The 'Uli 'Uli and the role of playing

Title: unknown hula
Performers: members of the Polynesian Cultural Center, O'ahu, Hawai'i
Culture or origin:  Hawai'i
Orchestration:  'Uli 'uli, gourd rattles used as hula implements filled with small shells, seeds, or pebbles. `Uli`uli have a handle attached to one end, and this handle usually is attached to a counterweight which may be covered with kapa, feathers, or both, played either by shaking or tapping against the body. In traditional hulas, only one ‘uli‘uli is played; however, in modern hulas, a dancer will play two. The traditional hulas, called hula kahiko, have been performed for centuries in Hawaii to honor the gods, to entertain the royal court, and to preserve orally transmitted narratives and genealogies. Modern hulas, called hula auana, are performed for a larger, global audience and have broadened to incorporate narratives about love and Hawaiian identity.Gourds


 I know that I already brought up the hula in a previous post, but I could not help going back to it again with this video, which shows a couple of professional performers showing some children how to perform with the instrument called the ‘uli‘uli.  To me this just reenforces the impact that playing has on socialization.  If this were done in an instructional setting like a music classroom, there may be more to talk about in regards to what all the movements mean socially in cultural context, but on the surface just this little activity is bringing these two girls together in a fun atmosphere that will give them a chance to learn while enjoying the activity, prompt curiosity and question asking, and providing a basis for these two girls utilize as they interact with each other.  One can look at the socialization effects in two ways, as a world music activity, learning about the social contexts of the Hawaiian people and how each movement and sound is a connection to the telling of a story (a fundamentally social process), and as a social foundation that goes beyond the ethnomusicology aspects in which these children are just engaging in educational play that would probably not have nearly the impact on learning, motivation, and socialization beyond the educational setting if the children were not actively participating in the experience.  I realize that I may be approaching this particular subject through the eyes of generalization, but I find it much more efficient to not over complicate topics like this and keeping it simplified to down to its root implications.   It takes only a quick glance at the smiles and concentration on the children's faces to illustrate my point.

Swiss Alphorn

Title- unknown
Performers- unknown
Culture/Origin- Swiss Alps
Orchestration- Alphorns or Alpine Horns

This week I decided to go with a selection from a "Western" culture, but that may not be considered "Western" in performance/style/instrumentation etc.  This is an example of the alphorn, an instrument used through the Swiss Alps as a shepherd's instrument for calling or calming cattle and also for communication and signalling throughout a small village (or even across villages within a valley), for a variety of reasons one of which includes the absence of church bells in some communities.  It is now used mostly as a musical performance instrument, but one that still invokes the imagery of mountains and peaceful farm life.  Campbell (2004) discusses many instances where creation of music in the classroom does not need to adhere exactly to original recordings, thus actually become true recreations and not just recreations.  This particular example seems to me to be a great introductory way for students who have not had much exposure to world musics to get started with something more familiar and be relatable to the instruments many of my students in a band ensemble would be playing.  Since the alphorn is limited to only playing the notes in the natural harmonic series, it is similar to brass instruments within the band (The notes of the natural harmonic series overlap, but do not exactly correspond, to notes found in the familiar chromatic scale in standard Western equal temperament).  All melodies and even harmonies must be taken from the available notes of the instruments.  Any band director could do the same thing with just about any level of students, having them create first melodies and then harmonies (trying to emulate the slow tempos and longer held out notes as in the above example, in addition to obviously not using fingerings but ) just sticking to the partials available on the brass instruments they have at hand.  I imagine this becoming both an exercise in lip flexibility, but also a world music exploration.  The connections made to this example differ, but similar instrument/style/performance technique are but a few of the directions that can be taken, with additional elements based on level of class including simple song forms, homogeneous texture, etc. 

The Ha'a

Title: Ha'a Koa (Dance of the Warrior)
Performers: US Army 25th Infantry Division Hui Ha'a
Culture or Origin:  Hawai'i, in which ha'a is  a Hawaiian term for “bent knee dance.”  However, this style has been appropriated from the very similar haka, which is from the Māori people, the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Orchestration:  Rhythmic vocalizations, along with the use of slapping thighs and chest, and stomping the ground (corpophones).


This week I decided to share with all of you a video that I used for a recent lesson plan assignment in my Musics of the World class through University of Florida.  I wanted to share it with a larger audience due to its relevance to this week's class discussion.  Before we even got into this week where we have been engaged in the topic of musical authenticity as a class and in our readings in its use for music education, I included probing questions into this lesson plan for students along the line of "Is this kind of cultural appropriation acceptable or not? Why?"  Granted, this was not mentioning the exact word of authenticity, but the implications that that issue might be brought up within conversation and replies to these guiding questions is very clear.  Here you have a form, that has been transferred from one culture to another, and than assimilated into use within yet another cultural context.  When looking at this through the eyes of the four authenticity models that Koops (2010) discusses: the continuum model; the twofold historical/personal model; the threefold reproduction, reality, and relevance model; and the moving-beyond authenticity model, it poses interesting questions.

In relation to the continuum model, is the ha'a already changed to much, since the ha'a is an appropriated version of the haka from another culture, or is the fact it is widely accepted negate this aspect?  Then we have our military using it, but in native Hawaiian, and in much the same purpose as the original intent of the ha'a.  On the surface it would seem it would be close to authentic on the continuum, but it is not being performed by entirely native Hawaiians (though it was designed by US soldiers that were Hawaiian).  I think this points out some of the major flaws in the continuum model, it is very subjective as to what changes may be acceptable and which ones are not.  Moving on to the historical/personal model, because this is a relatively new ha'a, it certainly cannot be considered historical, but in it's performance there are numerous elements of authentic performance from the movement to the language (unless of course you disregard all of it because it's not a Māori haka).  Once again, it's hard to judge if this is authentically viable, due to the criteria set forth by the model.

Getting into the threefold reproduction, reality, and relevance model, I think that this is where this performance hits the mark.  Though not an exact reproduction of a previously existing ha'a, it is realistic in that it is used in much the same way as other ha'a, and the relevance in that the lyrics (see a video showing the lyrics and their meaning here) are directly tied to the group that does the performing and the organization it is meant to represent.  Within this model, this example shows something to strive for within music education.  Yes, it is new(ish) but if we can get our students to experience something that provides this much realism and relevance, and taking into account the cultural factors that connect this performance to other ha'a as in the final moving-beyond authenticity model in which contextual factors (examining question like "How was the music produced? For whom? By whom? In what context? For what purpose? With what influences?"[Koops, 2010, p. 26]) are key. 




Reference:

Koops, L.  (2010).  ''Can't We Just Change the Words?'': The Role of Authenticity in Culturally   Informed Music Education.  Music Educators Journal, 97 (23), 23-28. 

Singing Bowls

Title- unknown (though it is likely there is not a title at all)
Performer- single individual unknown
Culture or Origin- exact location unknown, though they came to prominence throughout the Himalayas, in Tibet and Nepal
Singing Bowls (sometimes referred to as Tibetan Singing Bowls, rin gongs, Himalayan bowls or suzu gongs,

I originally came across this example because recently I went to a Shaolin Warrior show, with lots of interesting music in the background, and I could have sworn I heard something like this during the highly programmatic performance.  After doing a little digging, I discovered these "singing bowls" are used for meditation today, though before they were probably also used ritualistically (for ceremonial purposes in addition to meditation) and possibly as common usage as normal bowls to eat out of when not in use for the aforementioned criteria.  There are inconclusive references in ancient carvings of their usage in these cultures, but it is impossible to tell how much is based in truth, and now I wonder if we are actually using it today in the manner intended.  I find this interesting in that the context for the structure of how a "piece" would/should be constructed is largely lost (it's not used in ceremonial ways today as far as I can tell), and now it has been made to function purely in this meditative fashion.  The vibrations of sound they make are meant to help heal and cleanse one's spirit.  This context dictates much about the structure from not having too many bowls "singing" or sounding at the same time to achieve the desired meditative state, to also establishing relative quiet throughout the "performance."  This just proves that for certain styles, form and structure of "music" is often entirely dependent on cultural decisions, interpretations, and the evolution of those same factors, which to me is quite fascinating!

Kailao

Title- Kailao
Performers- Amadinda Percussion
Culture or Origin- Polynesian island chain (in the pacific) of Tonga
Orchestration- numerous membranophones- nafa (drums)

This is an example of Tongan drumming.  Specifically the Kailao, or traditional war dance.  Though this is just an example of the music itself, without the dancing, In this music, the men, bearing stylized clubs (pate kailao), dance in a fierce manner that emulates fighting, all to the accompaniment of a beaten slit drum or a tin box, which sets the tempo. These are not the traditional slit drums, which would be more akin to idiophones, but a more modern usage of membranophones to which this dance has started to use in the 20th century.  Unlike most other Tongan dances, the Kailao is performed without singing.  Though this is true for this video, you will notice at numerous points shouting, which would be indicative of the fierce warrior shouting, which in turn leads me to my next point.  The sequences of movements to be performed by the group are called by the lead dancer (often with this similar style of shouting as previously mentioned), who will give the name of the sequence, then will signal when to do it. The sequences can involve mock combat between dancers, changes in formation, and tricks involving the pate kailao themselves. The dance displays the dancers' discipline, obedience and skill with their weapon.  Obviously the use of instrument classification systems in this example already proved useful, helping illustrate my point about how the instruments have changed over time in this style.  If I had just said drums, the change would not have been nearly so understandable, or definable.   

Hawaiian hula

I am starting  this new blog for my World Music class at UF, in which we are to do free listening of different cultural music to help expand our personal soundscapes.  I decided to start with something that is both going to be possibly related to the specific topic I have chosen to explore further within this course and something that holds particular interest to me currently, given that I currently live on O'ahu; hula. 

Title: Kawaili'ula
Performers: Kuma Hula
Culture or Origin:  Traditional Hula style from Hawai'i, though traditional hula is influenced by many Polynesian cultures that settled on Hawai'i.
Orchestration:  Singing, Pahu drums, and kilu/puniu

Many interesting things are happening in this selection.  First is the Pahu drums, which dictate the dance and rhythm to the rest of the performers, typically performed by the "master" leading the hula.  Then you have the kilu, which is made out of a half coconut and covered with animal skin—usually that of the kala fish, that typically accompanies the Pahu drums.  We also see movement, that is directly tied to the "lyrics" of the hula, that matches (symbolically) the descriptive text.  Much meaning is attached to correct performance of both movement and tonal pitches used by the singers/chanters.  Through proper performance, a semi state of transcendence takes place that helps to connect the performer with the past, the main topic of most hula.  An oral history tradition of both the performance and that state of their ancestors is usually present in hula.  Without at least a little bit of background knowledge through either explanation or research, this selection would be very strange and foreign.  Thus the study of ethnomusicology is essential to any "outsider" learning how to conceptualize this music/dance.  Through study, pedagogy is developed to enhance the learning for those that wish it, and the local population is typically very amiable to this.  They view it as a sign of respect for their culture.  There is a large military population on Hawai'i, and through this learning bridges are formed that help connect peoples together, through both ideals of contextualism and universalism.  To help maintain a healthy degree of mutual cooperation and understanding, this is very necessary so that both sides came come together, instead of remain apart.  I know that I personally have a much greater appreciation, understanding, and connection to hula after having been introduced to the basics both through explanation and simple practice during luaus (a party/feast, with entertainment).