A modern audio exploration of the Symbolic Archetypes of the Flute
 

An audio exploration of the symbolic archetypes of the flute will be discussed [“Hemispheres” Sally Walker Flute, Philip Mayers Piano, CD produced by Thomas Wieber]. With the flute’s existence dating from 35,000 ago, the evidence of the earliest flute has been largely derived from artwork and mythology, where indications of the extra-musical associations of the flute are apparent.

Performer, academic and music educator Sally Walker is Lecturer in Classical Performance (Woodwind) at the Australian National University. Sally’s research embraces historical performance practice, music and physiology and composer/performer collaborations, resulting in new creative works. She has presented at conferences in Australia, Canada, the UK, Sweden and published in public-facing media as well as academic platforms. Sally was awarded her Doctor of Musical Arts thesis (University of Sydney, 2022) on developing fluency in switching between modern and historical flutes and has presented related research at several conferences including the International Symposium of Performance Science, 19th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music and the Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia. The derived physiological and neurological implications have been presented at the Performing Wellness Conference, Australian Hand Therapists’ Conference and the Australian Flute Festival. An advocate for new music, Sally has commissioned and premiered numerous works by composers such as Andrew Ford, Elena Kats-Chernin, Afro Moses and Coco Nelegatti and new creative works developed through her composer/performer collaborations have been presented at the Swedish Flute Festival, Music and Spirituality Symposium and the Sydney Indigenous Music Conference.