Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

Torres Strait Island music, a cantometric study, Genova, Vincent Anthony

eng

Bibliography: p. 352-360

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1991.

musicillustrations

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non fiction

Torres Strait Island music

Genova, Vincent Anthony

a cantometric study

"It is the scope of this dissertation to focus upon those emerging forms of music in the Bamaga communities of the Northern Peninsular Area, and draw a relationship between those various forms and other music of Australia and the Insular Pacific. Initially, 20 island style folk, sacred, and secular songs from the author's field recordings were transcribed for purposes of analysis and comparative study. Transcriptions are melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and linguistic components in Western notation. in the comparative analysis of songs, methodology includes a Cantometric coding system of 37 categories. Historical perspectives of island music were also examined to determine origins, influences, development, and the need for particular emphasis in the future collection of recordings and documents. island style songs usually reflected their origin, except in cases where melodies are borrowed in local dialects were applied. Australian aboriginals borrowed melodies from Murray Island builders during the post World War II period, and then inserted their own dialect. In Cowal Creek, Aboriginal children and adults performed island songs in island dialect. Analysis of secular island style songs in the Bamaga area rebuilt the strongest link with music of Australia and the Insular Pacific as reflected in the highest correlation with the Lomax/Grauer Australian and Insular Pacific profiles." (Authors abstract)