Although music was an integral part of the religious observance conducted almost every Sunday at the Western Base of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, the AAE, it is not religious music, but music in the primary role of secular ritual that is the subject of this paper.

Several definitions of ritual are considered and behavioural patterns at the base tested against them. Using these parameters, three rituals are identified. One began their day, a second marked the end of the week, and another of less regular occurrence initiated assaults on the Antarctic’s secrets. Using diary extracts and other sources, the origins of each ritual are traced, its expression and affective dimensions analysed, and the psychological benefits deduced. The contribution of the rituals to the social harmony that was so much a feature of the base is evaluated.

In a polar world where sound was always extreme: either unnervingly lacking or bruisingly, deafeningly excessive, 'sounds in melodic or harmonic combination', that is, music, were the mode of expression in all three rituals, though each incorporated musical forms specific to itself. Organised, moderated, melodic sound, music, was both relief and release. Ritual music gave immaterial expression to anxieties and fears, and exorcised them. More, it gave the men psychological sustenance, fortified their courage and created mutually supportive bonds.

Whether sung or played on the gramophone, solo or chorus, jocular or devout, music informed the rituals that developed at the base; music was their ritual.

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John, John, put your trousers on: Music as Ritual at the Western Base of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-13 is available for FREE download in two versions

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All material is Copyright © 2014 Heather Rossiter except where noted. Any re-use requires permission from the author.