ABSTRACT
The common model of ‘three pillars of sustainability’ identifies economic and social aspects, as well as environmental ones. Without using the actual term, it presented an approach to social sustainability based on the pervasive role of music in tying together the harmony of humanity, society, and the world. Tjukurpa provides a blueprint for sustainability based on music, ceremony, dance, and decoration. Beyond being a means of expression, or a source of entertainment, or even an expression of cultural belief, music can be seen to have broader roles. It can function as a repository of knowledge – both cultural and practical, as in the case of Tjukurpa. Music can function as a store of knowledge, cultural, environmental, or social, as in the Australian Indigenous Tjukurpa songs. Making music can be used as a mode of researching and uncovering further knowledge, both in purely intellectual contexts such as Bach’s great works, and also in investigating problems of sustainability.
