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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
 Posted - 05/09/2007 : 09:02:47 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Haole_Boy
You know what MPi_50, I think that is what prompted me to start this subject.
I am learning slack key and not improvising yet. Nothing original yet (working on one), no special arrangements yet, etc... just adding my own energy and temperment.
At this stage, I do want to learn versions that are close to the originals, but it ain't so easy figuring that out sometimes.
A person wishing to actually play a nearly original version has got to pay attention and even do some research. Via mele.com for instance.
This is not like classical music where a song is expected be be very close, nor would I want it to be.
Just got to pay attention I guess.
Bob
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keaka |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2007 : 09:13:51 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Haole_Boy
You know what MPi_50, I think that is what prompted me to start this subject.
I am learning slack key and not improvising yet. Nothing original yet (working on one), no special arrangements yet, etc... just adding my own energy and temperment.
At this stage, I do want to learn versions that are close to the originals, but it ain't so easy figuring that out sometimes.
A person wishing to actually play a nearly original version has got to pay attention and even do some research. Via mele.com for instance.
This is not like classical music where a song is expected be be very close, nor would I want it to be.
Just got to pay attention I guess.
Bob
IMHO, we who have been exposed to European classical music have a weird attitude about what is "right" or "wrong". It is, I believe, the only world music where everything is written down and is played by people who have prodigious memories, thus the attitude which leaks over into other music forms about playing "just like the orignal". Most of the other music forms I have encountered involve some improvisation around a commonly accepted melody, learned by ear from someone who plays it and is willing to show how it's played, or from watching someone, going into a corner and figuring it out. In jazz, for instance, one starts out by copying a hero and then, as one progresses, finds one's own way to play the tune. The same is true for Hawaiian music, except you have to find out for yourself. Matin Pahinui, in the liner notes to "Ho'olohe", says that Gabby didn't teach him anything. He expected Martin to pick it up by listening and trying it out for himself. My advice is "Don't worry. Just plug along until what you're playing makes you happy. If someone tells you that what you are playing isn't right, that's their problem, not yours." |
keaka |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2007 : 2:53:31 PM
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Aloha, all. Back from our "Hele fo' da Mele" on O'ahu. You can probably tell from what I am going to say that I am not a guitar picker...but I thought "slack key" is a method of playing guitar -- the physical mechanics thereof. The traditionalism comes from the mele themselves in my opinion. Plenty good, true to form mele are sung without accompanying musical instrumentation other than ipu, etc. Many are sung with guitar and/or `ukulele in standard tuning; and plenty more are played slack key style. No different in my hillbilly culture...old time traditional mountain songs have no resemblance whatsoever to why is called "country" music nowadays. Not a single traditional mountain thing about them -- they are more rock & roll, if you ask me. Just because some Dixie Chicks make music and it is called country doesn't mean that I get freaked out because it is not true to the purest forms of mountain music. They can call it whatever they like..I do not care...but I do know what is traditional and what is not and make my choice in music purchases based on what I want. Frankly, a mistake is what led me to Hawaiian music to begin with. I had read Michener's "Hawai`i" and in it, he talked about "slack key" guitar. I had no idea what that was and went on amazon.com to listen to samples. The first hit I got on the search was Bruddah Iz. I didn't know it was not slack key, but I instantly fell in love with the voice. And, the rest, my friends, is what they call history.
1. Learn the history of your choice of music.
2. Read, read, read, read.
3. Listen to the traditional, true-to-form music. Over and over and over and over.
4. Play what you want in whatever style you want.
To record the traditions is very important. I do believe that is why Eddie Kamae started the Hawaiian Legacy Foundation. If you have a few bucks floating around without a home, that would be a good place to send them to...to help defray the costs of documenting the history. Eddie's films have made a great start in documenting the history. I just hope whoever documents the Hawaiian traditional music does not rip off the songs/cheat the artists like the Lomax family did.
Like Eddie said in one of his flims, Kawena Pukui told him "himeni..just himeni." That is how to preserve the traditions. Nothing wrong with improvising, changing, evolving as long as you go to the kumu.
Aloha,
Wanda |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2007 : 05:14:07 AM
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In jazz, most improvisors will start with a couple times through 'The Head', or the actual melody of the piece. Then, each soloist takes turns improvising over the chord changes. At the end, they generally play the head one or two times, and end at that point. The beginning and end allow the listener to know what the composer had originally written, while letting the musicians take the song as far as they individually wished. This would work with slack key and hawaiian music, the concept created Bluegrass from Old Time Music. I guess the sticky part is finding the original versions of the melodies.Some of them were probably lost before the era of electronic recording began. What we think of as 'real' or 'correct' now, may not be how some songs were performed by their composers. This is true in Old Time, where variations of the same songs come from different sources, somtimes from different regions. We can't stop what's already gone, and change is always a part of the folk process,but we should try to be aware of, and perpetuate, what we know to have come before us. If I typed better, I coud get long winded. Y'all are lucky I can't type, this is one of my favorite pet peeves!
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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