Less Glamorous but Essential: Australian Composers’ Perspectives on Writing Art Music for Children’s Performance

Holly Caldwell, Dr Carolyn Philpott, Dr Maria Grenfell — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +1030

In Australia, writing art music for children to perform has often been viewed as existing at the less glamorous end of the composition business. Yet, for those who compose music for young performers, it is an essential part of their role as creative practitioners. Many notable Australian composers, in addition to their writing for professional musicians, have written music for this age group. This article seeks to show, for the first time, the aims of Australian composers in writing music for children’s performance. The results of quantitative and qualitative surveys with 77 Australian contemporary composers divulge the complexities of writing music for this genre: the reasons that Australian composers write music for young performers, the process of composing for this genre and the specialised skill set required. This study shows that many Australian composers aim to offer children an experience that transcends musical ideas and connects them to a wider world of learning, which is significant when considering the development of music education at both pre-tertiary and tertiary levels. Ultimately, it is anticipated that the current research will help to give due recognition to the value of the genre and highlight its potential benefits to composers and children alike.

The Basis of Johann Mattheson’s Musical Aesthetics

Dr Yoh Murakami — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0930

This paper aims to capture the overview of Johann Mattheson's musical aesthetics. Mattheson's writings have often been cited in studies on music in the eighteenth century. Any particular topic, such as performance practice, musical rhetoric, acoustic sensationalism, Incisionlehre, Melodienlehre, has been given a wide range of interpretations. As a consequence, his own musical aesthetics have rarely been discussed. His public image, moreover, as a relentless Enlightenment disputant was so widely disseminated that his musical thought has often been viewed from rather biased perspectives. For example, his religious aspect has been unduly downplayed. As a result, these partial views have led to narrow if not completely wrong interpretations of his musical thought. The author elucidates selected key concepts, with some misleading views corrected, to show consistent interrelations between them and to show that Mattheson's musical ideas can form a consistent and coherent system of musical aesthetics in the age of classicism, even though he never articulated his views in a fully systematic manner. The author also argues that the idea of heavenly music in Lutheranism must have played a pivotal role in integrating Mattheson's musical ideas into the system.

Journal of Music Research Online

Less Glamorous but Essential: Australian Composers’ Perspectives on Writing Art Music for Children’s Performance

The Basis of Johann Mattheson’s Musical Aesthetics