Melbourne Tour

Symposium of the International Musicological Society, held in Melbourne, Australia, from 11-16 July 2004.

Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam, vocalist from Chennai was invited to make a paper presentation on Music Communication. She presented a paper entited.

"RAGA and TALA - A BRIDGE ACROSS"

The focus of the paper was on the properties of various notes and their combinations in ragas. Vijayalakshmy presented some ragas and explained their ability to impact the listeners, irrespective of their familiarity with the music. There was an interactive session with the audience following the presentation.

Eminent Australian composer Larry Sitsky was among those who attended the lecture. (He was honoured on the opening day of the Conference on the occasion of his seventieth birthday.) The session was chaired by
Dr. Reis Flora , Professor of Music at Monash University and a student of Indian Music himself.

Vijayalakshmy also had a poster made especially for the conference to explain the concept of notes, ragas and rhythm. The lecture was very well received and generated considerable interest in Gamakas and the properties of various notes as they are sung. Being very different from western music presentations, this was thought provoking, particularly to students of music studying composing.

This event was co-hosted by the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), the International Society for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), and the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA). The 2004 national conference of MSA coincided with SIMS 2004.

This six-day Symposium offered a unique and special conference experience. SIMS 2004 was held near the beautiful pedestrian, entertainment and restaurant environment of South bank on the river Yarra, in the central business district.

Reputed musicologists, ethnomusicologists, popular and traditional music specialists, academics in interdisciplinary fields, professional musicians, students, teachers and others presented their research and interacted with each other at sessions, receptions, musical events and the like.