Australia’s Music Beginnings

The Aborigines or the original black inhabitants of Australia, now referred to as Indigenous Australians, developed their music in total isolation over several thousand years, until the Europeans began to settle in Australia. Theirs is the most unique and unusual kind of traditional music. It is probably the oldest music that is still being performed and totally different from any other music as they have been handed down from generation to generation.

They made music to accompany rituals and dances. Since they do not adhere to a particular system of notes, they can be difficult. They never developed instruments that play the notes of a scale. The vocal music is performed by chanters producing all kinds of vocal sounds as well as words. It is usually accompanied by the beating of simple percussion instruments such as sticks and rattles, and hand-clapping.

The didgeridoo is their single main instrument. It is also known as didgeridoo or didge. It is a wind instrument often described as “drone pipe.” A didgeridoo is cylindrical or conical and can measure from 1 to 3 meters in length with most instruments measuring around 1 meter. In general, the longer the instrument, the lower will be the pitch or key.    

It is made from a long hollow branch, blown like a horn at one end to give one deep note. The player uses the tongue and mouth and makes a vocal noise at the same time creating a buzzy sound rather like a loud harp. While still playing, the didgeridoo player breathes in through the nose, so that it sounds a continuous drone beneath the voice, varying the tone to produce elaborate rhythms.

The didgeridoo is commonly claimed to be the world’s oldest wind instrument. In some Aboriginal cultures, only men are permitted to play it.  

When the European settled in Australia, they brought their own folk music with them and produced new songs in the tradition of the new found land. One of the best-known of these Australian songs is the best-loved “Waltzing Matilda” which is referred to as the “unofficial national anthem of Australia.”