How Did Peter Maculthorpe Affect Australia

Musicology Essay: The Australian Spirit

As the years have gone by, Australia has become increasingly multicultural. Music in Australia has grown to reflect this change and the stereotyped “Australian Sound” – developed primarily from early folk music, patriotic instrumental composition and 1980’s pub rock – has expanded vastly. As a result of this, the “Australian Perspective” too has grown, and now incorporates a vaster range of views and issues as perceived and expressed by different Australian musicians. Peter Sculthorpe was a multi-instrumental composer whose many works often reflected the different social and physical characteristics of Australia.

Peter Sculthorpe was born in 1929 in Launceston, Tasmania. Throughout his childhood, Sculthorpe learned and played the piano. At the age of seven, he began to compose his own music; however, his piano teacher disapproved greatly of such actions and reinforced her own intentions for him to practice music traditionally. Despite this, Sculthorpe remained optimistic and for years, secretly created his own music in spite of everyone else. In the later parts of his childhood, Sculthorpe attended the Launceston Grammar

The repetitive piano chords, light maraca rhythms and counter melodic backing vocals are comparable to 1960’s pop music (particularly that of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Ronettes). Furthermore; the fluctuating drum beats, rhythmic bass and electric guitar melodies and falsetto lead vocals may seem similar to psychedelic rock music of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (particularly that of Led Zeppelin and The Jimi Hendrix Experience). Although Tame Impala are easily distinguishable from these musicians, the comparability between Apocalypse Dreams and the previously-mentioned international bands makes audiences aware of the expansion and nonconformity of modern Australian