Australia's first music therapy songbook created for Aboriginal peoples undergoing health treatment has launched, filling a significant gap in the nation's health care system with songs of healing and cultural connection.
Music therapist John Lattin, music therapist Maybelle Swaney, Associate Professor Luke Dollman from the University of Adelaide, CASM student Tilly Thomas, Grayson Rotumah from the University of Adelaide, CASM student Myles Turner
"The Health Songbook Project" features 20 songs, including representation from 14 Indigenous language groups and Aboriginal artists across the country. The resource exists primarily online and is freely available for everyone to use.
The songbook features professionally produced recordings accompanied by sheet music, lyric sheets, and composer background notes designed to support music therapists working with Indigenous patients in clinical and community settings.
This project has been supported by a grant from the Global Arts and Health Alliance and has been developed by a team of researchers from the Elder Conservatorium's Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) at the University of Adelaide in partnership with the Women's and Children's Hospital Foundation.
It was led by CASM Co-Director and Bundjalung man Grayson Rotumah, alongside Associate Professor Luke Dollman, Dr John Baranoff, and Associate Professor Clemence Due. The project was also supported by the University of Adelaide's Mobile Language Team.
"Before this, music therapists had no culturally appropriate resources to draw on when engaging with First Nations patients. This often made it difficult to build trust and understanding," Rotumah explains.
"This new resource provides music, language, and stories that can act as a bridge to Aboriginal patients, who are statistically over-represented in our hospital system."
Grayson Rotumah using the Health Songbook Project website. Credit: Will Fisher/Mobile Language Team
As both producer and composer, Rotumah was deeply involved in shaping the sound, message, and cultural integrity of the songbook. He engaged a wide range of Aboriginal artists to create original music tailored to support Indigenous patients from diverse linguistic, cultural, and clinical backgrounds.
Music therapy is a form of therapy that uses music and musical elements like rhythm, melody, and harmony to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. To ensure the songbook would meet the needs of practitioners, music therapists were consulted throughout the project to help shape the content.
"We have many qualified music therapists in South Australia who do great work in our hospitals and communities, working with a wide variety of patients," Associate Professor Dollman says.
"Our team has already received strong feedback from therapists who are excited to take their practice to the next level using the songbook."
The resource features material written in a wide variety of Aboriginal languages including Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri, Gunditjmara, Nukunu, Torres Strait Islander languages, Kala Lagaw Ya (Western Torres Strait), Wanman (Pilbara region), Bundjalung, Wiradjuri, Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara, and Barkindji/Paakantyi.
"Most of the music was newly composed specifically for the project, offering a rare and meaningful combination of contemporary therapeutic practice with Indigenous language and cultural expression," says Rotumah.
"We see the resource as a starting point and look forward to growing it and expanding its reach in the future."
