Nostalgia, music and the television past revisited in American dreams

The 1960s-set NBC family drama American Dreams presents not just the recent American past but its musical television as well. This paper examines how the show’s recreation of and interaction with the music show American Bandstand ties together the divergent experiences of a turbulent decade. American Dreams’ reshooting and appropriation of original broadcast footage is intricately interwoven with dramatic action allowing for new layers of commentary and meaning to be read across the music and image relationship. Through intercutting and juxtaposition, its use of music performance goes beyond the regressive recycling of images of nostalgia, as critiqued by Jameson and other theorists of postmodernity, to engage political and social debates through a complex web of reference, reproduction and commentary, presenting a politicised reading of the 1960s that problematises these charges of nostalgia texts as apolitical and ‘historicist’.

Music and Metaphor

Peter Kivy’s contour theory provides a promising explanation of the way we describe instrumental music as expressive of emotions. I argue that if, unlike Kivy, we emphasise the metaphorical character of such descriptions, the contour theory, as a strategy for unpacking such metaphors, can be defended convincingly against common objections. This approach is more satisfactory than those of Scruton and Peacocke, who make much of metaphorical experiences, but leave the underlying metaphors unexplained. Moreover, it gives the contour theory a wider scope than Kivy intended, for even very specific narrative descriptions of music in non-musical terms are perfectly legitimate as long as they are presented, and justified, as metaphors, that is, as mere comparisons, rather than as interpretative claims about the music’s actual contents.

Travelling drum with different beats: experiencing African music and culture in Australian teacher education

This article reports on a study that examined the effectiveness of introducing African music and culture to Australian non-specialist primary teacher education students at Deakin University in Melbourne (Australia). The study demonstrates that African music enhanced the generic musical experiences, learning, motivation, interest, confidence and competence of students in their fourth year of teacher education. The research also addressed the significance and contribution of African music and culture as a cross-cultural experience for these beginning teachers who in turn could provide similar experiences for their own students. This study highlighted the author's role and cultural identity as a South African music educator in transmitting the music and culture represented in 'the travelling drum' to a cohort of students with a predominantly Eurocentric orientation. By extension, this curriculum initiative broadened students' understanding and application of indigenous methods of teaching and learning as part of a global experience. Such a curriculum represents a pathway to many other forms of non-Western indigenous knowledge of music, culture and pedagogy that can be mapped out as a journey along a multicultural route towards 'internationalising the curriculum'.

Smaller steps into longer journeys : experiencing African music and expressing culture

This paper outlines an exploratory research project that draws on survey data from both primary and secondary school music teachers in Victoria. The research stems from a study that I undertook in 2002-2003 with final year Deakin University undergraduate students. That project investigated the potential of African music to enhance the generic musical experiences, learning, motivation, interest, confidence and competence of non-specialist primary teacher education students. The research project being reported in this paper is an extension of the previous study to focus on practising music teachers at both primary and secondary school levels. The research addresses the significance and contribution of African music and culture as a cross-cultural experience for music teachers, their students and the wider community. It further considers my role as an African music practitioner in terms of transformation and acculturation. This paper outlines the progress of, and provides preliminary data about, the emergence of an innovative area of teaching and learning based on African music in Victorian schools. It also explores the notion of why cross-cultural and multi-cultural engagement matters in the contemporary context of educational change.

Missionaries, music and method - dissemination of tonic sol-fa in Asia-Pacific countries during the nineteenth century

The Tonic Sol-fa method of teaching choral singing and its system of music notation was developed in England by John Curwen and propagated throughout the British Isles as a means of both enhancing Christian worship and achieving social reform. Tonic Sol-fa may be identified as an entirely foreign musical practice introduced to indigenous people in many British colonies and in other overseas countries during the nineteenth century as an instrument of Christian evangelism as well as of European cultural imposition. Nevertheless, indigenous communities were introduced to other aspects of European musical culture including a choral repertoire consisting of four-part hymnody and masterworks by Handel, Bach, Mozart, etc which sometimes resulted in the emergence of a school of indigenous composers writing in Tonic Sol-fa notation and using the tonal harmonic style. The result has been that in several countries-such as South Africa and Fiji for example-Tonic Sol-fa has been so fully assimilated into the ethnic culture that it has been "indigenized" and may now be said to represent a significant exogenous aspect of the musical culture in these countries.

Tonic Sol-fa was most commonly introduced to countries in the Asia-Pacific Region -as in Africa - by Christian missionaries who sought to exploit the attraction of hymns, particularly when sung in four-part harmony, as a means of evangelizing indigenous people who frequently regarded this aspect of missionary activity as a form of "magic". In particular, the Tonic Sol-fa method and notation gained a significant foothold in what were referred to as the South Sea Islands--especially in Fiji where today, the Fijian Hymn Book (1985 edition) is notated exclusively in Tonic Sol-fa. The vast majority of the Fijians are literate in Tonic Sol-fa notation and congregational singing in four parts is the norm in Fijian churches.

This paper will draw on data from nineteenth century journal sources, particularly The Tonic Sol-fa Reporter (1853-1888) and The Musical Herald (1889-1920), and will document the introduction and dissemination of Tonic Sol-fa in several Asia-Pacific countries where, unlike Australia and New Zealand, the indigenous population has maintained its own cultural and demographic predominance. Countries to be considered will include India, China (including Hong Kong), and Pacific Island nations. There will also be a consideration of the contemporary usage and applications of Tonic Sol-fa in the region, with specific reference to Fiji. It will be argued that countries where Tonic Sol-fa notation has become the norm should resist any external pressure to transfer to the standard staff notation merely for the sake of conformity. In the case of Fiji, almost universal music literacy has been achieved through Tonic Sol-fa and this should be recognized as an enviable social and cultural asset.

'It's a hungry home': postcolonial displacements, popular music and the sacred

This essay, through a theorized analysis of Australian popular song lyrics, investigates a range of understandings of “home”, including the exclusions and sacred connotations that inform the term. Against accusations of mere sentimentality or nostalgia regarding a desire for “home” as familiar and comforting and in response to Levinas's related arguments that a desire for home is at the root of splitting “humanity into natives and strangers”, it argues that it is necessary for postcolonial Australia to embrace “homelessness” at the heart of any understanding of “home”.

Sharing music and culture through singing in Australia

This article discusses the notion of sharing music and culture as an effective platform to celebrate diversity in Melbourne, Australia. My research project ‘Celebrating Music Making and Finding Meaning’ investigates and illustrates a context of diversity, one that promotes respect in a multicultural society sharing music and culture of a minority group. In 2007, I interviewed members of the South African choir in Melbourne; here I report on some data regarding why members sing in the choir, what are their understandings of a so-called South African identity and what they would like to share with the wider Australian community. I present some theoretical perspectives focusing on the notion of cultural and musical identity within a multicultural society. Such findings may have similar implications for other multicultural educational settings exploring the possibilities of valuing cultural diversity and making music across ages through a choir where difference can be shared and celebrated.

Belonging to a Victorian community choir : ageing, music and culture

Australia's ageing population created challenges for maintaining well-being and combating social isolation. Older Australians frequently rely on community arts organizations to enhance quality of life, specifically in health, happiness and community. Arts engagement takes place in many different contexts, from formal to informal and throughout the lifespan of the individual. Culture shapes the way in which we age and cultural identity is celebrated through the arts. This study will explore ageing and cultural diversity within Australian society through an examination of community arts engagement, specifically a community choir in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Much previous research concerning music engagement by older people has focused on its therapeutic applications, but there have been less attention given to healthy older people still living in communities. This paper reports on how music engagement can facilitate successful ageing be encouraging a sense of community, enhancing well-being and supporting cultural identity.