1. Religious Traditions of Aboriginal Peoples

2. -Every culture in the world embraces some type of religion or spiritual worship.
-Many faiths are founded on the written code of laws and center on belief in one or more supreme beings.
-Followers of other religions, by contrast, view themselves as part of and in harmony with nature.
-One common thread running through virtually all religions is the use of music as an expression of spirituality.

3. -The first groups of people to create sacred music were aboriginals.
-Aboriginals – the original or first people to inhabit a place.
-Aboriginal peoples can be found on every continent except Antarctica.
-Many of these peoples are nomadic:
-move from place to place following migrating herds of animals or the changing seasons
-often pass their religious beliefs and traditions from person to person orally and through artwork and music
-use the natural landscape as a backdrop for their religious ceremonies

4. Native Peoples of Australia: The Creation Story
-Aboriginal peoples make up roughly 1.5% of Australia’s population.
-The term aboriginal there refers not to a single person but rather to a collection of distinct cultural groups.
-Each has its own language and cultural expressions.

5. -Australian Aboriginal belief is rooted in the creation story, or the “Dreaming”, as it is called there.
-The myth of the Dreaming:
-During the Dreaming, Wondjina are believed to have emerged from the Earth.
-These spirits often assumed the forms of animals, birds, or fish.
-They moved across Australia, creating the mountains, rivers, and the desert.
-Before disappearing, the spirits planted the seeds of the living creatures that would inhabit each region.
-They granted the land ownership of the lands to the people of that region
-Wondjina – Australian aboriginal ancestral spirits.
-Through the myth of the Dreaming, Aboriginal groups each have a sense of “belonging” to a certain place.
-They express this sensibility through stories, art, song, and dance.

6. Stencil art showing unique clan markers and dreamtime stories symbolizing attempts to catch the deceased's spirit.
Petroglyph depicting Baiame, the Creator God and Sky Father in the dreaming of several Aboriginal language groups.

7. Australian Aboriginal Music
-Many traditional songs and dances of Australian Aboriginals celebrate the Dreaming.
-Frequently, they enter on animals, birds, or fish – the earthly forms of Wondjina.
-The brolga, a native bird, appears in many of these songs.
-the singer, accompanied by a didgeridoo and hardwood clapping sticks imitates the bird’s call.
-didgeridoo – an Australian Aboriginal instrument that provides a low drone played with rhythmic pulsing.
Traditional Brolga Music:
Brolga

8. Native Americans
-The first settlers of the North American continent arrived during the Stone Age.
-Scientists theorize that these early inhabitants migrated from Asia, by way of a land bridge.
-Today the descendants of those peoples comprise numerous Native American tribes in North America.
-Each tribe has its own culture and religious beliefs.
-Each has its own unique music traditions, though common characteristics exist among them.
-In all Native American cultures, for example, music and dance are central to tribal rituals.
-Such rituals include religious ceremonies, healing rites, and dances to ensure a successful crop.
-These ceremonies are always participatory, never passive (meaning, you have to do them).
-Music is rarely performed purely as entertainment.

9. Native American Music
-Native American musicians don’t record their musical traditions on paper.
-they memorize their music and pass it on by word of mouth.
-keeps the music alive in an unbroken strand of traditional performance practices.
-Any individual who becomes a carrier of a musical tradition accepts a huge responsibility within the community.
-If the music is forgotten, mistreated, or performed incorrectly, the tradition is corrupted or dies.

10. Native American Song
-Native American Music is primarily sung, though instruments are used as an accompaniment.
-Drums and rattles, the main types of instruments, come in many different sizes, shapes, and materials.
-Rattles for example, are made out of gourds, turtle shells, carved wood, leather, and other natural materials.
-In some Native American cultures, types of flutes and string instruments are used.

11. -In most Native American languages, no word exists for music.
-New songs are not written by a composer in the conventional Western sense.
-They are seen as gifts from the Creator and “acquired” through dreams and visions.
-Befitting their sacred quality, songs are treated with respect and reverence.
-They are governed by strict rules that determine when, under what circumstances, and by whom they can be performed.
-New songs are occasionally composed, but only in permissible genres and for specific situations.
-Because songs have such value within the society, they are occasionally traded or sold as property.
-They may also be given away as gifts of great significance or meaning.

12. -The name Lakota means “friends” or “allies”.
Lakota Eagle Dance
-Seven Native American groups of the Great Plains make up the Lakota, or Sioux.
-These groups have distinct social and political identities, but they share a common culture and heritage.
-The name Lakota means “friends” or “allies”.
-The Lakota people enjoy a rich tradition of art music and dance.
Eagle Dance: