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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
 Posted - 11/16/2007 : 12:44:36 PM
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I have wrenches in all those sizes, but they don't help me dance any. Actually, I'm not sure I could play some of those tmes, let alone dance them.
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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Hula Rider
Lokahi
USA
215 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2007 : 2:38:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by rendesvous1840
I have wrenches in all those sizes, but they don't help me dance any. Actually, I'm not sure I could play some of those tmes, let alone dance them.
Paul
You are too funny!
I think basically what happened is that Hawaiin Time (in more areas than music!) is not necessarily the same as Western Time, so sometimes we are trying to force a time signature that doesn't reeeeeeeeeealllly match.
Kinda like when my husband grabs my metric tools to work on his Harley, or if I were to grab his SAE set to work on my Suzuki!
But I don't think you'll need to worry about trying to play them - a lot of those beats are pretty much only in some rather esoteric kahiko pieces.
I just mentioned them because so many people seem to think that if it ain't 4/4, it ain't hula.
Hula actually is quite varied, with distinct differences between regions, families, eras, purposes, etc. I've been studying hula for over 40 years - almost my entire life - and have only begun to scratch the surface. Aunty Nona and her daughter Maile have documented over 300 distinct types of hula.
http://www.hulapreservation.org/
I actually learned to dance 3/4 time hula from Aunty Nona.
There is one thing that is consistant:
Throughout all of the styles, however, there is one defining characteristic - hula is storytelling. Without the story, there is no hula. Within each style of hula there is a vocabulary of motion which is consistent within that style. An educated hula dancer can see another dancer and tell the genealogy, the lineal decent from teacher to teacher, of the dancer by his or her "accent" in the movements.
As Kaeppler says, in Hula Pahu, Volume I, Ha`a and Hula Pahu, "The movement systems were part of the underlying structure of Hawaiian society, while the movements themselves were surface manifestations of human action and interaction in specific contexts. A sequence of movement motifs is given meaning through choreography, but the movement dimension is only one component of a larger social activity that must be understood as a whole if one is to understand what or how movement communicates in a particular instance. Meaning is conveyed through cultural conventions that deal with human movement in time and space."
http://www.kaahelehawaii.com/pages/hula.htm
Or, to quote Aunty Nona more succinct explaination, "DAHling! If there is no STOry, there is no HUla!"
But, really, the IMPORTANT thing is, whatever time signature you dance in, KEEP DANCING, for, as Ka Lani Kawika Kalakaua said "Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people."
Malama pono,
Leilehua
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 6:40:56 PM
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Mahalo nui loa for sharing what took you a lot of listening and study to learn. I have two left feet, and they're both messed up But I believe an understanding of hula is foundational to playing the mele that are associated with hula. And so much of the Ki Ho'Alu mele are rooted in hula, I'm sure to separate them would be culturally wrong. Of course chant plays a large role also,and each of the three must be considered as necessary to understanding each other.
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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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 10:16:59 PM
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| Which came first the chicken or the egg? Does chant precede hula or did hula require chant. Modern Hawaiian music ie. Western influenced scales and theory and the songs derived from that don't necessarily require hula. Post contact music can stand alone without a dance interpretation. Kiho'alu stylings in the beginning maybe did not follow melodies of specific songs but was merely an accompaniment to a singer's voice which sang the melody of a song. The hula traditions are based in a protocol that was guided by spiritual principles derived from stories about the gods and godesses of Hawaii. Kiho'alu whose origins are rather obscure can't make such a claim. The songs and the melodies preceded kiho'alu and could have been performed without a guitar being included in the production. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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Hula Rider
Lokahi
USA
215 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2007 : 10:32:30 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by rendesvous1840
Mahalo nui loa for sharing what took you a lot of listening and study to learn. I have two left feet, and they're both messed up But I believe an understanding of hula is foundational to playing the mele that are associated with hula. And so much of the Ki Ho'Alu mele are rooted in hula, I'm sure to separate them would be culturally wrong. Of course chant plays a large role also,and each of the three must be considered as necessary to understanding each other.
Paul
You are most welcome! I always enjoy a good opportunity to be didactic! :-)
Noe`au also makes very important points as well, in that there is a chicken/egg situation in the chant/hula synergy, as well as in the kiho`alu/hula synergy.
I think that is one of the great things about venues like this, where we can share and compare notes, and get feedback from people like Sam Li`a' relative. Some mele and some oli were never intended to be danced, some were. Some ancient hula chants have been adapted to modern melodies. It is such a HUGE body of knowledge.
Anyway, I found the quote I was looking for in Elizabeth Tatar's Hula Pahu "It is more important for the chanter and drummer to define the textual phrases than to maintain precisely timed drumbeat patterns. The text defines the drumbeat phrases . . . The text also seems to determine the tempo of the chant. For example, the transitions in "Kaulilua" at the end of the phrase are generally slower than the beginnings of a new verse. This is true for all the chanters."
Tatar studied spectrum analyses of mele hula pahu and in her analysis states, "the form of the transcription is based on conventional Western notation adapted to the characteristics of traditional Hawaiian chanting and drumming. Time ratios are approximate."
Now, picking up on No`eau's comment, I want to point out that my training, that "if there is no story, there is no hula" goes out the window in the case of ha`a and certain hula pahu. In some specific cases, the drumming, itself, is the important thing, and the dance does not tell a story, but expresses a pattern of movement motifs which basically are a visual representation of the drumbeats. I would categorize these as ha`a, not as hula.
As far as time signatiures for hula go: If a dancer studied ONLY 4/4 hula, he or she would need several lifetimes to learn them all, so it does not surprise me that many people dance only the 4/4 hula.
So, I think all of this boils down to: Do exactly what you are doing - learn as much as possible about each song/hula and perform it in a fashion that honors it's composer while expressing your own relationship to the mele.
Malama pono,
Leilehua |
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