Musicological Society of Australia

— OBITUARY —

Emeritus Professor Sir Frank Callaway

Musician and Educationist

Born Timaru, New Zealand, 16 May 1919,

died Perth, 22 February 2003

Emeritus Professor Sir Frank Callaway was a leading international figure in music education. A founding member of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) in its early years after the Second Word War, he became its President in 1988 and later made an Honorary Life President of it. He also followed Yehudi Menuhin as President of UNESCO’s International Music Council, establishing a close and lasting friendship with him. This international view of music education informed all that he did. As well as a visionary he was also a gifted administrator with energy, enthusiasm and powers of persuasion that enabled most of his grand plans to become realities. Through his creation of the Australian Society for Music Education in 1967 he brought together for the first time in this country many hundreds of people involved in music teaching throughout Australia at all levels from kindergarten to university, from studio to adult education. Through its national conferences, state chapter meetings and professional journal (which he edited for a decade) he brought a sense of national purpose and professionalism largely missing in Australian music education before that time, and with his international connections he was able to give it a far stronger voice in the world. This was strikingly demonstrated when the International Society for Music Education held its conference, under his chairmanship, in Perth in 1974 (the first ISME conference to be held in the southern hemisphere), attracting 6000 participants (delegates and performers) from all over the world—a record attendance that still stands. A further demonstration of his broad view of the place of music in society was the part he played in creating, together with others who shared his views, the Indian Ocean Arts Festival in 1979 in Perth. On the award of the UNESCO Medal in 1995 the Director-General of that organisation described Sir Frank as “one of the great pioneers and ambassadors of music education in our time”. It is not surprising that, given his vision and remarkable administrative gifts, he was able to create a Department of Music at the University of Western Australia that became one of its ‘jewels in the crown’.

Frank Callaway was born in Timaru, New Zealand on 16 May 1919. Leaving school at 15 because of the Depression, he joined a firm of commercial stationers, and by attending the Christchurch Technical College at night he was able to gain a university entrance. This enabled him to embark on studies for the Bachelor of Commerce in the evenings at Otago University at Dunedin. The pull towards teaching and towards music (he was already a good violinist) was, however, gaining the upper hand and at the beginning of 1939 he abandoned thoughts of a commercial career and entered the Dunedin Teachers’ Training College. At the outbreak of war a few months later he enlisted for overseas service, was rejected on account of poor eyesight, but invited to join the full-time military band as a bassoonist, an instrument that he eventually played with professional skill. At Dunedin, no-one interested in music education could have failed to have been inspired by the work being done at that time there by Vernon Griffiths at the co-educational King Edward Technical College, its music programme involving the entire school in choirs, orchestras and bands.

In 1942 Vernon Griffiths was appointed to the Chair of Music at Canterbury University in Christchurch and Frank Callaway was given leave to fill his place at the college. It also provided him with an opportunity to enrol in the degree of Bachelor of Music as a part-time student, and despite the demands of his full-time position as Head of Music at the Technical College, he gained the degree in the time normally allowed for full-time students, gathering prizes and scholarships along the way. Thus it was that after the war he was granted a postgraduate travelling scholarship, which, together with other grants, enabled him to study in London. By this time he was also married to a fine young pianist Kathleen and their first child had been born. Finances not permitting the family to be with him, he left New Zealand on his own in 1947 to enrol at the Royal Academy of Music (many years later being elected a Fellow of that institution). There he studied conducting, composition and general musicianship. It was during this period that he first met Percy Grainger, little realising that forty years later he would be awarded the Percy Grainger International Medal for his championing the cause of that composer. While still in Britain he was awarded a Carnegie Travel Grant to observe the music education scene in the USA, this experience having a decisive influence on his career, for many of those whom he met had the same kind of international vision for music education that was to inspire his own. A few years later some of those same people were responsible for setting up the International Society for Music Education following a significant UNESCO Conference in Brussels in 1953. Frank Callaway returned to New Zealand in 1949 where his overseas experience enabled him further to develop music at the King Edward Technical College and four years later at the University of Western Australia.

Frank Callaway’s appointment was as Reader in Music within the Faculty of Education. Six years later he became the University’s Foundation Professor of Music when it moved into the Faculty of Arts. He took full advantage of the unprecedented development in Australian universities following the implementation of the Murray Report recommendations. From a staff of one (himself) he built up a thriving Department of Music which at his retirement at the end of 1984 counted 14 full-time staff-members and a large team of part-time teachers. On his arrival at UWA his facilities had consisted of a desk, an upright piano, the Carnegie History of Music records and a small pile of music—the library. That small pile developed into what is widely regarded as Australia’s finest Music Library—the Wigmore. Neither a musicologist nor a composer in the fullest sense of the word, he nevertheless developed these areas as an inspirer of others who were, creating and editing Australia’s leading, internationally recognised musicological journal Studies in Music and other scholarly publications. In association with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra he organised a series of Composers’ Workshops held over a period of years that attracted many young forward-looking composers whose names are now firmly established.

He was also on the founding committee of the Commonwealth Assistance to Australian Composers scheme before its activities were absorbed into the Australia Council. His own musicianship found outlet as conductor of the University Choral Society in its many and memorable performances with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and visiting soloists. Part of the secret of his success was to encourage and to trust those who worked for him. His contribution to music in Australia and internationally has been recognised by many awards too numerous to mention here. Amongst the most important were two honorary degrees in Music (from Melbourne and UWA), a knighthood (1975), Officer of the Order of Australia (1995) and the UNESCO Medal for Music (1995). Yet he wore his distinctions lightly and never lost the common touch, as interested in the humblest community enterprises as those of national and international significance.

Sir Frank Callaway is survived by his wife, Kathleen, two daughters and two sons, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

David Tunley

— Chapter Reports —

South Australia

The 2003 season of talks commenced on 29 April 2003, with a special lecture to the staff and students of the Elder School of Music by the visiting Director of the London Royal College of Music and Chair of the Federation of British Conservatoires, Dame Janet Ritterman. The MSA members were invited by the Elder School of Music to attend this lecture on “The Role of the Conservatorium in Today’s World of Higher Education.”

The Dean of the Elder School of Music, Professor Charles Bodman Rae, presented a stimulating seminar to the Chapter on 27 May 2003, on the music of Panufnic, the post-war Polish Composer who defected to the UK in 1954. Charles described Panufnic’s music with reference to the works of Lutoslawski and Bartok, and there was considerable discussion on the reasons for the neglect of Panufnic’s music.

Mark Carroll, an MSA member, provided the chapter membership with a seminar on 24 June 2003. The topic was based on his recently completed Ph.D. thesis and now book, published by Cambridge University Press, on music in Cold War Europe. I’d like to congratulate Mark on these achievements. Some of us had the pleasure of attending the launch of his book, hosted by the Elder Conservatorium of Music on 12 August 2003

On 29 June 2003, John Phillips presented a seminar on Mahler and contemporary approaches to his music. The talk generated considerable discission on the impact his music has had on popular taste in the 20th century.

Jula Szuster

President, SA Chapter

— conference reports —

MUSIC–CULTURE–SOCIETY

A Symposium hosted by the Callaway Centre, School of Music, The University of Western Australia

A three-day Symposium celebrating the work and legacy of John Blacking was held from July 12–14 in the School of Music at The University of Western Australia. Hosted by the Callaway Centre, the Symposium attracted over 60 delegates from 14 countries including Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and various parts of Australia—truly an international event and one that highlighted the on-going relevance of the work of John Blacking in a range of academic areas. As a meeting of minds this really was a very exciting conference, and the feedback from participants backs this up. One of the keynote speakers even ventured the opinion that this was the best conference he had ever attended!

One of the most important ethnomusicologists of the twentieth century, Blacking was deeply committed to the idea that music making is a fundamental and universal attribute of the human species. The theme of the Symposium Music–Culture–Society addressed cornerstones of Blacking’s thinking and originated in the chapter headings from his seminal work, How Musical is Man? This broad-ranging theme offered scope for a wide variety of papers in such areas as music education, ethnomusicology, music theory, music aesthetics and anthropology. Indeed, these areas were all represented in the papers presented at the Symposium, and the broad-ranging applicability of Blacking’s work was exemplified by the four keynote addresses, presented by Professor Patricia Shehan Campbell (University of Washington), Professor John Baily (Goldsmith’s, University of London), Professor Meki Nzewi (University of Pretoria) and Dr Fiona Magowan (The University of Adelaide).

This is the first of a series of events that The University of Western Australia will be hosting to foster research and debate on the work of John Blacking. The link between the university and Blacking goes back twenty years to 1983, when Professor Blacking spent some months at the university as the Misha Strassberg Senior Fellow in the Creative Arts. The series of lectures that he gave at that time formed the basis of his last major book, A Commonsense View of all Music—Reflections on Percy Grainger’s Contribution to Ethnomusicology and Music Education. The deep friendship that formed between Sir Frank Callaway, foundation Professor of Music at the university, and John Blacking led Blacking’s widow, Dr Zureena Desai, to donate her husband’s original research material to the university, to be administered by its Callaway Centre. The Collection came to the university in 1997, seven years after John Blacking’s untimely death.

The John Blacking Collection includes Blacking’s original research material on African music—the field notes, audio recordings and photographs and film footage taken by Blacking during his fieldwork with the Venda people in South Africa. It also contains his lecture notes, his musical compositions (he was a widely-talented man), personal correspondence, self-authored books and his Ph.D. thesis—the latter a very weighty tome. The notebooks in which he recorded his developing thoughts on a range of issues are particularly valuable, and provide a wonderful insight into the theoretical underpinnings of his work.

The University of Western Australia is strongly committed to developing this collection and is now implementing a three-year programme in which the tapes, 8mm films, slides and photographs will be digitised. The early fruits of this project are already evident and can be seen in the DVD that was prepared specially for the Symposium. This DVD is most impressive. It contains four sections: Blacking’s early years in Malaysia; his years in South Africa including film footage and recordings made during his definitive research with the Venda people; his years in Ireland (this section includes notes on the biological foundations of language); and Special Features (including a performance of one of his compositions). The DVD is now available for purchase from the Callaway Centre for $35 + GST (tel. 08 9380 2791 or e-mail circme@cyllene.uwa.edu.au)

A lasting legacy of the Symposium is the book that will be published in 2004. Based on papers presented at the Symposium, the book will extend well beyond a ‘conference proceedings’, and will be a fully refereed publication that explores the conceptual basis of John Blacking’s work.

Victoria Hardwick

Music–Culture–Society

A Delegate Reports

From 12-24 July the “Music–Culture–Society” symposium celebrating the legacy of John Blacking was held at the Callaway Centre, School of Music, University of Western Australia. This event was the first in a series planned by the Callaway Centre to foster research debate on the work of prominent ethnomusicologist John Blacking.

John Blacking and the late Sir Frank Callaway were colleagues and friends. Following Blacking’s untimely death, his research material was donated to the University of Western Australia and to be administered by the Callaway Centre. The symposium coincided with the launch of a DVD sample of the extensive Blacking collection, which includes audiotapes, film, photographs, field notes, research papers, lecture notes and his Ph.D. thesis.

The symposium brought together 60 national and international delegates from a wide range of disciplines including ethnomusicology, music education, music theory, music aesthetics and anthropology. A rich array of papers spoke to the main threads and themes in Blacking’s work, namely his seminal text How Musical is Man? Keynote addresses were given by: Professor Patricia Shehan Campbell (University of Washington) on making sense of music education; Professor John Baily (University of London, UK) reflected upon Blacking’s contribution to our understanding of musicality, performance and the body; Dr Fiona Magowan (University of Adelaide) addressed the topic of trauma and conflict in Ireland; and, Professor Meki Nzewi (University of Pretoria) theorised about the nature and scope of African musical arts scholarship. Keynote addresses and formal paper sessions were interspersed with lively plenary sessions, drumming workshops and a performance by the Nova Ensemble. Conference delegates were also privileged to view John Baily’s recent award winning documentary of music performance in Afghanistan after the Taliban.

Overall the symposium was a wonderfully rewarding and stimulating conference where the overarching theme “Music-Culture-Society” was critically explored, analysed and debated by ethnomusicologists and music educationists in the search for a “soundly organised humanity”. Congratulations and many thanks to the conference organising team, in particular Victoria Rogers, Sam Leong and David Symons for an extremely successful conference!

Liz Mackinlay

Australia–New Zealand IASPM Conference, 17–20 July 2003

Approximately 130 attendees gathered at the City East Campus of the University of South Australia, Adelaide, for the tenth conference of the Australia–New Zealand Branch of IASPM. The four-day event, titled “Sonics Synergies: Creative Cultures”, was the “first of its kind to explore the synergies between new technologies, popular culture and local communities”, according to convenor Gerry Bloustien. Notwithstanding IASPM’s focus on popular music, this was a self-confessed cross-disciplinary conference that welcomed 88 speakers from fields such as cultural studies, English studies, social theory, politics, communications, ethnomusicology and musicology.

Several prestigious keynote speakers were featured, including Tommy Defrantz (MIT, USA), Douglas Kellner (UCLA, USA) and Meaghan Morris (Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Whilst all of the keynote speakers gave compelling presentations, I found Meaghan Morris’s engaging and personal account of the frightening SARS outbreak and the subsequent ‘bad synergy’ to be highly memorable. Another highlight was the opportunity to interact with additional keynote speakers, unable to attend in the flesh, via a live video link-up. Across contrasting time zones and seasons, prominent academics such as Andy Bennett (University of Surrey, UK), Jody Berland (York University, Canada), Tricia Rose (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA) and Sheila Whiteley (Salford University, UK) presented stimulating and, often, challenging arguments. In particular, Tricia Rose’s riveting paper, titled ‘Cultural Exchanges in Hip Hop: Race, the Ghetto and Commodification’, provoked much discussion amongst attendees in regards to her exploration of white consumption of hip hop music and culture in the USA.

The cross-disciplinary nature of the conference was reflected in the variety of papers presented—topics included the Internet (blogs, virtual subcultures), film analysis (Velvet Goldmine, Bad Boy Bubby), mainstream music (Top 40, cover songs), alternative genres (black metal, post-rave techno), hip hop (identity, location) and music scenes in Australian cities (industry, policy, venue problems), amongst many others. In addition, several papers focussed on the infamous ‘musical episode’ from the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where the characters uncontrollably burst into song. This was possibly to do with the fact that that the public seminar. “Staking a Claim: Exploring the Global Reach of Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was held directly following the conference.

It was very pleasing to see many Australian and international students, and MSA members, both attending the conference and delivering papers. To encourage such involvement, postgraduates who were members of IASPM at the time of their presentation were eligible for the ‘Best Postgraduate Conference Presentation’ prize. Mel Campbell (University of Melbourne) deservedly won the prize for her unique and enjoyable presentation of her paper titled ‘Saying the Unsayable: The Non-verbal Vocalisations of Michael Jackson’.

On the Saturday night, the attendees assembled at Carclew House for plenty of eating, drinking and socialising at the conference ‘Soiree’. Musical entertainment was provided by the local Adelaide band Brillig and the solo performer (and MSA member and conference presenter) Leigh Stardust, a.k.a. Aliese Millington. In summary, this conference was successful and a joy to attend, providing a forum to actively engage current critical issues, a chance to meet with peers and experience live performance.

Shelley Brunt

Garma Festival, Garma Forum, and Garma Music Symposium, 8–12 August 2003

The Garma Festival, a five-day celebration of Yolngu arts and knowledge held at Gulkula on the Gove Peninsula, North East Arnhem Land, provides a unique opportunity for non-Yolngu people to learn at first hand about Aboriginal culture. The 2003 Garma Festival ran from 8 to 12 August. An academic forum is run in conjunction with the Garma Festival, and this year the Music Symposium (convened by Mandawuy Yunupingu, Marcia Langton and Allan Marett; Secretary: Aaron Corn) was an integral part of the Garma Forum, the theme of which was “Dhuni: Indigenous Arts and Culture”.

A major focus of both the Forum and the Music Symposium was “Protecting Aboriginal Arts and Culture”. Discussion focused on the following issues: general principles of Copyright Law and how it applies, and falls short, in Indigenous contexts (Justice Kevin Lindgren, Chair of the Copyright Council; Senator Aden Ridgeway; copyright lawyer Christopher Sexton); issues in the protection of Indigenous Visual Arts (Tamara Winnikoff (National Association for the Visual Arts), Chips MacKinolty (an NT government bureaucrat with extensive experience with Aboriginal artist); the role of institutions in protecting cultural property (Jane Anderson, AIATSIS) and the scope of current copyright legislation to protect Indigenous music (Scot Morris (APRA).

A second major theme of the Music Symposium was that of Indigenous Knowledge Centres (community-based digital archives). In the first session dedicated to this theme (chaired by Michael Christie, NTU) presentations were made by the Knowledge Centres at Galiwinku (Director, Gandhawuy Garrawurru; Liaison Officer, Neparrnga Gumbula; and Melbourne University Ph.D. student Jessica deLargy Healy) and Wadeye (Frank Dumoo, Benedict Tchinburur, Malhima Long, Bernadine Kungul, Melissa Kungul, Jeannie Jongmin, Mark Crocombe, Marie Klesch (Batchelor Institute) Linda Barwick and Allan Marett (Sydney University); Marett and Barwick are currently working in collaboration with the Wadeye Knowledge Centre with assistance from Alberto Furlan, a Sydney University Ph.D. student in Music and Anthropology who has been living at Wadeye for the past year. In the second session (chaired by Allan Marett) presentations were made by Linda Barwick (Sydney University), Peter Toner (ANU) and Michael Christie (ANU). Barwick introduced PARADISEC a collaborative digital research resource set up in 2003 by the University of Sydney, University of Melbourne and the ANU and discussed issues to do with the digitisation and preservation of endangered cultural material. Toner (ANU) drew on his experience in repatriating materials to Arnhem Land communities to outline some of the key issues facing Knowledge Centres. Christie (NTU) introduced his ARC Linkage project, which aims at developing more user-friendly interfaces for databases owned by Aboriginal communities.

A third theme addressed issues arising from the appropriation of the yidaki (didjeridu) by non-Yolngu people. Chaired by Marcia Langton, the two sessions dedicated to this theme were addressed by senior Yolngu custodians of yidaki traditions: Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Djalu Gurruwiwi and Gandhawuy Garrawurru. Lively discussions ensued about the nature of authority, whether women should be permitted to play the yidaki, the use of the word “didjeridu” in place of Indigenous names and so on. In addition, Aaron Corn reported on an ARC funded investigation that he is undertaking into the acoustics of the didjeridu with Melbourne University physicist Lloyd Hollenberg working in association with yidaki players from East Arnhem Land.

A fourth theme, which ran throughout the Music Symposium, related to the Band workshops, a scheme whereby young Yolngu bands are given the opportunity to produce a CD in Yothu Yindi’s Yirrnga studio and to give concerts each evening at the main Garma site at Gulkula. Over the course of the symposium, a number of experienced musicians, including Mandawuy Yunupingu, Jimmy Little and Neparrnga Gumbula spoke to the young musician of their experiences in the industry. In addition, a number of band managers, including Graham “Buzz” Bidstrup, Alan James and Michael McMartin, gave the young musicians the benefit of their experience.

Further details of the Garma Festival, Garma Forum and Music Symposium, including daily summaries of events may be found at www.garma.telstra.com.

Allan Marett

All Over the Place: Conference Briefs

From our roving foreign correspondent

· Third Biennial International Conference on Twentieth-Century Music, University of Nottingham, UK, 26–29 June 2003

· International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 12th Biennial Conference: Practising Popular Music, McGill University, Montreal, 3–7 July 2003

· Hull University Music Analysis Conference, Society of Music Analysis, University of Hull, UK, 10–13 July 2003

· Warp: Woof—Aurality/Musicality/Textuality, CATH (Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History), University of Leeds, UK, 10–13 July 2003

· Music and Gesture, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, 28–31 August 2003

I have been making an aggressive effort this year to present at conferences in order to network with the UK musicology environment (and maintain contact with the North American one). These sketches of some mid-year conferences may be of interest to Australian musicologists.

Of the UK’s successful series of biennial conferences on twentieth-century music, this was the second I have attended. They have been my favourite UK conferences, as they involve an intelligent and very social group of scholars that covers an increasingly wide range of specialties. This year, although there was still a preponderance of high modernist discourse (isn’t anyone else bored at yet another redefinition of Boulez’ aesthetics?), events on recording and culture, Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, and music in Islamic culture were featured. There were a number of plenaries with invited speakers, of whom Eric Clarke, Michael Chanan, and Georgina Born (the last of whom based an excellent theory of art networks on Alfred Gell’s theories) were especially good. Cambridge University Press launched a new journal, Twentieth Century Music. You’ll pardon me for making a brief plug here, as I’m on the editorial board of this journal: the intention is to cover all aspects of music in the twentieth century. Although we’re struggling to cover different aspects of art, popular, folk and other musics, as well as methods from historical, theoretical and ethnological musicologies (at least), it is admittedly hard work to juggle to so many possibilities in every issue; if you have work that might interest us, please send it in.

Composers were strongly represented; Louis Andriessen spoke at length about his operas Rosa and Letters to Vermeer, after patiently and fairly kindly sitting through a session of papers on his work (which must have been something of a trial for him). Matthew Sansom, one of my colleagues at the University of Newcastle, did a beautiful session of mixed MP3 tracks called saltlick-live – a kind of hyper-lounge music for the musically sophisticated. Also great fun was seeing a print (not a DVD) of Moulin Rouge in a room full of musicologists, some of whom had never seen the film; I hope they were as shocked and delighted as I remember being when the elaborate, overwhelming pastiche of the first club number erupts into “HERE WE ARE NOW, ENTERTAIN US…”. The conference was exceptionally well organised by Robert Adlington; the only real problem was something he couldn’t help—that the papers were mostly not as polished as they were at the Goldsmiths College conference two years ago, perhaps because so many London/Oxbridge scholars apparently did not deign to make the relatively brief train journey outside their ‘golden triangle’. This disappointingly reinforced my impression from a year of living here: that geographic and institutional centrism is still much more pronounced in the UK than in the various Colonies. Although funding outside the ‘triangle’ has improved in the past twenty years, prestige and respect don’t seem to be widely available, despite the ease of travel across what is really a small island.

I did get off the small island to go to a continent at least once, though. The IASPM international conference was held in Montreal this year—always a favorite town of mine, though a heat wave made the week seem fairly long. Geoff Stahl did a great job of putting together a sprawling conference with several major themes, including queer studies, diasporas, politics and cultural theory. Popular music scholars are a casually cheerful lot, and it’s easy to work with them as long as you aren’t tense about when things get started. The numerous plenaries, with names such as John Shepherd, Suzanne Cusick, Jocelyne Guilbault and Ellie Hisama, tended toward the speculative, opening up ideas for sessions in an admirable manner. The queer studies plenary, where I gave a brief eulogy for Philip Brett, included unexpectedly strong polemics from Karen Pegley and Martha Mockus for the opening up of queer theory to racial concerns. I was quite proud of my own colleagues from Newcastle, Richard Middleton, Ian Biddle, Goffredo Plastino, and Bennett Hogg, who shone in their session on the voice in popular music. Perhaps the only problem was that this five-day conference had too many papers, as (according to normal IASPM policy) most submissions had been accepted. Although the resultant ferment of ideas, new research and student work can be exciting, I can’t help thinking I prefer conferences where it is a bit more difficult to get a paper accepted; one is slightly less liable to be trapped into hearing presentations that don’t seem to go anywhere or do anything.

The Music Analysis Conference involved a much smaller and more focused group of people. Although Music Analysis, the Oxford journal sponsored by the UK’s Society for Music Analysis, has always seemed fairly wide-ranging to me—it has included major articles and translations on Adorno, semiotics, and other topics distinct from the most formalist of analytical methodologies—and despite some dramatic keynote speeches, many of the discourses presented seemed relatively formalist and almost predictable. Perhaps this is simply because the SMA is so much smaller than the comparable North American Society for Music Theory (SMT); it was nevertheless surprising, and slightly disappointing, that we did not see fewer charts and more interesting interpretations. In addition, although I attended only one day of the conference (in order to attend the conference below), only two papers on the entire program considered popular music, and practically all the other papers focused on 19th and 20th century art music.

Another of my own colleagues was a keynote speaker at Hull—popular music scholar Richard Middleton, who spoke on Patti Smith’s recomposition of Van Morrison’s “Gloria”. This is a wonderful paper that I’ve heard three times now, but I must admit that when Richard gave the paper for this particular audience, the many sexual references suddenly seemed shocking. It was a bit as though you were to start talking about your personal love life—in a responsible and intelligent manner, mind you—but then realise your grandmother is in the audience; all the words suddenly take on quite a different colour . . . It is hard to be certain, but it felt as though the audience was not quite ready for the physical intensity of either the song itself, or the psychoanalytical discussion it engendered.

The participants in Warp: Woof, many of whom work in cultural theory, media studies or psychoanalysis, were on the other hand almost too ready for speculation. As always in cultural studies conferences, presentations and discussions were considerably more interesting—indeed ‘sexier’—than at most musicology conferences; the downside being that they were sometimes ungrounded, or even nonsensically pretentious. This suggests the different vices of our methods: it seems that, still caught as we are between a heavily traditional musicology and a ‘new musicology’ associated with current thought in the other humanities, we always seem to be forced to choose between meticulous dullness and free but ungrounded flights of rhetoric.

Of course many of the presenters did know what they were doing; of particular interest were plenaries by Michael Steinberg, John Mowitt, and pianist/improviser John Tilbury, as well as papers by Barbara Engh, Adrian Rifkin and visiting Aussie Greg Hainge. Ivanka Stoïanova came from Paris to talk about Bussotti and Stockhausen – close to my own specialties, of course; but I’m afraid that with time I’ve gotten sceptical about her methods, which seem to consist entirely of pointing out that various vocal/stage works are ‘postmodern’ and deconstructive. Such demi-analysis seems to go nowhere, especially as very different works end up looking as though they are exactly the same.

A conference on Music and Gesture organized by Anthony Gritten was as civilised and gracious as both the UEA campus and Norwich, which is a charming (if extremely quiet) town. The intelligent and pleasant group of mostly musicologists and music theorists seemed to do a lot of networking, but I found the papers problematic; many of them seemed to consist of completely normal historical or analytical research, with the word ‘gesture’ worked into their titles somehow. Admittedly there were some interesting dance and movement papers, and Nicholas Cook gave a keynote analysing a Jimi Hendrix video; but on the whole a calculatedly lazy definition of ‘gesture’, and a disinclination to engage with the difficulties of embodiment and metaphor, made this conference less interesting than it should have been. High points for me included Janet Halfyard’s arresting performance/presentation on Berio’s Sequenza III, which tied musical gestures to Laban’s categories of dance movements, and Martin Clayton’s interesting look at audience and performer gestures in Indian classical music. UEA is known for its ‘creative practice’ departments in writing, drama, and composition, and a number of papers were by composers about their own work – but these were also unfortunately rarely about anything that really needed to be called ‘gesture.’

Perhaps it’s the effect of doing too many of them close together, but I am feeling a bit sceptical about the research value of attending conferences at the moment. Some people were actively networking, learning from each other and developing their work, but too many were presenting rather sketchy drafts of work almost at a student level, and even senior academics often appeared to be rehashing published work or presenting drafts that were too far from completion for anyone to learn from them. Perhaps, when it comes to the UK, it’s a function of the RAE—the infamous Research Assessment Exercise—whereby production becomes more important than quality; I don’t know for sure. One of my senior Australian colleagues told me, when I was trying to move to Sydney, that I had done enough conferences and should be spending my time on more worthwhile projects; maybe he was right. In any case, I suspect that it’s time for me to stay home for a while.

Paul Attinello, University of Newcastle, UK

Volume 26 of Musicology Australia is in the final stages of production and will feature research articles by Victoria Rogers on Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ melody-rhythm concept, by Denis Collins on the transmission of Zarlino’s canonic theories in 17th-century organ chorale settings, by Simon Perry on orthographical issues in scores by Wagner, Liszt, Skriabin and Schoenberg, and by Anne Power on dramatic and musical threads in Andrew Schultz’s operas Black River and Going Into Shadows. In addition to a review essay by Margaret Kartomi on recent debates about and effects of globalisation on music in Australia, the volume will include book reviews by Neil McEwan, Michael O’Loughlin and Victoria Rogers. My thanks go to the contributors as well as to those who have given generously of their advice and suggestions. Apart from our many referees (who must remain anonymous), I would like to single out Assistant Editor Paul Watt, who has continued to make valuable suggestions from his overseas post, Editorial Advisory Committee members Allan Marett, Sandra McColl, Michael Noone, Alison Tokita, Richard Toop and Stephen Wild, as well as Linda Barwick, Craig De Wilde, Kay Dreyfus, Peter Dunbar-Hall, Steven Knopoff, Linda Kouvaras and Nicholas Routley.

For volume 27 (2004) we have received a number of submissions which are currently undergoing peer review. There is still space for articles in the volume, and we welcome scholarly articles on all aspects of music research. I would encourage contributors to contact me concerning any questions about acceptable submission and referencing formats. Please also remember that copyright permission must be obtained and e-mail or letter copies of permissions sent to me before publication of any copyright material in the journal is possible.

I would also like to make a special plea to those reviewers who have promised reviews to Musicology Australia but who have not yet had time to finish their—in several cases, long-overdue—review articles (you know who you are!): please either consider returning the review text to Musicology Australia so that a less time-stretched reviewer can be found, or (as several contributors have done) contact me so that we can agree on a revised submission date. In cases where MSA members have submitted their own publications for review, it seems only fair to make sure that reviews appear in print within a reasonable timeframe. On that note, there is still space for several reviews in volume 26 and I will accept review articles for that volume until late October. So, to those of you who have been procrastinating about your 2000-word text, there is still time to submit and be published!

Submissions and items for review should be sent directly to me at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music C41, The University of Sydney NSW 2006, Australia, or to the Society’s PO Box address.

Friday, 3 October to Sunday, 5 October 2003, School of Music, University of Queensland

§ Early Music with Denis Collins, David Irving, Michael O'Loghlin, Barnaby Ralph, Peter Roennfeldt, and Carol Williams

§ Queer Theory & Music with Mark McLelland, John A. Phillips, Adrian Renzo, and Johanna Selleck

§ Women & Music with Brydie-Leigh Bartleet, Patricia Pollett, and Shirley Tucker

§ The Interface between Musicology and Music Education with James Cuskelly, Estelle Jorgensen, Elizabeth Mackinlay, and Kathryn Russell

A draft plan for the weekend is given on the following page; the registration form is enclosed with this Newsletter.

Combined Conference of the Musicological Societies of

New Zealand

and

Australia

,
Wellington,

New Zealand

, November 27–30, 2003

The distinctive theme of “Music & Locality” has proved immensely popular with musicologists and performers from around the world. With over 120 proposals submitted, the conference promises to have something for everyone, including a substantial section on Hip-hop, talks on Jazz and Popular music, some serious stuff on the Classics and beyond, Ethnomusicology and more. Day passes are available and the public are welcome to attend sessions. For those who have already confirmed their title and abstract, many thanks. We would also ask those who have not confirmed to do so soon, as we hope to begin scheduling the different sessions.

Keynote speaker: We are pleased to announce that the Goethe Society has agreed to bring Dr Ulrich Konrad from the University of Wurzburg to the conference. His topic will be “Johann Sebastian Bach in Schubert’s Vienna”, the role of Bach’s person and works in the musical culture of a later time and place.

Accommodation: We would like to encourage conference participants to book their accommodation early, either at the university hostel or through the city accommodation website (see www.msa.org.au). The date for the world premier of the third film of The Lord of The Rings has been announced as 1 December, just after our conference finishes. This will put considerable pressure on Wellington accommodation. If you have already sent in your registration form, but would like to stay at the Weir House Hostel, please contact cassandra.corbett@vuw.ac.nz immediately with the necessary details.

A registration form has been included with this Newsletter. For more information, visit www.msa.org.au.

The MSA is pleased to announce that a pool of $1,500 has been made available to help offset travel expenses for student members who are presenting papers at the combined MSA–NZMS Conference in Wellington.

If you are a student MSA member and wish to apply for a share of this fund, please send the following items to the MSA President, Steven Knopoff, via e-mail (steven.knopoff@adelaide.edu.au) or fax (08 8303 4414) with your:

In order to be eligible for funding, the conference organisers need to have received confirmation from you that you will be attending the conference. For this reason, please ensure that you have sent your confirmation to the organisers before applying for travel funding.

The amount available to each eligible student will be determined by the total number of eligible applications received by 1 November.

Ahead of the MSA Study Weekend on Music Criticism to be held next year in Adelaide, members may be interested in other activities in the field of music criticism. The second International Music Critics Symposium was held at the Brisbane Powerhouse, 20-22 July, as part of the Queensland Biennial Festival of Music. This event was the brainchild of QBFM artistic director Lyndon Terracini and again drew strong interest. Renowned

music critic Andrew Porter gave the opening keynote address, followed by noted RealTime editor Keith Gallasch and leading writers Shirley Apthorp and Mirian Cosic. Panel discussions with Andrew Ford, Adrian Thomas, Vincent Plush, Graham Strahle and others looked at international contexts in criticism, performance critiques and new forms of music and criticism.

This year has also seen the creation of a new organisation for music critics, writers and journalists called the Australian Music Commentators Circle. Established under the auspices of the Music Council of Australia, it will be publicly launched at the ABC Sydney Studios, 27–28 September. Founding members include Roger Covell, Andrew Ford, Vincent Plush, Jill Stubington, Graeme Skinner and chair, Graham Strahle. The organisation aims to foster the profession of music commentary in both the print and electronic media. Supporting the entry of new people into the profession is one of its objectives. Entitled “Reinventing Music Criticism”, the inaugural Sydney meeting will include two afternoon panel discussions on devising strategies for change to the practice of criticism. For details see the Music Council of Australia’s website, www.mca.org.au, or phone Graham Strahle on (08) 8267 5573.

National Committee 2002–2003

Membership Secretary

Committee Members

Website Coordinators

CONTENTS

monday, 1 March 2004