Ms Deborah Cheetham opened the concert of OUR MUSIC ‘14 with her Acknowledgement Of Sydney Country, Dali Mada, Gamarada, (to gather friends). Ms Cheetham composed this piece for the opening of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Dali Mada Gamarada was the perfect start to the concert. Acknowledging Country, with a spectacular vocal line, and providing us with a comfortable ‘groove’ piece to ‘warm’ everyone into the program. (mm.4 St.rec.00:13) The lower register of the 97 key Stuart piano provided a unique blend with the yidaki (didgeridoo) drone note B1, (mm.4 ; std.rec.00:13). The Stuart clarity in the bass register sounds the note B0 an octave lower than the yidaki to create a unique Australian sound. piano/didge drone sound. The yidaki is played by Cody Chungai Costelloe. The Viola/Clarinet player Phillipa Murphy-Haste, responds to Ms Cheetham’s opening, creating an duet with the vocal line.(mm.4 ; std.rec.00:13). The low piano sound of B0 is heard again at fortissimo (mm.56 std.rec 3:03).The singers of the ensemble enter the chant collectively responding the Ms Cheetham chant, and eventually singing in a cluster of dissonant powerful tones.

Guest artists at OUR MUSIC ‘14

Muruwari song man Matthew Doyle was a guest performer at OUR MUSIC ’14. Matthew and I collaborated on the section of his song cycle which tells the Dharawal creation story of the lyrebird. Marc Anderson has provided the recording of the lyrebird calls. ⁴⁹⁸ Doyle has been granted permission to set the story to his music, by the elders of the Dharawal people.Matthew Doyle was born and raised on Dharawal land.

The full spectrum of the 97 key Stuart piano is used to set the atmosphere of the cultural business of this story. The high rattling piano sounds depict the sound of ceremonial shells. The low sounds depict images of a deep knowledge and closeness to land, known to these people for many thousands of years. The Stuart piano sets the atmosphere of the ‘d’ tonality with the very low A0 and D1 notes. The selective sustain (sostenuto), sustains sounds with frequencies two octaves below the yidaki pitch. The highest note of the Stuart piano, f8 is heard in the high ‘shell’ rattling sounds. The score of Wirritjirribin is to be read as a set of cues, as the piece is mostly improvised. The pianist needs to know the number of cycles of each verse and their syllabic articulations before each performance of this piece, because Doyle sings this in Dharawal language. The story travels through a desolate drought and then fire, and as they are painting up for ceremony the Dharawal people hear the lyrebird for the first time.The final verse is the lyrebird song and dance.

The final piece of the OUR MUSIC ‘14 program to be presented in this paper is Buruberongal songman Richard Green’s version of ‘I Am Australian’, Nygaya Wagul. Richard has taught the Sydney language to many people in the Sydney region. He has assisted in the production of a vocabulary

498 Lyrebird Recording “Wild Ambience” www.wildambience.com (2014)