News and Events
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Sound Links Final Report
One of the QCRC signature projects, Sound Links, has recently published its final report, Sound links: Community music in Australia.
Sound Links examines the dynamics of community music in Australia, and the models it represents for music learning and teaching in formal and informal settings. Through a close examination of six case studies, ranging from multicultural suburbs to largely monocultural country towns, from rural networks to remote Indigenous communities, this publication offers a revealing picture of musical activity that has been hardly visible outside of its circles of participants, and delivers a model to understand, plan and assess community music activities. In this way, it should prove highly valuable to facilitators, cultural officers, local administrators, policy makers, funding bodies, and schools that seek to connect their musical activities more firmly to their environments. For more information about the publication, or to order a copy, please click here.
Male Voices
April 2009 saw the publication of Male Voices: Stories of boys learning through making music, a collection of articles edited by Scott Harrison exploring issues of young males learning to make music in contemporary settings.
Male Voices is filled with stories of boys and men participating in the creation of music. It brings together leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of music from the conductor of the award-winning, mould-breaking Birralee Blokes, Paul Holley, who comments on the phenomenal success of his choir, through to internationally recognised scholars, Dr Scott Harrison and Dr Bob Smith, who bring research into adolescent participation and indigenous music-making respectively. This book offers a variety of viewpoints. Academics help to position the study of male engagement in music throughout the life cycle, while teachers in private and state schools across the country offer their views alongside those of professional musicians.
For more information, or to order a copy of Male Voices, please click here.
Concert and launch of Sustainable Futures
On May 10, QCRC musically launched its new ARC Linkage project Sustainable futures for music cultures: Towards an ecology of musical diversity, a five-year, five million dollar project in collaboration with the International Music Council and nine other partners aiming to provide insights and instruments that will empower communities across the world to forge musical futures on their own terms.
The concerts began with five Asian musics at the Nepalese Pagoda on South bank, moved to fusion in the outside jazz cafe just outside the Conservatorium, and concluded with Vietnamese traditional music in the Ian Hanger Recital Hall.
In addition to being the launch of the research project, the event also constituted a benefit concert to inaugurate Musical Futures, a long-term initiative designed to secure seed funding for the best projects emanating from Sustainable futures. If you wish to donate, please download this flyer, or contact us.
Sounding the Condamine
On April 18 2009, Sounding the Condamine payed tribute to the famous Condamine bell that sounded the Queensland landscape in the late 19th century. A site-specific performance piece drawing on folk songs (On the banks of the Condamine), bush poetry (in particular Condamine Jack), the sound of the bells (which locals say can be heard up to 20 miles away on a cold still night), and the environmental sounds of the Murilla shire, a performance piece involving music, livestock, installation and movement was carved into the landscape. Footage from the performance will become part of a digital archive which will also incorporate interviews, historical information, sounds and images. The project was brought back to QCGU and adapted for performance in the Ian Hanger Recital Hall on May 2, 2009. This project was curated by Clocked Out and was a part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the state of Queensland, in 2009.
Music, Recording, and the Art of Interpretation
In his Kawai Keyboard Series recital in October last year Dr. Stephen Emmerson performed a programme of seminal piano works from 1908/1909: Berg’s Sonata Op. 1, Schoenberg’s 3 Piano Pieces Op. 11, and Bartok’s 14 Bagatelles Op. 6. The performance drew on various interpretive strategies including analysis, reflection, and the use of Schoenberg’s paintings, to highlight certain aspects of the works. A further layer to this artistic research was added in December when, over three days, Dr. Emmerson and Prof. Paul Draper moved into Conservatorium Theatre in December to record the repertoire via the IMERSD studio.
The project is based on the premise that a recording is not ‘music’ itself, rather, is a virtual artefact through which an interpretation can be manipulated and enhanced through deliberate interference in the recording process. The piano was recorded via a complex setup involving sixteen microphones spaced at different positions throughout the hall which enabled ‘multiple perspectives’ to be attained. In contrast to the usual practice where recordings maintain a single piano sound and perspective, the project will explore ways in which the interpretation of such challenging music can be further communicated through manipulation of these various perspectives. For example, spatial metaphors of closeness/intimacy and distance are already embedded in much of this music and so, rather than merely imposing distracting effects on the music, the researchers contend that the essential meaning of such music may be enhanced through this process. Already this project has proved to be a highly stimulating collaboration between different artists with respective expertise in Classical music performance and contemporary sound production.
A paper was presented by Dr. Emmerson and Prof. Draper at the CreateWorld 2008 conference held in South Bank in December of last year. A CD of the recordings will be published by QCRC later this year. In addition a website and further published papers are expected to be developed from this research.
Podcasts
Podcasts of the QCRC public lecture series 2006-2008 are now available through IMERSD.
National and international speakers present their ideas on a variety of topics,from the perspective of performance, composition, music technology, and learning and teaching. These podcasts represent selected episodes from the lectures, and are also downloadable from iTunesU.
Authoethnography and music workshops
With the support of QCRC, Dr Brydie-Leigh Bartleet and postgraduate research students are currently exploring the possibilities of using the autobiographical genre of autoethnography as a reflective tool in their creative practice through a series of workshops. The project will culminate in a visit from one of the world's leading autoethnography experts, Professor Carolyn Ellis (University of South Florida) in 2009.
Clocked Out
Since its inception, Clocked Out has developed and produced innovative concert series, interarts performance series, cross-cultural music and dance productions. Through their many and varied collaborations, they have sought to bring together musicians, performers and artists from diverse backgrounds. Their work has often explored the boundaries between musical styles and artistic disciplines.
Clocked Out was founded by Erik Griswold and Vanessa Tomlinson in Melbourne in 1999, later moving to Brisbane in 2003. Major works include Dada Cabaret (Green Room Award, 2000), Sounding Wivenhoe (Powerhouse 2007), Virtuosic Visions (Melbourne Museum 2001, 2002), Permanent Transit (Adelaide 2002), Wide Alley: Chinese Culture in Flux (QMF 2007), and Dada Drumming (QMF 2005).
Clocked Out Duo is a feature ensemble of the company. Equally at home in major concert halls and intimate clubs, the Brisbane-based duo has toured internationally since 1997 throughout Australia, the U.S., Europe, and Asia. They have also conducted residencies and workshops at universities in Australia, the U.S. and China. Their two critically acclaimed CDs "Every Night the Same Dream" and "Water Pushes Sand" have become favourites of independent and free form radio stations in the U.S. and Australia.