Aspects of experimental music in Melbourne, 1975-1979 focussing on the LaTrobe University Music Department and the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre

Aspects of Experimental Music in Melbourne: 1975-1979 documents and contextualizes experimental music practices occuring at a particularly active point in the broader history of Australian experimental music. The thesis begins by providing a detailed definition of the term experimental music and the problems associated with discussing experimental music as a style or genre, this is followed by a brief statement about the development of experimental music in Australia and Melbourne up until 1975. The first chapter details the early years of the LaTrobe University Music Department, outlining particularly, the departments experimental focus and its relationship to the Music 1 course at the University of California San Diego. The second chapter traces the more radical connection between experimental music practices occuring in California and the establishment of the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre in Melbourne, detailing significant works of the period. Finally, the third chapter expands on the duality presented in the first two chapters, discussing experimental activity that was occurring outside of the LaTrobe and Clifton Hill Community Music Centre contexts. The years 1975-1979 represent a unique period in the development of experimental music in Melbourne, the effects of which are still being felt in the experimental music community across Australia. The combination of international influences, the arrival of an avant-garde mentality at an institutional level and the subsequent formation of an organised venue for the presentation of experimental music led to a dramatic increase in experimental music making in Melbourne. This thesis examines the influences and impulsions behind this energetic growth period.