Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemAs the spirit moves: a study of personal spirituality as a source for musical inspiration( 2010)This research aims to clarify links existing between the performing activities of musicians and their spiritual and religious backgrounds. Specifically, it investigates my spiritual background and the impact it has had on my creative musical activities from 1990-2010. It explores my involvement with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), demonstrates links between Quaker religious practice and improvised musical performance, charts the musical and spiritual influence of Indigenous Australians on my performances, and examines the influence of contemporary Australian Quaker thought on my recorded and notated musical activities. Chapter 1 outlines my personal spiritual background. It examines the history of Quakerism, clarifying its conceptual origins and outlining the ongoing commitment of Quakers to social justice issues. The conflicted history of art-making within the Society of Friends is investigated, and experiential links between “improvisational” Quaker worship and the practices of improvising musicians are identified. In Chapter 2 I scrutinise my experiences performing with Australian Indigenous musicians, clarifying links in my own performances with Indigenous ideas and concepts of music-making, and exploring how my musical performance and social and spiritual understanding have grown due to Indigenous influences. I explore issues of meaning, language, politics and social structure in relation to Indigenous music, establishing their possible impact on musical structure and performance in Indigenous rock and reggae music. Chapter 3 comprises an analysis of selections from my recorded and notated output as a composer and improvisor from 1990-2008. Having demonstrated that spiritual belief can manifest as a concern for social justice, I uncover specific techniques that I have used in my work to express social and political ideas that encompass environmentalism, multiculturalism, non-violent resistance, opposition to war, and the rights of animals. In sum, my aim is to clarify the artistically generative aspects of my spiritual practice and to come to understand how my beliefs inform my creation of new music.