National Anthems: Rotate Australia Fair?

It’s remarkable and amusing to me that my country, Australia, took 83 years after gaining sovereignty to adopt its own national anthem. And even now many people born and bred in Australia don’t know the words of that song. It says something very significant about our national character.

For we are young and free

Some years ago, as a music teacher in a school, I took my Year 7 students (all boys aged eleven or twelve) through a unit about national anthems. Discussion turned quite lively when considering Australia’s anthem, so I formalised it into an adversarial debate involving students from several classes. ‘You’re free to think and speak,’ I said. ‘Should Australia’s national anthem be changed and, if so, how?’

There was a lot of support for change and the students came up with suggestions for a replacement.  Contemporary pop/rock songs were often mentioned, one of which, I Come from a Land Down Under (recorded by Men at Work), had a lot of enthusiastic backers.  Reasoned argument in support of choices was rather thin overall, with a song’s popularity among young people carrying a lot of weight.

The best-supported was I Am Australian, that modern classic first performed by The Seekers.  In my experience it’s one of the songs that both boys and girls will sing with equal sincerity and enjoyment.  (If it were to become the nation’s anthem, would that status eventually make it staid and boring to the people as a whole?) Over several decades I’ve had many of my choirs and soloists perform Bruce Woodley’s beautiful song in various arrangements. It still brings on tears now and then. Listen to The Seekers sing it here.

In the debates of these young Australians, the official anthem, Advance Australia Fair, was one of the least favoured.

A Fair Go for the Anthem

One free-thinker scored well in the debate with his ultra-radical proposal.  He was obviously a budding advocate for proportional representation at the national level. He pointed out that it had taken the country many years of heated argument to reach a decision on what would replace the old British Empire anthem, God Save the Queen, and many people were still not satisfied with the resultant choice. To be fair to everyone, he said, why don’t we have a number of anthems and use them all on a rotating roster basis?  The audience liked that one!

Can’t you hear it now as our Olympic gold medallists stand on the dais? “… In joyful strains then let us sing, rotate Australia Fair!”

Lose the Lyrics!

But reflect on this: these debates are always about the words of the anthem, not the music.

An anthem is generally assumed to be a text sung to a set tune. So suppose our anthem was wordless. What if we could hear no lyrics, simply a great melody performed with great harmonies and great instrumentation? Perhaps voices could sing this melody without words. What effect would this have on the sense of community, the love of country, the aspirations of Australians?

All of this relates to my book of historical fiction, Song of Australia, soon to be published. Watch this space!

 

 

 

Magpies: The Clarinets of the Australian Bird Orchestra

The sun warm on my back, soft grass under my feet, blood surging as I sprinted…I revelled in the joy of being alive. Until the sudden impact on my temple brought me to a full stop. Fingers found blood trickling from my head and pain grew steadily. What hit me? I recalled then the whoosh of wings and the flash of black and white just after the impact.

There were a few tall gum trees on the edge of the park, about seventy metres away. A couple of magpies wheeled in the air above them, one swooping in little forays towards me now and then. So there was the culprit! I was a victim of that common springtime event in Australia—a magpie strike.

That was many years ago. I still love running but these days the enjoyment is always tempered by vigilance from September to November, when the magpies are guarding their nests from any other life-form trespassing into their territory. Many runners, cyclists and even walkers deter magpie guerrillas by wearing sunglasses on the back of their heads. The birds won't attack if they think you’re looking at them, only from behind.

Nevertheless, Australians have a soft spot for maggies, as we call them. Why? Another personal experience gives the answer. Lying in bed recently, in the stillness before a cool autumn dawn, I was treated to one of the most beautiful musical performances of my life. A group of magpies was carolling in the red gums outside of our cottage. One would begin with a phrase that soared through a couple of octaves, and another would join in with its own phrase somewhat lower. This continued for a while before they paused and began again. It must have lasted for about half an hour. The exuberance of these concerts is something beyond words.

I found this female magpie foraging for worms in my backyard.

In the bird orchestra the magpie is the clarinet, with a vocal pitch-range of about four octaves. Its versatility with various timbres and patterns—to me they qualify as melodies but some might not agree—is amazing. Add to these attributes a gift for fast learning and you will understand why the magpie is also a wonderful mimic of other birds and animals. What's more, if they spend enough time close to humans they pick up some of our frequent words.

I wonder whether they might even love to make music with us. A couple of times I’ve left the window open while I give a student a singing lesson only to hear one or two magpies at the front of my house join in. It gave such a sense of unity with the natural world!

Another reason I've had maggies on my mind lately is that they feature prominently in fiction I’m writing. Some of it should be published before long and I’ll let you know where to find it.

A Quest for Personal Authenticity

A Stop in the Park

by Peggy Panagopoulos Strack

Within the fiction genre commonly labelled “coming-of-age” or “rite-de-passage”, one could perhaps nominate a sub-category with a title such as “self-realisation”. I’d place Peggy Strack’s novel under that heading. The quotation from Wayne Dyer (psychologist and self-help author) presented before the first chapter gives the gist: “Don’t die with the music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.”

The protagonists are a couple whose marriage has hit the skids; whether or not it will crash is a question answered at the end of the novel. Michael is a high-flying lawyer in New York, with all the attendant affluence and stress. “On top of that,” the narrator tells us, “Michael was married to a beautiful journalist, ran in marathons, owned a brownstone in Georgetown, and had two healthy daughters; yet he was miserable.” Moreover, he has a problem managing his anger.

Jamie, his wife, dropped her journalistic career to raise her children. Once physically active and outgoing, she is now pre-occupied with her body-weight and dieting. Her self-esteem is shaky.

Jamie has fallen out of love with Michael and contemplates ending the marriage. Michael still loves her but tends to behave in ways that don’t encourage reciprocation—bursts of anger, for instance. As he asks himself, is love enough?

The narration takes us through all the mundane aspects of modern suburban family-life as they grapple with their misery. Food and eating are prominent, along with bodily health, money, dealing with traffic problems, transporting children to various regular out-of-school activities, addiction to television. But behind and beneath these are the issues that the two characters need to face.

Michael’s story gets rather more emphasis than Jamie’s in the novel. The title of the book alludes to his encounter with an older man called Rufus, who acts out the “wise old man” archetype as Michael negotiates his mid-life crisis. They meet in a park near the beginning of the story and this is the start of Michael’s exploration of his unhappiness and other options for his life.

The situations and frustrations of the characters rang true for me. Essentially they are on a quest for personal authenticity—one of the most critical themes of the twenty first century. The author uses unpretentious but clear prose in her skilful narration from their respective points of view, encouraging strong empathy in the reader. It’s a compelling and relevant read which I heartily recommend.

For purchase go to Peggy Strack’s blog at  http://pstrack.blogspot.com.au/