Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key"

Revision as of 07:09, 23 March 2007

Bullroarers from Africa, in the Pitt Rivers Museum

A bullroarer or turndun is an ancient ritual musical instrument and means of communicating over extended distances. Along with the didgeridoo, it is prominent technology attributed to Australian Aborigines, though was not exclusively developed by them.

The bullroarer is sometimes used as a means of demonstrating the Doppler effect, by using sound. As the instrument travels round, its sound goes up or down according to its speed, and distance from the hearer.

Design, use, and sound

It consists of a weighted aerofoil, a rectangular slat of wood about 15 cm (6 in) to 60 cm (24 in) long and about 1.25 cm (0.5 in) to 5 cm (2 in) wide, attached to a long cord.

Template:Wikisource1911Enc The cord is given a slight initial twist, and the roarer is then waved in a large circle in a horizontal plane. The aerodynamics of the roarer will keep it spinning about its axis even after the initial twist has unwound. The cord winds fully first in one direction and then the other.

It makes a characteristic roaring vibrato sound with notable modification from both Doppler effect and the changing speed of the roarer at different parts of its circuit.

By modifying the expansiveness of its circuit and the speed given it, the modulation of the sound can be controlled, making the coding of information possible. The low frequency component of the sound travels extremely long distances, especially on the wind.

In culture

This instrument has been used by numerous early and traditional cultures in both the northern and southern hemispheres but in the popular consciousness it is perhaps best known for its use by Australian Aborigines (it is from one of their languages that the name turndun comes).

Australian Aboriginal culture

Bullroarers have accompanied the didgeridoos in initiation ceremonies and in burials to ward off evil spirits, bad tidings, and even women and children.

Bullroarers are considered secret men's business by some Aboriginal tribal groups, and hence taboo for women, children, non-initiated men and/or outsiders to even hearTemplate:Fact. They are used in men's initiation ceremonies and the sound they produced is considered by some Indigenous cultures to represent the sound of the Rainbow Serpent Template:Fact. In the cultures of South-East Australia, the sound of the bullroarer is the voice of Daramulan, and a successful bullroarer can only be made if it has been cut from a tree containing his spirit.

In 1987, Midnight Oil included a recording of a bullroarer on their album Diesel and Dust (at the beginning of the song, Bullroarer) inadvertently causing offenceTemplate:Fact to the Aboriginal people of Central Australia from whom the recording was taken.

The bullroarer can also be used as a tool in Aboriginal art Template:Fact.

Bullroarers have sometimes been referred to as "wife-callers" by Australian AboriginesTemplate:Fact.

de:Schwirrholz fr:Rhombe (instrument) nl:Snorrebot

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-'''Marn Grook''' (also spelt ''marngrook'') is an [[Australian Aborigine|Australian Aboriginal]] ball game, is said to have had an influence on the modern game of [[Australian rules football]], most notably in the spectacular jumping and [[Mark (Australian football)|high marking]] exhibited by the players of both games.
+[[Image:Bull_roarers.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Bullroarers from Africa, in the [[Pitt Rivers Museum]]]]
-Marn Grook, literally meaning "Game ball",  was a traditional game played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players by the [[Gunditjmara|Djabwurrung]] and [http://www2.visitvictoria.com/displayObject.cfm/ObjectID.00043955-3A4A-1A66-88CD80C476A90318/vvt.vhtml Jardwadjali] people of western [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]].
+A '''bullroarer''' or '''turndun''' is an ancient ritual musical instrument and means of communicating over extended distances. Along with the [[didgeridoo]], it is prominent technology attributed to [[Australian Aborigine]]s, though was not exclusively developed by them.
-== Eye-witness accounts ==
+The bullroarer is sometimes used as a means of demonstrating the [[Doppler effect]], by using sound. As the instrument travels round, its sound goes up or down according to its speed, and distance from the hearer.
-[[Robert Brough-Smyth]], in an [[1878]] book ''The Aborigines of Victoria'', quoted Richard Thomas, a [[Protector of Aborigines]] in Victoria, who stated that in about [[1841]] he had witnessed Aborigines playing the game.
-:''The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of [[possum]] skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise.''
-In [[1889]], anthropologist [[Alfred Howitt]], wrote that the game was played between large groups on a [[totemic]] basis &mdash; the white [[cockatoo]]s versus the black cockatoos, for example, which accorded with their [[Australian Aboriginal kinship|skin system]]. Acclaim and recognition went to the players who could leap or kick the highest. Howitt wrote:
-:''This game of ball-playing was also practised among the [[Kurnai]], the Wolgal ([[Tumut]] river people), the Wotjoballuk as well as by the [[Wurundjeri|Woiworung]], and was probably known to most tribes of south-eastern Australia. The Kurnai made the ball from the [[scrotum]] of an "old man [[kangaroo]]", the Woiworung made it of tightly rolled up pieces of [[possum|opossum]] skin. It was called by them "mangurt". In this tribe the two [[Australian Aboriginal kinship|exogamous divisions]], [[Bunjil]] and Waa, played on opposite sides. The Wotjoballuk also played this game, with Krokitch on one side and Gamutch on the other. The mangurt was sent as a token of friendship from one to another.<ref>AW Howitt, "Notes on Australian Message Sticks and Messengers", ''Journal of the Anthropological Institute'', London, 1889, p 2, note 4, Reprinted by Ngarak Press, 1998, ISBN 1-875254-25-0</ref>
-[[Tom Wills]], who drew up the rules of Australian rules football in [[1858]]-59, was raised in Victoria's western districts and is said to have played with local Aboriginal children.<ref>http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/MediaRelArc02.nsf/17ed9415cb17e3d34a25682500254734/67d1f54851b3304b4a256965007bb637!OpenDocument&Click=</ref> He recalled watching a game in which they kicked a [[possum]] skin about the size of an orange, stuffed with charcoal.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
+==Design, use, and sound==
+It consists of a weighted [[aerofoil]], a rectangular slat of [[wood]] about 15 cm (6 in) to 60 cm (24 in) long and about 1.25 cm (0.5 in) to 5 cm (2 in) wide, attached to a long [[rope|cord]].
-== Marn Grook and the football term "mark" ==
+{{Wikisource1911Enc|Bullroarer}}
-Some claim that the origin of the [[Australian rules]] term "[[Mark (Australian football)|mark]]", meaning a clean, [[fair catch]] of a kicked ball, followed by a [[free kick]], is derived from the Aboriginal word "''mumarki''" used in ''Marn Grook'', and meaning "to catch".<ref>http://www.footystamps.com/ot_early_history.htm</ref><ref>http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook.html</ref>  However, many believe that this is a [[false etymology]] and that the term instead came from the  practice &mdash; in old and/or extinct [[football|British football codes]] &mdash; of a player who had caught the ball ''marking'' the ground with a foot, to show where the catch had been taken, and calling "mark" to be awarded a free kick. The term mark has been used in modern football codes since the 1830s, notably in [[rugby football]] and early [[Association football]] (soccer). It is still used in [[rugby union]], in reference to a fair catch by a player who calls "mark" when catching a ball inside their team's 22 metre line.
+The cord is given a slight initial twist, and the roarer is then waved in a large circle in a horizontal plane. The [[aerodynamics]] of the roarer will keep it spinning about its axis even after the initial twist has unwound. The cord winds fully first in one direction and then the other.
-== The "Marngrook Trophy" ==
+It makes a characteristic roaring [[vibrato]] [[sound]] with notable modification from both [[Doppler effect]] and the changing speed of the roarer at different parts of its circuit.
-In [[2002]], in a game at [[Stadium Australia]], the [[Sydney Swans]] and [[Essendon Football Club]] began to compete for the '''''Marngrook Trophy''''', awarded after home-and-away matches each year between the two teams in the [[Australian Football League]].  However, the games are played under normal rules of the AFL, rather than anything approaching Marn Grook.
+By modifying the expansiveness of its circuit and the speed given it, the modulation of the sound can be controlled, making the coding of information possible. The low frequency component of the sound travels extremely long distances, especially on the wind.
-==References==
+==In culture==
-<div class="references-small"><references /></div>
+This instrument has been used by numerous early and traditional cultures in both the [[Northern Hemisphere|northern]] and [[southern hemisphere]]s but in the popular consciousness it is perhaps best known for its use by [[Australian Aborigine]]s (it is from one of their languages that the name ''turndun'' comes).
-== External links ==
+===Australian Aboriginal culture===
-* [http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook.html AboriginalFootball.com, "Marn Grook"]
+Bullroarers have accompanied the didgeridoos in [[initiation ceremony|initiation ceremonies]] and in [[burial]]s to ward off evil spirits, bad tidings, and even women and children.
+Bullroarers are considered [[secret men's business]] by some Aboriginal tribal groups, and hence [[taboo]] for women, children, non-initiated men and/or outsiders to even hear{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. They are used in men's initiation ceremonies and the sound they produced is considered by some Indigenous cultures to represent the sound of the [[Rainbow Serpent]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. In the cultures of South-East Australia, the sound of the bullroarer is the voice of [[Daramulan]], and a successful bullroarer can only be made if it has been cut from a tree containing his spirit.
+In [[1987]], [[Midnight Oil]] included a recording of a bullroarer on their album [[Diesel and Dust]] (at the beginning of the song, ''Bullroarer'') inadvertently causing offence{{Fact|date=February 2007}} to the Aboriginal people of [[Central Australia]] from whom the recording was taken.
+The bullroarer can also be used as a tool in [[Aboriginal art]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
+Bullroarers have sometimes been referred to as "wife-callers" by Australian Aborigines{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
+[[Category:Whirling aerophones]]
 [[Category:Australian Aboriginal culture]]
-[[Category:Australian rules football]]
+[[Category:Australian Aboriginal bushcraft]]
-[[Category:Sport in Australia]]
-[[Category:Traditional football]]
 [[Category:Australian Aboriginal words and phrases]]
+[[Category:Australian culture]]
+[[Category:Australian Aboriginal music]]
+[[de:Schwirrholz]]
+[[fr:Rhombe (instrument)]]
+[[nl:Snorrebot]]