Australian music. Modified Task- Peformance

Aboriginal Music

Music and culture

Music is part of everyday life in Aboriginal culture. Traditional music is performed all over Australia. There are also many contemporary Aboriginal bands incorporating aspects of traditional music into pop and rock music.

Music is linked to many sacred ceremonies as well as a person’s ancestry. Their music often reflects Australia’s animals, plants and landscape. You may have heard this before. An example is the didgeridoo being used to imitate animals such as wombats, emus and snakes.

Some of the events linked with music making include healing, winning battles and the coming of rain. Much like dreamtime stories, Aboriginal music is taught to later generations by performing, rather than recording. The diversity of Aboriginal groups is reflected in their music.

Performance Task

Your task is to learn the vocal part in the song, I Was Born Blind by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, and create your own vocal performance of the song.
Follow these steps:

1. Learn the first verse of the song by listening to it a few times, and reading the lyrics
2. Open GarageBand, and create three real instrument tracks
3. Record your performance of the first verse
4. Come up with some vocal harmonies. Record two different harmonies
5. You now have an acapella version of the first verse! Feel free to add more back-up vocals if you like
6. Using your voice, add some sounds you might hear in an Aboriginal song, such as didgeridoo, or even some animal sounds

What you will need

I Was Born Blind click here to listen to the song

Click here to download the lyrics

Click here to see an example of an acapella performance 

Also, you might enjoy this! 

 

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