Forum Week 2

Program notes: The for and against.

As stated in my earlier blog, the composer often invites the recollection of memories and imagery to influence our mindset for the enjoyment of a piece. Often such a piece is ambiguous with its lyrics or has none at all thus allowing the listener to interpret the story their own way. Sometimes the composer would prefer the program notes be a ‘guide’ to the setting and influence the memories recalled so as to directly place them inside that particular environment. This is often true where the composer has a distinct story to tell and would prefer the listener directly understand the composers meaning of the song. The composers story is told and understood, but at the same time memory recall is still in effect, but now the memories are guided and placed into the composers environment.

This was particularly true for me while listening to David Harris’ composition “Terra Rapta.” Memories of my visit to the Pitjantjatjara lands back in 2005 came back to me. For example, Section I reminded me of a thunderstorm that came rolling through the area, which in turn reminded me of the good humour and joking of the situation in the camp. Section L and Section Q reminded me of bird sounds, which in turn reminded me of wandering around a huge dry river bed with a condenser recording gallahs on my tape recorder. The whole song placed me back in the Pitjantjatjara lands, an environment where my mind could make a connection of what Australia used to be like. A memory of a thunderstorm rolling over me or a recording of bird sounds could be recalled from anywhere, but these particular memories from Fregon and Ernabella were directly recalled by influence of David Harris’ program notes, thus he was directly influencing my memory recall while I listened to the piece.

Harris, David. 2008. “Forum: My favourite things” Seminar presented at the University of Adelaide, 7th August.