Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Andrew Alter is Associate Professor in Music Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney
He teaches and undertakes research in a diverse range of sub-disciplines including popular music studies, ethnomusicology, composition, and music theory. His primary research is focused on traditional and popular music in India and Indonesia as well as World Music practice in Australia. His performance interests span an eclectic mix of world music and experimental genres and include diverse musical practice on piano and cello as well as within vocal ensembles and Indonesian gamelan. Currently he leads the Macquarie University gamelan ensemble (Gema Nada).
As an ethnomusicologist, Andrew has published widely in the discipline’s leading journals and reference tools. He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, the Australian Musicological Society, the South Asian Studies Association of Australia, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and the International Council for Traditional Music. He has contributed to Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism, The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments and The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.
Andrew has published two books: Dancing with Devtās: Drums, Power and Possession in the Music of Garhwal, North India (2008) and Musical Sound Spaces: Listening to History in the Uttarakhand Himalayas (2014).
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- 1 Similar Profiles
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UEP: Understanding Epic Performance as Musical Process: Re-examining Localized Traditions of Mahabharata in the Himalayas
Alter, A. (Primary Chief Investigator)
24/06/19 → 23/12/19
Project: Other
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New Economies of Distribution in Regional Popular Music Industries of Northern India
Alter, A. (Primary Chief Investigator)
17/08/15 → 18/12/15
Project: Research
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Copyright and the Global Musician: Creative Practices and Musical Ownership amongst Traditional and Transcultural Musicians in Australia
Alter, A. (Primary Chief Investigator), McNeil, A. (Chief Investigator), Crowdy, D. (Chief Investigator) & Collins, S. (Chief Investigator)
1/01/13 → 31/12/13
Project: Research
Research Outputs
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Voice of the Butterfly: Suara Kupu Kupu
Alter, A. (Producer), 29 Nov 2025Research output: Non-traditional research output › Digital or Visual products
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Writing for the aurally engaged reader: focusing words with music in an age of digital mediation
Alter, A., 2024, In: Musicology Australia. 46, 1, p. 67-78 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Local digital: staging geographies and sonic identities through auto-tune effects and streaming sites in North Indian popular music
Alter, A. & Renzo, A., 2023, In: Popular Music and Society. 46, 4, p. 392-406 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Musicophilia in Mumbai: performing subjects and the metropolitan unconscious
Alter, A., 2022, In: Asian Studies Review. 46, 2, p. 383-384 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article/Exhibition review
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Using North Indian vocal exercises for aural training in the globalized classroom
Alter, A., 2022, Listening across borders: musicology in the global classroom. Davis, J. A. & Lynch, C. (eds.). New York ; London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, p. 38-50 13 p. (Modern Musicology and the College Classroom).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review