Catherine Falk
CATHERINE FALK, BA(Hons) PhD Monash
Professor, Dean, Head of Ethnomusicology
b. London, UK. She studied ethnomusicology at Monash University and her doctoral dissertation concerned the village music of West Java (1981). She introduced ethnomusicology subjects to the (former) Melbourne State College in 1976. She was head of Department of Music Education, Melbourne College of Advanced Education, 1986-93, and established performance of non-western music programs, particularly gamelan, at the Melbourne campus (1979). Her recent research concerns the music of migrants, especially the music of the Hmong people: some of her publications can be seen at www.hmongnet.org/hmong-au/ozintro.htm, as well as in the journals Asian Music, British Journal of Ethnomusicology and Asian Folklore Studies.
Prof Falk teaches the following undergraduate subjects:
- Music and Ideas
- Music Cultures of Asia
- The Ethnography of Music
- In the Groove
- Music and the Shaman
- Music in Rainforest Societies
- Music in Multicultural Australia
- The Music of Java and Bali
- Sounding Off: Music Subjugation Subversion
Recent PhD graduates who have worked under her supervision have done research in the popular music of Arnhem Land, Australia; the music of the Subanen, the Phillipines; and Chinese music in diaspora. Ongoing postgraduate research includes the music of Dikir barat in Singapore and Malaysia, and a musical ethnography of the Kam people, southern China.
'Ethnoheads' newsletter
Some of her recent publications include:
2004 "The private and public lives of the Hmong qeej or Miao lusheng." In Nicholas Tapp and Gary Yia Lee, eds.The Hmong in Australia. Change and Diaspora. Canberra, ACT : Pandanus Press, 123-152.
2004 "Hmong Instructions to the Dead: What the qeej says in the Qeej Tu Siav. "Part 1. Asian Folklore Studies 63 (1) :1-29.
2004 "Hmong Instructions to the Dead: What the qeej says in the Qeej Tu Siav."Part 2. Asian Folklore Studies 63 (2) :167-220.
2003/ 2004 "The dragon taught us: Hmong stories about the origin of the free reed pipes qeej." Journal of Asian Music, 35 (1): 17-56.
2003 "If you have good knowledge, close it well tight": concealed and framed meaning in the funeral music of the Hmong qeej" British Journal of Ethnomusicology 12 (ii): 1-33.
Some recent research grants in which she is a Chief Investigator are:
2003 ARC Research Network Seed Funding Grant SR0354824 “Digital endangered cultural materials network: working group on digital research methodologies for endangered ethnographic material of the Asia-Pacific region.” $10,000
2003 ARC LIEF LEO 346848 “Quadriga system for research archive of Asia-Pacific region audio recordings.” $268,000.
2004 ARC LIEF LEO453247 “Digital archiving equipment for PARADISEC research archive of Asia-Pacific region audio recordings.” $206,000
2005 ARC LIEF LEO5607111 “PARADISEC, the Pacific and regional archive for digital sources for endangered cultures: accessibility and decentralisation.” $344,000
2006 - 2010 ARC Discovery Project DP 0665494 “A study of acoustical, psycho-acoustical and musicological factors in tuned percussion ensemble design.” $548,000