the nature of the Australian people and the landscape in the firm belief that music must be a direct reflection of the society from which it emanates. Relying from the outset on their own resources, this school of thought has produced as many variations of style as it has composers. Nevertheless, certain common characteristics are apparent in their music. That their music has, on the whole, awakened stronger feelings of acceptance or rejection within society than Anthill's Corroboree or Hill's Aboriginal Themes, suggests that this is the real starting point of an Australian musical style, and this is borne out by the originality and strength of the music itself.
Because Aboriginal influence is so diffuse in many of the works, it is difficult to state its precise nature. In many instances, composers deny having used specific Aboriginal elements, while acknowledging the use of Asian techniques. Many composers have found that Asian music provided a starting point for the development of their language, and most commonly, it was the Asian concept of time which seemed to hold the most promise.
European music is based on the division of time, tension becoming an important element in the essential forward movement of a work which implies development and resolution. Harmonic resolution in the European sense, is unknown in Asian and Australian Aboriginal music. The division of time is unrelated to harmonic tension; time exists in its own right as a superstructure containing smaller, more detailed melodic and rhythmic patterns. Many composers felt that this concept of time in music was more appropriate to the vast, monotonous distances of Australia, and many seem to have arrived at an understanding of Aboriginal culture through the music of Asia.
Although much of their musical material is Asian in origin, the end result is invariably expressive of the drier, more vast Australian continent, resembling in it texture and tone quality the music of Aboriginals rather than that of the Balinese Gamelan or Japanese Gagaku, the two most significant Asian influences on Australian composers. Largely non-tonal and non-melodic, the composers rely heavily on drones, both tonal and non-tonal, rhythmic ostinati, and percussive sounds. The smooth, full-bodied sounds of nineteenth century Europe are nowhere to be found; harmonic movement, in the European sense, is absent. Sparse, arid sounds predominate, within a static, seemingly endless time-frame, which is rarely sectionalised to the same extent as in Asian music.
At the fore-front of this music is Peter Sculthorpe, whose music has always provoked a strong reaction, and in many ways embodies the spirit of Australian independence from Europe. One of his first major compositions, the Sonatina for Solo Piano (1954), already reveals a tendency to avoid harmonic tension and resolution. The work is static in its harmonic and temporal structure, containing smaller melodic and rhythmic patterns. Development of these smaller patterns, a technique which was used extensively in later works, is a significant element. Sculthorpe's compositions of the sixties employ similar techniques in a more highly developed form.
The most significant works of this period, as far as this discussion is concerned, are the Sun Musics I-IV, Irkanda IV, String Quartets nos. 6 and 7 ("Red Landscape"), The Fifth Continent and the String Trio, The Loneliness of Bunjil. Harsh, dry textures predominate, which closely resemble the tone quality of Aboriginal music and of the landscape itself. Melodic instruments are most often used in a non-melodic, or even percussive way. When melodic fragments emerge, they tend to waver obsessively around a few tones, without developing further. Aboriginal modes are rarely present in any recognisable form, yet Sculthorpe seems to have captured the very essence of the music by adopting its more essential features: its static-ness and its unique tone quality, stemming from extreme economy of musical means.
Sculthorpe's more recent works seem to be employing elements of Aboriginal culture in an increasingly tangible way. His theatre piece, Rites Of Passage (1972-73), makes direct use of ritual texts of the Aranda tribe. Asian musical influences are less apparent in this work, which is permeated with the music and philosophy of the Australian Aboriginal. Direct borrowing of Aboriginal material occurs in the more recent works, The Song Of Tailitnama, (1974) and How The Stars Were Made (1971), both of which employ melodies from the Elkin's and Jones' collections.
Although some of Sculthorpe's contemporaries employ similar structural techniques: the use of non-functional harmony and polyphony in the form of superimposed drones, which give a drawn-out, layered effect, their use of texture is generally quite different, resembling that of contemporary European music rather than Aboriginal music. Richard Meale's Plateau for Wind Quintet (1971) is an example of this use of Sculthorpian techniques resulting in a strikingly different tone quality. The harmony is static, drones everpresent, but the sound is continuous, uninterrupted by the harsh, bird-like shrieks and constantly changing rhythmic patterns of which Sculthorpe is also fond. Meale's programme note betrays the source of this difference between his music and that of Sculthorpe's:
"... An elevated tract of comparatively flat or level land across which the mind can journey musically without reference to any 'emotional' anecdote"
(Quoted on record cover: Plateau For Winds, Adelaide Wind Quintet [H.M.V. - ASD 7558])
Sculthorpe's music, while far from being dependant on its titles, is of a descriptive, directly emotive nature. Meale's less colourful music demands a more active role on the part of the listener. His music seems to represent modes of thought implied by the landscape itself.
A most notable work by another of Sculthorpe's contemporaries is George Dreyfus' Sextet for Wind Quintet and Didjeridu. Commissioned by Music Viva for the Canberra Spring Festival of 1971, the work is the result of considerable study by Dreyfus of Aboriginal music, and is one of the few really successful combinations of Aboriginal and European musical styles. Both styles remain more or less separate in the work, interest being derived from the contrast notated beyond indications of when to play, the player being expected to respond to the other sounds in his own musical idiom. There are no harmonic progressions or conventional rhythmic figurations in the work, and in this way, European music is freed from those qualities which so impeded earlier attempts to combine with Aboriginal music. This has so far been Dreyfus' only attempt in this genre. Generally speaking, his music is more European than either Sculthorpe's or Meale's, and embraces an enormous variety of styles and influences.
The younger generation composers, those now in their twenties and thirties and particularly those who have studied with Sculthorpe, are beginning to show renewed interest in Aboriginal music however this interest has yet to emerge in a concrete way in their music. An important exception is the Sydney composer, Colin Bright, whose highly contemporary idiom incorporates much of the Aboriginal musical style. His music for Contrabass Octet and Didjeridu (1978) is mainly concerned with exploring the sonorities available from such a combination, but is closely related rhythmically, texturally and structurally to Aboriginal music. The rhythmic structure of the piece is largely derived from the breathing patterns of the didjeridu player who achieves an enormous variety of rhythmic patterns by means of breath control, and its overall structure from a series of drones, above which a number of melodic and rhythmic events occur. Bright's most recent work, which is tentatively called The Dreamtime, employs an Aboriginal text and the composer considers it the most strongly influenced by Aboriginal music of all his works to date.
Other young composers do not seem to have been influenced by Aboriginal music in a consistent or tangible way. Anne Boyd is perhaps the most persistent in her search for an Australian musical style but her music stems largely from Asian rather than Aboriginal sources. Other composers have made isolated attempts to employ Aboriginal elements in their music. Alison Bauld's music theatre piece, In A Dead Brown Land, (1972) approaches Aboriginal sonorities in much the same way as Sculthorpe's music does. Barry Conyngham departs quite significantly from his usual style of composition in his theatre piece Edward John Eyre, yet another work based on the life of one of the explorers. Aboriginal influence is felt in the work's long, drawn-out blocks of sound, the dependence on drones for structural cohesion, and more specifically, the orchestral shrieks and bird-calls, the use of clapping sticks, and the imitation of Aboriginal song.
Composers in Australia today appear to hold one of two philosophies regarding the future of Australian music. There are those who consider the development of an Australian style either completely irrelevant, or at best, incidental to their composition. Others are concerned that Australian music too often imitates European trends, and does not truly reflect Australian society and conditions. The history of Aboriginal influence on the music of white Australians has not, on the whole, been a happy one. It is only recently that composers have benefited from the many unsuccessful attempts to graft elements of Aboriginal music onto a European framework. Many composers have sought more sympathetic cultures as a basis for a musical language that might merge more comfortably with that of the Australian Aboriginal. Still others have decided for one reason or another, that Aboriginal music is unsuited, or inappropriate to their musical styles.
Despite the large number of unsympathetic, unsuccessful, compositions to its credit, the 'Jindyworobak' movement has had an important role in the development of Australian music. It has taught us a lesson that, one hopes, will not be too quickly forgotten, paving the way for Sculthorpe, Dreyfus, Bright and others who are now able to have a more realistic perception of the nature of Aboriginal music, and to employ elements from it into their own musical language - a language by now freed from those elements which so inhibited earlier composers' understanding of Aboriginal music.
At last, Aboriginal music is providing a new direction for the music of white Australian composers and consequently a new future for Australian music.
Taken From:
Isaacs, Jennifer, Ed. 1979, "Australian Aboriginal Music", Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd., Australia, pp. 54-56.
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