On receiving the manuscript of the Barrabul-la chant I immediately arranged piano music of it, setting the chant melody tones to the uniquely sounding open-bold tones of the Stuart piano’s tenor range. This was to be played in the left hand whilst the right hand played improvised expressions of bi-tonal harmony. The Stuart soundscape was found to create a unique resonance of bi-tonal dissonance, with extended sustain quality, especially in the treble registers. The written bi-tonal triads are to be played and embellished by both hands when the melody is sung. In my interpretation, the Stuart piano soundscape brings the Burrabul-la chant into the present day.

Listen to the Stuart piano sound of the Barrabul-la chant.

The Barrabul-la chant provides us with an audible glimpse into the past. We can imagine the chant sound in the atmosphere of pre-white settlement around, Wuganmagul, Farm Cove. Audibly, the Stuart piano tone paints a different sound to the standard modern piano. The new piano soundscape has brought subjects of the region’s past into the present as we sense we are listening to new Australian music.

The Aboriginal singers who initially sang the Sydney chants at the Conservatorium in 2012.

The creative work produced in this research project has come out of the artistic associations I have developed with several Australian Aboriginal performers, each of disparate Australian Indigenous origins. I value these collaborations very highly. Each of these Indigenous musicians are actively involved in the local contemporary music scene and participate in professional and semi-professional music performances of various styles of western contemporary music, in a very similar manner to myself. The contemporary nature of our improvised collaborations and the cultural diversity of each of these performers enhanced the contemporary nature of our collaborative engagements.