Educative Power and the Respectful Curricular Inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music

Abstract

This chapter argues for the full, respectful curricular inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music in order to promote a more balanced and equitable social and cultural vision of the nation-state in Australian schools. It challenges views that claim Indigenous cultures have been irretrievably lost or are doomed to extinction, as well as the fixation on musical authenticity. We propose that the gradual broadening of Indigenous musical expressions over time and the musical renaissance of the new millennium have created an unprecedented opportunity for current music educators to experience the educative power of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music. This means that culturally nonexposed music teachers can employ familiar musical-technical approaches to the music even as they begin to more fully investigate the music’s cultural-contextual meanings. The chapter considers issues that impinge on the music’s educative power, especially those relating to its definition, its intended audiences, and pedagogies. It aims to help clear the way for the classroom to become an environment in which students can sense the depth and vitality of contemporary Australian Indigenous music.

Music, literature, and community: Reflections on a framework for learning through and from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music

“…While culture bearers have the capacity to provide “authentic, accessible and relatable” learning experiences (Locke & Prentice, 2016, p. 148), the approach can be equally problematic if used tokenistically (Marsh, 2000), leading to culture bearers being presented as “essentialized versions of their culture” (Hess, 2013, p. 77). In promoting respectful curricular inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, Webb and Bracknell (2021) encourage teachers to consider the varied potential audiences and functions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music. This approach requires teachers to engage in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians, community members, and teachers, creating a pedagogy of partnership that has the potential to open access to “the vitality of contemporary Australian Indigenous musical expressions” (p. 83).…”

“…In choosing to investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music within formal education, I knew that I would need to undertake significant research in the field before I was able to contribute toward answering some of the questions that music educators had struggled with for some time (Dunbar-Hall, 1997, 2002Dunbar-Hall & Beston, 2003;Locke & Prentice, 2016;Webb & Bracknell, 2021). My naiveté was exposed in an early postgraduate research evening.…”

Reaching Out: Yarning, Sharing, and Learning with First Nations Artists through Social Media

“…Yothu Yindi fused Yolŋu song practice with a variety of popular music styles, which would trigger the first wave of Aboriginal music resource creation that had been called for by Kartomi (Stubington and Dunbar-Hall 1994;Taylor 2007). Often neglected by educators, Yothu Yindi consisted of non-Indigenous and Yolŋu members (Webb and Bracknell 2021), with their hybridity modelling "thinking on the dynamic nature or 'reinvention' of tradition" (Wemyss 1999, 32). The music of both Archie Roach and Yothu Yindi provided the ideal avenue .…”

The Fringe or the Heart of Things? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Musics in Australian Music Institutions

“…Foregrounding the didjeridu also belies the fact that voice, lyric and rhythmic text are the fundamental elements of most Aboriginal musical traditions Australia-wide (Wafer and Turpin 2017). Although perhaps aspirational, the MSA's self-representation also partially misleads, given the current state of music research, institutions and education in Australia, where, as we shall see, Indigenous musics are far from a primary concern (Burslem 2019;Webb and Bracknell 2021).…”

“…Aside from overarching issues associated with elitism and the settler colonial gaze, this situation is itself partially a result of the cycle of exclusionary school music education. The longstanding reluctance of most secondary school music teachers in Australia to include Indigenous musics in their programs feeds into the paucity of Indigenous music content at tertiary levels (Webb and Bracknell 2021). Like secondary schools, universities can blame the virtual invisibility of Indigenous musics in their offerings on the fact that most music lecturers are unfamiliar with Indigenous content and wary of protocols associated with potentially restricted cultural material such as song.…”