'Does the meaning mean a thing?' Johnny Young's hit songs of the 60s-70s

This article challenges the conventional narratives of Australian popular music history, recognising this as an element of a wider cultural history, using the songwriting career of Johnny Young in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In doing so it refers to the actual song content; ways in which songs and their performers were written about at the time they were released; and the way in which these works have subsequently been regarded and discussed in the conventional historical narrative. It also suggests that Young's own crafted persona, as well as the way he and pop music are typically regarded, have veiled the innovative and radical elements of some of his songs, not only the very well-known 'The real thing', but also hits such as, 'Smiley' and 'The star' .

Broken songs and ecology : writing about the Gulf of Carpentaria

Book review of Carpentaria by Alexis Wright.

Minimal similarity in songs suggests limited exchange between humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the southern Indian ocean

Comparing humpback whale song from different breeding assemblages can reveal similarities in song due to acoustically interacting males, and therefore indirectly test whether males from different breeding sites are mixing. Northern Hemisphere song comparisons illustrated that whales within ocean basins share similar songs and are subpopulations within a larger population, whereas whales in different ocean basins are isolated populations and therefore do not share songs. During the 2006 breeding season, recordings were collected in Madagascar and Western Australia, and were compared visually plus aurally. Both regions shared one theme, whereas each region had four and six private themes, respectively. This study had a substantially low number of shared themes. The co-occurrence of one theme was interpreted as an indication of limited exchange between these breeding assemblages, and we speculate that limited song similarity is due to inter-oceanic interactions. Male(s) from an Indian Ocean breeding group could be exposed to novel song when they geographically overlap, and acoustically interact, with males from a different ocean basin. Novel song could induce rapid temporal changes as new song content is incorporated, thereby minimizing song similarities between that breeding group and other Indian Ocean breeding groups that were not exposed to the novel song.

Cowboy songs

Cowboy songs: A ride through the lone prairie of the masculine. An ironic wrangle with country and western songs with their rigid take on masculinity - an excerpt from a longer work

Experiencing indigenous East African dance songs : reflections from North West University (South Africa)

After democracy (1994) the doors of teaching and learning in music opened widely to include local indigenous music and culture in South Africa. Since 2005, African music has been a vibrant aspect of the music curriculum within the School of Music, North West University, South Africa. Globally tertiary music educators are challenged to include informal pedagogy of indigenous musics within the formal context of university courses. University music courses in South Africa are still predisposed towards ‘western’ music pedagogies. In October 2012, the School of Music invited a visiting expert in African music and dance to offer onsite teaching and learning of Ugandan dance songs to tertiary students. The initiative to include Ugandan music as part of the teaching and learning workshops on African music at the School of Music was funded by the South African Music Rights Organization. The School of Music has an ongoing policy to invite and include culture bearers to share their skills and expertise with students and academics. Such sharing provides culture bearers the opportunity to transmit much needed skills, which are not often offered by academics. UNESCO (2012) identifies scarce knowledge and skills as intangible heritage.

Songs for community

Songs for community 2 is a series of piano and instrumental music recorded at Deakin University in 2012.

Creating a space and place for culture bearers within tertiary institutions: Experiencing East African dance songs in South Africa

This paper highlights the intersections between formal and informal African music and dance within a tertiary setting. Reflective practice, journaling and survey data within case study methodology provide a snapshot of the teaching and learning that took place at North West University in South Africa in October 2012. I argue for the inclusion of informal pedagogy of indigenous musics within the formal context of university courses. The experience provided a pathway to connect local community and university to celebrate the rich diversity of African music and culture. The teaching and learning experiences served as onsite professional development for tertiary students, music staff and myself.

Reassembling a lost lowland carabid beetle assemblage (Coleoptera) from Kauai, Hawaiian Islands

A late Holocene but prehistoric carabid beetle fauna from the lowland Makauwahi Cave, Kauai, is characterised. Seven extinct species - Blackburnia burneyi, B. cryptipes, B. godzilla, B. menehune, B. mothra, B. ovata and B. rugosa, spp. nov. (tribe Platynini) - represent the first Hawaiian insect species to be newly described from subfossil specimens. Four extant Blackburnia spp. - B. aterrima (Sharp), B. bryophila Liebherr, B. pavida (Sharp), and B. posticata (Sharp) - and three extant species of tribe Bembidiini - Bembidion ignicola Blackburn, B. pacificum Sharp and Tachys oahuensis Blackburn - are also represented. All subfossil fragments are disarticulated, with physical dimensions and cladistic analysis used to associate the major somites - head, prothorax and elytra - for description of the new species. The seven new Makauwahi Cave species support recognition of a lowland area of endemism adjoining Haupu, a low-stature 700m elevation ridgeline in southern Kauai. Four of the extinct Blackburnia are adelphotaxa to extant species currently found at higher elevations in Kauai. Addition of these lowland specialists to the phylogenetic hypothesis undercuts applicability of the taxon cycle for interpreting evolutionary history of these taxa. Two of the extinct species are Kauai representatives in clades that subsequently colonised younger Hawaiian Islands, enhancing support for the progressive biogeographic colonisation of the archipelago by this lineage. And three of the extinct Blackburnia species comprised larger beetles than those of any extant Kauai Blackburnia, consistent with the evolution of island gigantism in the lowland habitats of Kauai.

Have adults lost their sense of play? An observational study of the social dynamics of physical (in)activity in German and Hawaiian leisure settings

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity is one of the biggest health problems nowadays. Recent research shows that socio-cultural barriers to physical activity are mostly related to modern lifestyles. However, there is a lack of research on how social and group dynamics influence engagement in physical activity. Furthermore, there are few cross-cultural studies that have compared the social dynamics of (in)activity in different cultural settings. This paper therefore aims to analyse how social group dynamics influence physical activity and inactivity in informal social environments and whether physical activity is influenced by the socio-cultural settings. METHODS: The paper presents the qualitative data collected within a covert participant observation study. Data was collected by keeping observational notes in order to record typical, regular patterns regarding physical (in)activity related behaviour of groups at an artificial open air swimming pool in Germany and a natural pond in Hawai'i. The data collection period was eight and a half months. Data was interpreted based on constant comparative analysis in order to identify most generative patterns in the field notes. RESULTS: Group structures appear to play a significant role regarding the activity of the group members. In this study, we identified four key factors that influence group based physical activity: 1) Physical activity seems to be a group disturbing behaviour particularly in larger groups of adults; 2) Physical activity appears to be more functional and less joyful in adults than in children; 3) Group activity is influenced by (in)activity anchors, including 'domestication' of a group's site, obesity, and controlling parents. 4) Physical activity is to a certain extent socially contagious, particularly with regard to playful activities. CONCLUSIONS: Successful promotion of physical activity should target the social structures of inactive individuals' groups. In this regard, one of the main problems is that fun and wellbeing, as very important targets of public health strategies for the adult population, appear not to be compatible with physical activity. Developing strategies to reframe physical activity rather as 'fun' and less as functional may be one way to engage inactive individuals in physical activity in leisure settings.

Explainer: Are Bob Dylan's Songs 'Literature'?

Bob Dylan has won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. The media has reported on this surprising choice by asking musicians, poets, and writers if Dylan’s songs are indeed “literature”. Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting (1993), made it clear on Twitter that he didn’t think they were: If you’re a ‘music’ fan, look it up in the dictionary. Then ‘literature’. Then compare and contrast. So are song lyrics a type of literature or, more specifically, poetry? The English poet Glyn Maxwell thinks not. In On Poetry (2011), he writes that “Songs are strung upon sounds, poems upon silence”. Inhabiting silence makes poetry the harder and more important art form. Music, Maxwell writes, makes lyrics seem better than when they appear on the whiteness of the page.

Wikis: collaborative virtual learning environments

Ward Cunningham used the word wiki (the Hawaiian word meaning quick) to name the collaborative tool he developed for use on the internet in 1994. Wikis are fully editable websites. Users can visit, read, re-organize and update the structure and content (text and pictures) of a wiki as they see fit. This functionality is called open editing (Leuf & Cunningham, 2001). All a user needs to edit and read a wiki, is a web browser. Consequently, the wiki has great potential for use as a collaborative virtual learning environment. Wikis abound on the internet. A well known wiki is Wikipedia an online collaborative encyclopaedia, where anybody can read, edit, re-organize and update the encyclopaedia content (Wikipedia, 2004).

Cheilodactylus (Goniistius) francisi, a new species of morwong (Perciformes: Cirrhitoidea) from the Southwest Pacific

A new morwong, Cheilodactytus (Goniistius) francisi, is recognized from southwest Pacific Islands (Lord Howe Island, Middleton Reef, Kermadecs, and probably Elizabeth Reef, Norfolk Island, and New Caledonia). Distinguishing features from C. (G.) vittatus (Hawaiian Islands) comprise gill-raker counts, caudal-fin coloration, and notable molecular divergence.

Cross cultural engagement: teaching African music to Australian students

This paper reports on research that examined the effectiveness of introducing rhythmic concepts through an unfamiliar musical genre to Australian generalist prim my teacher education students. The genre selected was African music, in particular action songs, dance and instrumental improvisation. The methodologies of Orff, Kodaly and Dalcroze were taught through the repertoire of African music in order to foster a closer relationship between pedagogical theory and practice and to teach rhythm through cross-cultural engagement. Through analyses of questionnaire and interview data, it was demonstrated that African music had a positive effect on students' conjidence as non-specialists music teachers and enhanced their skills in staff, sol-fa, hand notation and performance. Also students were not only highly motivated to engage with this new musical genre, but also gained an increased understanding of African culture. It is argued that African music was perceived by students not so much as a "novelty", but as a source of genuine motivation, interest and enjoyment. Its potential for extending student understanding of rhythm as well as taking a significant step towards internationalizing the curriculum for a cohort of predominantly Anglo-Celtic, pre-service teachers is also explored.