Jill Stubington Singing The Land

My experience of listening to Aboriginal music has on occasion encompassed the transcendent. It would be false to pretend that my response would ever be the same as that of the Aboriginal musicians and listeners who were also present. 

Usually, only people who have grown up listening to a particular musical system can understand the detailed musical possibilities of the system, and can appreciate the subtleties of individual performances. I quote my experience because it is mine, and because it contradicts those writings that deny that there is an aesthetic to be found—that assert that Aboriginal people are concerned only with the function of the music and not with a delight in the sounds.

 I disagree with this. After extensive listening, I hear qualities in the music which are related to the musical technique. I hear music which is technically well crafted, tightly performed, and rhythmically precise. Concentrated and extensive listening has enabled me to hear technical aspects more clearly—to hear pitch, for example, without worrying about whether it is 'in tune'. 

I have acquired a new appreciation of other timbres and other vocal qualities, and a new understanding of small forms and tiny variations in melody and rhythm, which I missed at first. I now understand better the musical significance of what I aln hearing, and more easily recognise the manipulation of forms. 

I have a clearer understanding of the musical interplay between various sound components, a better understanding of the relationship between sounds by leading singers and responding groups of singers, dancers and musicians, and of how sounds might be layered in ceremonies" Some intricacies of formal structure I have only appreciated after careful notation and analysis. How these subtleties fitted into the larger scheme of ceremonial performance has only gradually become clear to me. p. 118