"Sit down, have a joke, play some music": Intercultural service learning with Australian first peoples

Abstract

This paper explores the potential for music making activities such as jamming, recording, and performance to act as a medium for intercultural connection and relationship building during community service learning projects. We offer an exploration of these connections and relationship building activities within the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University's annual student service learning trips to work with Aboriginal and non-Indigenous musicians and sound engineers at the Winanjjikari Music Centre in the central Australian desert town of Tennant Creek. We discuss how these activities can contribute to mutual appreciation, relationship building, two-ways learning, and intercultural reconciliation in Australia.