Kirkwood, S. (2011). Doing, being and becoming more active through playing part in community-based museum scenarios. Retrieved 15 September, Music Health Australia: Ipswich (http://www.musichealth.com.au/attachments/File/PublishedKirkwoodFinal.pdf).

Irish whistle tuned to key of 'D,' made of brushed brass with a plastic fipple (mouthpiece). Generation brand, British made.		Very economical instrument. Suitable for all ages. Popular in folk music ensembles. Relatively easy to play. Suitable for playing in marching bands or while bushwalking once you master breath control and fingering. Commonly available in most music shops for under $10.
Djembe. Toca Synergy Freestyle drum with 12" goatskin head and seamless synthetic shell. Mechanically tuned.		A very resonant drum with strong bass. Suitable for all ages. Relatively easy to play. Popular in drumming circles. Available from www.tocapercussion.com. Cost in the $200+ range.
Percussion Plus tuneable Bongo drums with goatskin head. Timber shell.		These are great fun to pick up and play. Popular with all ages. The two drums have different tones so suit experimentation. Cost is around $50.
Miniature coconut wood maracas from OXFAM		These are beautifully crafted maracas that are an ideal size for smaller hands. Inexpensive at $7 a pair. Also available as shakers without handles. Can be used by unskilled players of any age or skilled percussionists. Lovely to touch.

Ruby my dear, played on a symmetrical keyboard

U-Tube video (click on photo)
Kristen & Marisa's Occupational Therapy song and rap to TLC's Waterfalls.

Lyrics:
A homeless child hangin' out on the street
And he's getting used to feeling neglected.
He joins a gang to give his life some meaning,
And to feel he finally is respected.
But he's not acting like a kid anymore,
Cause there are things to which he does not have access.
There are no meaningful occupations in which he can engage,
He's suffering occupational injustice.
What does he need?

Occupational Therapy
Can provide this kid with new meaningful activities
He can learn art, music, dance, and make his way off the streets
With just a little OT

An older woman lookin outside her window
Confined to her home because of her weakness.
She hasn't seen the world in such a long time,
Cause she cannot go outside without assistance.
But there's no one around to take care of her,
Because she never had the chance to have children.
So she just let all her habits, roles, routines deteriorate.
Her quality of life is gravely diminished.
What does she need?

Occupational Therapy
Can get this woman out and about in her community.
She can develop new habits so she can restore her routines
With just a little OT.

Occupational Therapy
Focuses on all peoples skills of daily living
Whether it be social, leisure, work, rest, or mobility
Its all considered OT.

I saw an OT yesterday
She helped me regain, some of my function
Gave me hope that I could participate
In areas of occupation like play
Another way, to engage, in my life and its activities.
Evaluating my mood
Considering my values, beliefs, spirituality,
In all the things that I do.
It's true that my progress will rely
On my desire to comply, that I wont deny.
I found a way to cope
Just when I thought I lost hope
And I can't explain
All the gratitude I feel today.
Who's to say I would've made it without therapy?
Found a way to re-engage in my activities
That make me who I am, in my environment,
And let me understand all of the things that I know now I can accomplish.
Occupational Therapy
Is what you need to do.
So pick up a phone,
And find out how it can help you!

Thank you to TLC for their song, "Waterfalls," which inspired this version....
Also...thank you Kristen (SLP) for singing with me!
Marisa (OT)

Nose flute and guitar

Bagpipes on the beach looking over to Fraser Island, Queensland

Ocarina

One man band

Chinese

Dutch

Mouth organ

German

Jordan Vladev and St.Cyril and Methodius choir live in Seoul, South Korea

Banjo

Alternate lyrics, "For the sake of all mankind"

Duet violin and keyboard

Animal lovers

Button accordion

Medieval

Japanese electric guitar

Drunken gargling frog bog band

New lyrics ? Yiddish geriatrics

Irish jig

Horses dancing

WHALE SONG

MORE ON WHALE SONG AND MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Further to earlier discussions on whale song in November 2008, OPTUS has advertised an innovative musical performance http://www.optuswhalesong.com.au/ . This link shows an orchestra on a floating pontoon in the ocean, playing music to communicate love to whales. What a wonderfully creative and inspiring form of Social Oceanography. Congratulations to those involved.

Courier Mail news article 5/12/08

Whale song takes hit: Sea under siege from our noise.

ROME: Greenhouse gases worsen ocean noise by raising acidity levels and causing sound to travel farther, making it ever harder for marine mammals to communicate, UN and wildlife experts say.

“Acidity is a new, strange and unwanted development…for a whole range of marine animals,” Mark Simmonds of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said yesterday. Mr Simmonds, the society’s scientific director, was speaking as the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species began three days of debate on a resolution aimed at combating ocean noise, which is caused primarily by shipping, oil and gas exploration and military sonars.

“Noisy activities are producing an acoustic fog that prevents whales from maintaining social groups, finding each other for breeding purposes, and so forth,” Mr Simmons said. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, which is studying the rising acidity of seawater, says on its website: “As the oceans become more acidic, sounds will travel farther,” notably low-frequency sounds “used by marine mammals to find food and mates.”

Legal expert Veronica Frank of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said ocean noise has doubled each decade for the past 40 years and is expected to keep increasing. “Blue Whales’ capacity to communicate has been reduced by 90 per cent,” she said. The proposed resolution would urge the 110 parties to the CMS to mitigate the impact of ocean noise on vulnerable species, assess the environmental impact of sound-producing activities and avoid the use of high-intensity naval sonars that could pose risks for marine mammals.

The issue of ocean noise is an “international hot potato” because of the commercial and military interests involved, Mr Simmonds said.

Not so strange, however, if we consider the phenomenon of whale song and communication. There are many behavioural sciences that can inform our music practice, so it would be interesting to discuss what features of whale song may have application to communication in different music environments. Can we transfer any of the principles to human musical communication?

Music performance can be informed by arts and science. Contributions are invited from zoologists, animal psychologists, ethologists and anyone who can she some light on this topic? There are samples of whale song on websites, such as the Whale Mammal Institute http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/songs.html

BioAcoustic Research
Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School.

Social Oceanography
This U-tube video shows human interaction with whales as two Australian fishermen in a 4 meter tinnie (aluminium boat) have a close encounter with 3 whales. One man is so enthralled with the magnitude of the experience that he cries out in human whale-like singing sounds. He seems to be lost for words, so resorts to moans and expletives!

Whale song in movie music
Thanks to Dr Jennifer Cattermole for her insights into the use of whale song in the music sound track to the movie Pear ta ma 'on maf (the land has eyes). This is a full-length feature film set on the island of Rotuma, Fiji; written and directed by Bilsoni Hereniko. The music was composed by Clive Cockburn and Audy Kimura, with addition of recordings by Rotuman artists. Cattermole presented a paper on "Representing Romuma" at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, ANZ conference that was held at Southbank, Brisbane in December, 2008. She stated that the whale song always seemed to be associated with the heroine and the pain that she was feeling so it was like a leit motif that occurred throughout the movie. There are other movies that have used whale song in this way.

The book "Whale Song" by Cheryl Kay Tardif
www.kunati.com

Whale song research: (Excerpt from ABC Queensland website)

University of Queensland researcher Dr Michael Noad sees more whales in a couple of weeks than most of us see in a lifetime - and he's working on being able to understand them. He studies the perception and use of sound by humpback whales and is also involved in large international collaboration, the Humpback whale Acoustic Research Collaboration, or HARC, which is looking at this off the east coast of Australia.

Michael says that the whales can be incredible to hear. "The whales can do moans and groans, there are growls, there are snoring sounds... It's only sung by the males, and it's only sung during the mating season.

"All the males, singing this very complex song," Michael continues, "they all sing the same song at the same time... It's highly structured and goes on for about ten minutes per song... The pattern of the song changes with time, from year to year changes creep into the song, but all the whales make the same changes... so they're all singing the same thing."

The male whales can be quite violent towards each other, it seems. "Singers tend to be by themselves and whales that swim over to the singers tend to be other males," explains Michael. "There can be a whale punch up when you have a group of whales... A competitive group has one female and two or three or four males trying to get as close as they can to the female... They'll ram each other, whack each other with their tails...It's pretty physical."

The whale song is also incredible loud. "I don't know that I really want to be swimming right next to a singer," laughs Michael, "they're so loud! I'd be worried about what it was doing to me... It would be more like a bone-shaker than a soothing melody."

University of Queensland researcher Dr Michael Noad sees more whales in a couple of weeks than most of us see in a lifetime - and he's working on being able to understand them. He studies the perception and use of sound by humpback whales and is also involved in large international collaboration, the Humpback whale Acoustic Research Collaboration, or HARC, which is looking at this off the east coast of Australia.

Michael says that the whales can be incredible to hear. "The whales can do moans and groans, there are growls, there are snoring sounds... It's only sung by the males, and it's only sung during the mating season. "All the males, singing this very complex song," Michael continues, "they all sing the same song at the same time... It's highly structured and goes on for about ten minutes per song... The pattern of the song changes with time, from year to year changes creep into the song, but all the whales make the same changes... so they're all singing the same thing."

The male whales can be quite violent towards each other, it seems. "Singers tend to be by themselves and whales that swim over to the singers tend to be other males," explains Michael. "There can be a whale punch up when you have a group of whales... A competitive group has one female and two or three or four males trying to get as close as they can to the female... They'll ram each other, whack each other with their tails...It's pretty physical."

The whale song is also incredible loud. "I don't know that I really want to be swimming right next to a singer," laughs Michael, "they're so loud! I'd be worried about what it was doing to me... It would be more like a bone-shaker than a soothing melody."

Playing chimes in musical playground
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=KMaQBW-2XTs
 

COMPOSITION

Experimentation with changing pace of visual images
Not sure if you should try this at home?? Composing music to slow motion video footage.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=X0-TbUUXDtM

Further details are available from
http://discovery.com/timewarp