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cmdrpiffle
`Olu`olu
USA
553 Posts |
 Posted - 03/05/2003 : 11:58:47 PM
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Greetings all,
Okay, I kinda agree with Craig, but not completely. Slack Key I believe, and this is just me....is a style. I recognize that the mere name implies you loosen the strings.....but you don't have to. Again, it is a style, you hear it, and you KNOW what you're listening to.
To quote Bob Brozman or at least to paraphrase...Open
G tuning was adapted by many cultures, including Hawaiian, as it is inherently easier to learn and memorize than European standard tuning.
As a result, many cultural groups, "made it their own", including
African mambe players, American Southern bluesmen, (delta blues) and Hawaiians, to name a few.
One of the icons of fingerstyle guitar, Chet Atkins did a slack key piece titled 'Winds'. It was released as a companion song for a Christmas album sometimein the mid sixties. The tuning was dropped D. Or, standard, with the low E down 2 steps to a D. If any of you have heard this or his other slack key work, it's slack key. No ifs ands or buts.
It depends far more on the feeling of the piece, and not the tuning...again, in my opinion.
Learning the open G fingerboard was surely a breeze compared to the standard tuning I was taught so many years ago. After all, there are only 3 notes, how hard can it be?
Boy, was I ever wrong. I was so smug when I nailed, and I mean after more than a years practice of Bach's Cello Suite #1, Prelude, arranged for guitar. Big deal.
Then I heard Andy and Dusty's pieces' playing on streamlink, and I think to myself........I wish I could do that. Its about the feeling.
My point? It is the feeling that the artist playing puts into it.
The folks on this site that I've been fortunate enough to hear play, have that feeling. Julie, you are so not forgotten. Hula, Singing, Ukelele, and a little guitar! Wish your schedule would have allowed you more time. Next time Sista!
We keep our cherished slacked strings as a sign of being different, being unique.
That is a beautiful thing. It is surely the standard, and the easiest way to navigate the style we all love. But there are many masters out there who have the ability to give us chickenskin in whatever form or tuning suits them. Another example. Cyril Pahinui.
Listen to the beautiful and lilting 'Sanoe'. Check out his tuning.
Half folk-DADGAD, and half standard EADGBE, with an F# thrown in to confuse the mix. He pulls it off so very well.
Okay, the Commander is stepping off his soapbox now. 2 things, cause its my computer and I can type anything I want.
John. Beautiful my friend. So very glad Keola gave you the go ahead to post it.
Craig. Is anyone ever gonna guess who that picture is of? I must let you all know that the picture is of my Great Great Grandfather, Bafilonius P Piffle, twice decorated. Sorry Craig, the secrets out... |
my Poodle is smarter than your honor student |
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Stacey
Lokahi
USA
169 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2003 : 12:47:24 AM
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Aloha!
Interesting topic! Thanks!
2 of my bruddahs-in-law (I have 8) are Excellent Guitarists and I've been getting them into slack key. When they tuned their guitars to Taro Patch they were surprised that it is just "Standard Open G Tuning". They had played in Open G before, but never associated it with Hawai'ian Music and therefore came up with a totally different sound and style. So, yes, I think it is more than the tunings, it's the Aloha, the Style and the Spirit.
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2003 : 01:26:19 AM
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I'm not in a very belligerant mood these days -- my energy is more into overlearning 50 minutes of playing for a Cd I'm working on --
so -- I do gotta add my $0.02 on the side of feeling. Technical stuff never really defines any style when it comes to the creative edge of things. You learn your techniques and "forget them" to play music from the heart. That said, I also think that the open strigs are very important to the slack key sound -- without those open strings you gotta be John Williams or Sharon Isbin to get that kind of deep resonance -- and that seems to me to be a big part of the nahenahe.
---- OOO, that plate lunch stuff does inspire -- hmm, would friend sand dabs, artichoke and 2 scoops of rice count as a "Kaliponi Plate"
Raymond
San Jose |
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Mainkaukau
Lokahi
USA
245 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2003 : 03:33:54 AM
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| All this food writing is making me drool on my guitar. Slack-Key will never die although I do wonder who will keep Hawaii's "Okazu-ya" takeout plate lunch places alive. They are disappearing slowly but surely. I can count um all on my fingers and toes. I hope I will never need to miss them. |
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Pauline Leland
`Olu`olu
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2003 : 11:59:30 AM
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When I first heard slack key, probably some from Keola Beamer's site and the long sound clips Aunty Maria provides on mele.com, the feeling, the picture they described is what grabbed me. They plopped me right down on a sandy beach with a breeze blowing, the surf pounding and people relaxing. They were all tone poems describing the same place, using different words, but all speaking in the same language.
Let me really stretch that analogy. The technical aspects are important because they are the vocabulary and grammar of the language, but the content of what is said, that's the feeling. If you try to express that feeling in another language/set of techniques it won't be the same but the message may get across. If you have something else to say in that language, it won't be slack key at all. It may be blues or Celtic or so on. OK, I think I just stretched it beyond the breaking point. |
Pauline |
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cdyas
Akahai
67 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2003 : 12:15:04 PM
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Plate Lunch Dreams-sounds like a song (nahenahe of course)
Maybe...
Mix plate of grilled mahi, teri-beef and sweet sour pork... and one strawberry slush float.
Or
Lau Lau Plate with side order tripe stew and raw crab....oh, and one aku poki.
Or
Huli Huli chicken on Makaha Beach.
So much food so little time gotta go eat.
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2003 : 1:45:21 PM
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It's all Fran's fault...his Saimin Slack Key song on SoundClick put the subconscious thought of Hawaiian food into everyone's mind!
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Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
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Peter Medeiros
`Olu`olu
546 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2003 : 03:31:58 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Admin
I've heard several Hawaiian music recording artists say that there is more slack key on the mainland today than there is in the islands. I'd like to open this topic for discussion and would like to hear what Peter Medeiros or those in Maui (Waihee Valley crew) think versus those on the mainland. For example, what is the general health of this tradition in its homeland?
Hello Andy and company,
I meant to reply earlier, but it has just been a busy week and I couldn't find the time to sit down and write. I believe that the general health of slack key in Hawaii is pretty good. There are now more opportunities to learn how to play than at any other time in history on an institutional level as well as through an entrepeneurial level. Furthermore, on the political level, as a direct result of the of the Hawaiian Renaissance (c. 1970-1980), both the local and state governments recognize slack key as an important part of the musical fabric that makes Hawaii unique. Candidates for mayor and governor frequently use local slack key artist for entertainment in their campaigning. In addition, there are also many private guitar instructors who, amongst their offerings of styles to teach a beginner or intermediate player, will teach slack key, although they are more generalist in their approach.
The aspect that deals with entertainment specifically featuring slack key in a public performance or in a night club, or recording is what is seriously missing from the recording, broadcast and entertainment scene. And I think this is what is being mourned so to speak. The population of our state on a good day is about 1.4 million people, or about the population of a mid sized city. The entertainment and recording market in Hawaii is very fragmented, and there is not a large enough segment of people with disposable income who will put out the money on a consistent basis to support a great player, like Gabby or Sonny -- even they had their day jobs with the City and County. Nowadays, most players don't have agents so they are out of the loop. And because they are out of the loop they cannot break into the circuit and make a living. For the last seventeen years we have gotten a steady diet of the Hawaiian power trio made of three fat guys with ukes and a bass playing reggae or jawaiian music. Those slack key artists who are able to survive on the Waikiki entertainment circuit and there are no more than five in my estimation, play the hotels where there is usually a steady source of income, but they are not playing slack key all the time on stage, and they only work one or two days out of the week. But, I digress this is what I know that is being offered on the island of Oahu.
The State Foundation of Culture and Arts (SFCA), a branch of the Department of Accounting and General Services, oversees a Folk Arts Master Apprenticeship Program. This program was originally funded with seed money from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). It was basically, set up so that those folk arts that had been identified as being endangered (like the EPA mindset) and lost would be perpetuated using as a model the Renaissance guild type of relationship, where an acknowledged teacher of the art would pass on his/her knowledge and mentor the apprentice. The one caveat that I have with this is that the concept of a master slack key guitar player is so unHawaiian. All of the guys I know and played with were just good slack key guitarists, they may not have been able to articulate what it was they were doing, but they were damn good at whatever it was and they did not call themselves masters. The idea of a master for guitar really is more appropriate for the classical genre. Oz Kotani is an alumnus of this program, he was my apprentice from 1987-1988. He now works with my brother at SFCA in Art in Public Places Program. He was the only student I accepted for an apprenticeship, and of the score or so of slack key apprentices who have gone thru the SFCA he has had the most influence in terms of perpetuating the art of slack key. The cost of the program is borne by SFCA. The apprentice does not pay anything to the instructor, the instructor receives payment nowadays of about $4000 from SFCA.
The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Music Department offers an accredited course in slack key, I am the faculty member who teaches this course, and yes I do give tests. The cost is one tuition credit or about $350 in state tuition, exchange students from out of state pay the same amount. Depending on course scheduling we may meet once a week or twice a week throughout the semester. UH's Outreach College offers a non-credit course, taught by Lance Takamiya. He was Oz's apprentice. I am not sure what the cost is but I would think its around a $100 or so for six or eight weeks.
The University of Hawaii Community Colleges also have non-credit course offerings in slack key. Ron Loo teaches at Windward CC, he has described himself as coming from the Alice Namakelua school. I think that Walter Carvalho teaches at Kapiolani CC, he really has Sonny's stuff down. The fees I think are about $150.
The City and County of Honolulu for a number of years sponsored the Gabby Pahinui and Atta Issaacs Slack Key Festival and it was run by Milton Lau, who eventually retired from the City and County to run his own production company called Hoku Productions, and it is this company that runs the slack key festivals on a number of islands. Whats kind of interesting about this is that a good number of slack key artists worked for the City and County -- Gabby, Cyril, Sonny, George Kuo, and Atta. They all supported incumbent mayors.
The Department of Parks and Recreation has a number slack key classes at different parks around the island of Oahu. Alice Namakelua taught in these classes for many years and Gabby also taught a little while. I don't know who is teaching at Parks and Rec now, but the courses are offered three or four times a year at different parks for as little as $20 for six weeks.
The State Department of Education as part of their non-credit offerings has made slack key a part of their musical curriculum at a number of different high schools. I'm not quite sure, but off the top of my head they cost about $25 or $ $50 for about eight weeks. Like Parks and Rec, classes are offered three or four times a year.
As you can see that there are more opportunities here to learn, than would be available on the mainland, and the overall interest in slack key I feel is still pretty healthy . Afterall we are the host culture. Since the the 1970's the teaching of slack key has been brought out of the family and offered usually for a price to others outside of the family. There are now several thousand people who know how to play this style and there are a lot of great players you have never heard of for a number of different reasons, who can really play and sing better than any of the artists currently out with recordings. Now, looking at the teaching aspect, and using myself as an example, I started teaching at UH in 1972, and although I took some time off, I know that I have had close to two thousand students both at UH and in the community at large. Other instructors, if they are at institutions, will be teaching at least five to ten students per class. I don't know if there are others who have had as many students, possibly Oz and maybe Lance. Ughh, I think I've used all my brain cells.
Laters,
Peter M |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2003 : 10:37:28 AM
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| Lots of really good points made in this thread. Thanks for all the info. Wow Peter, didn't mean for you to use all your brain cells but hopefully it's like "use it or you'll use it." The historical info is much appreciated and now I understand what people mean when they complain there is more slack on the mainland than in the islands. From my side, that did not seem true but you've put it in perspective. It is tough when the hotels' management, do not support slack key or even Hawaiian music. |
Andy |
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Mainkaukau
Lokahi
USA
245 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2003 : 2:09:53 PM
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Even without the commercial support of Slack-key and Hawaiian Music.
These entities are engrained in the culture and will always be around in it's purest or marketable form.
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Auntie Maria
Ha`aha`a
USA
1918 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2003 : 3:53:09 PM
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Peter, your comments were so accurate!
While the current crop of "master slack key players" which tour the mainland, get all the publicity, there are hundreds of ki ho`alu musicians here in the islands who are worthy of "star treatment" as well -- but are happy playing just for family and friends. Recording or touring just isn't something they seek, yet their playing is magnificent.
Mahalo for shining some light their way, too!
-- auntie maria |
Auntie Maria
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