Considerations For Teachers Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives In Music Education
I would like to share with you some inspirations for embedding cultural perspectives into your classrooms.
These aspects are based on knowledge I have gained through my own journey of experiences and building of relationships with Indigenous people. My position is ever growing and altering as time goes on. I am continuously influenced by the different people I meet. I hope your experiences are developing too.
My rules are to be careful but bold. Research, listen and try. Reflect. Most of all do not sit and do nothing out of fear offending. Try something and see how it works out.
Use the lists below to inspire some different music making activities, compositions and arrangements with your students. Use some to direct learning around the elements of music and or performance. Play and let your students play.
Heart first. By this I mean the experiences we plan for our students should be joyous and captivating and interesting. Be passionate. I also mean that we need to be respectful of Aboriginal cultures and knowledge. There is more information about this further on.
Contemporary Torres Strait Islander Performer Christine Anu
Informational Sources That Could Inform or Influence Musical Compositions or Performances
- Government brochures and websites
- Aboriginal produced educational lessons and activities
- Non-fiction books
- Newspaper articles
- Recipes
- Maps
- Media – current affairs
- Essays, journal articles
- Learning frameworks
An example of using an informational text to inform a musical composition is utilising the Bureau of Meteorology website information for students to write their own music. In this example different knowledge is put together to create speech patterns and then rhythmic and melodic patterns which can be put together to make a class or group piece of music. The exercise below formed the basis of a lesson for Year 2 students, but could be used up to year 10 depending on the time given to work through the compositional process and expected outcomes of the final work.
Screen shot of ‘Indigenous Weather Knowledge www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/nyoongar.shtml’.
Artful Perspectives That Could Inform or Influence Musical Compositions or Performances
- Sculpture
- Visual art – painting, photography, mosaic, textiles, ceramics, glass, metal,
- Fashion and Textiles
- Literary – poetry, drama, film, short stories, novels.
Below is a lesson on improvisation and orchestration for upper primary students based on the Sally Morgan painting called ‘Greetings From Rottnest’ which is displayed in the WA Art Gallery. She was born and raised in Perth but descended from the Bailgu people in the Kimberley of Western Australia. She is a wonderful Aboriginal author, artist, and dramatist.
Part 1
- Tch show painting and accompanying text.
- All time to absorb and comment.
- Outline task of “musical interpretation of the painting used as a graphical score”.
Part 2
- Isolate seagull layer.
- Tch demonstrate graphic notation to vocal improvisation.
- Students to imitate.
- Students to explore vocally and then with a tuned percussion instrument. This will be “Part A”.
Part 3
- Isolate tourist layer.
- In groups students to make graphic notation and interpret vocally
- Within their groups students perform in canon.
- Demonstrate for the whole group. This will be part C
Part 4
- Show whole painting. Whole group performance with a group performing “seagulls” using percussion instruments”, another group presenting “tourist” layer using vocal canon.
Part 5
- Two other sections added will be a drone/tapping sticks representing ‘the bones border’ B section as well as a 7 note minor descending scale on the lowest pitched instrument available representing the ‘skeletal fetus section’ section D. Swap groups around.
Artist, Academic and Author Sally Morgan and one of her picture books.
When using a resource such as this painting, it is useful to find out about the historical stories which inspire it. In this case, Rottnest Island was used as a prison for Aboriginal people during the early colonial era. Those who died were buried on the island and not returned to their country. This dark history is now top-dressed by the superficial layer of contemporary, joyous, tourist activities.
Authenticity is Something To Think About
Consider the origins and the background of the pieces you use. This helps you to put the piece into a context and influences how you need to appropriately present the item. It may also help you to may need to consult with in order to perform the piece.
- Written entirely by Aboriginal people
- Sung by some Aboriginal people
- Produced by some Aboriginal people
- Recorded on which country?
- Written about Aboriginal peoples?
- Collaboration with an Aboriginal person, elder or community, for one performance or multiple performances
The work ‘Waliwaliyangu li-Anthawirriyarra a-Kurija’ by Shellie Morris & the Borroloola Songwomen is more culturally authentic than ‘Dawn Mantras’ by Ross Edwards. The Ross Edwards piece is still a beautiful piece that certainly every Australian student should experience. While it included Aboriginal cultural input in its composition and in its performance, it is not from Aboriginal people orby Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal Singer Songwriter Shellie Morris and the Booroloola Songwomen album
Contemporary is Cool
- NOTE : Historical pieces may not have been gathered with appropriate approvals. Therefore you cannot necessarily accept them as being authentic. They may be a colonised interpretation. Discuss you’re your local community before using.
- Be careful with traditional cultural knowledge especially specifics. Some issues or items are not for the general public to share. Again discuss with your community first.
- Contemporary pieces more likely to be acceptable in terms of the cultural appropriateness.
Karla Hart is a Noongar director and performer. She has written a beautiful lullaby which has been recorded and the lyrics written in the Madjitil Moorna ‘Aboriginal Songs’ book. This is not a traditional lullaby. Karla has written it to include some Noongar language, as well as an English translation. She ensured that it gained the appropriate cultural approvals before it was passed on to the choir for them to sing, then print, record and teach. Using other languages on other cultural lands may not be considered appropriate for your local community – seek their guidance.
Noongar Producer, Director and Performer Karla Hart
Acknowledgement, Acknowledgement, Acknowledgement
- Acknowledge who produced it and how you came across the work
- Acknowledge the language group the perspective came from
- Acknowledge the country that the perspective is from
- Acknowledge the ongoing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the land
We should acknowledge works and their Aboriginal origins because otherwise its stealing and misrepresenting the work, culture and ideas, of other people as your own. For more than two hundred years Aboriginal people and their culture have been dismissed and appropriated at the whim of white people and their governments. We should now do the right thing and state who produced or inspired a particular work and the cultural group they are from. It is important for Aboriginal people to be recognised. An example of doing this is in a lesson may just be a teacher saying “today we will be moving and playing percussion instruments to a piece of music by Emily Wurramara. She is a proud Aboriginal singer songwriter from Groote Eylandt via Brisbane. Emily sings stories from her heart and childhood sung in both English and her traditional language Anindilyakwa’. Such acknowledgements in class and during performances build respect for and between Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal Singer Songwriter Emily Wurramara
How Are The Perspectives Being Utilised? For What Purpose? For What Audience?
- Respectful – Ensure the culture is not being denigrated or belittled.
- Acknowledged – You acknowledge that you are using Aboriginal perspectives to build cultural respect.
- Where payment is appropriate, it should be provided. If you are utilising a recording, buy it. If you are using a picture book, purchase it. If royalties are owed due to copyright considerations, do the right thing.
- Public performances – seek permission of the source holder. The more public the performance, the more important this is.
- For assembly items and concert items, seek the permission of the source holder and it publicised that you have done this.
- Large scale works should seek permission of the source holder and the community’s elders.
Where Aboriginal people are in the audience, proper protocols for performing ‘off country’ pieces should be followed. ‘Off country’ means that culture is being introduced to that land from another cultural or language group. If you don’t know what these are, find out. For example, if you are on Noongar country (South West of WA) and are performing a translation of a song in Wongatha (Kalgoorlie region) that you are unsure about performing for local people, ask them in advance of the performance. Make it very clear what you are about to perform and where it is from. That way your audience will not be compromised or offended. Remember the Aboriginal community is broad and you are not to know how they are connected to others. It is always safest to be respectful of the culture and assume that there are people in the audience who may have a cousin who composed the piece.
Poster advertising contemporary Aboriginal music performances
I feel blessed to be at a stage where I feel confident in incorporating Indigenous music into my teaching beyond the occasional assembly item. It makes a difference to have it integrated into teaching programs. In my Year 2 listening program in term 3, I use his “Hall of the Mountain King” by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg to explore timbre and tempo. But also there are pieces by didgeridoo virtuosso David Hudson and vocalist Dr G Yunipingu to teach these ideas too. My Year 5 program includes teaching “Halls Creek Rodeo” to focus on the anacrusis concept. My ukulele ensemble learns to accompany the Noongar welcome song “Wanjoo My Friend” by Uncle George Walley. Cultural bridge building and repair is an ongoing but important activity if societies are to be better connected. Music education is an important tool in that building and repairing process. Having a politician make a speech in parliament may have been an important landmark occasion, but they all only words. It’s now time for use to continue. Use Australian music to help. It is our ‘Australian’ folk music.
Embed perspectives this week. Choose one idea. Run with it. Doing nothing is a choice to keep the status quo. Our society deserves better than that.
Yognu Performer Danzel Baker aka Baker Boy 2019 Young Australian of the Year