Maori Flutes

This is a list of references related to Maori flutes that are cited throughout Flutopedia.

The references on this page are a sub-set of the complete list of Flutopedia references.

For information on the format and other details of these citations, see the main references page.

Maori Flutes

[Andersen 1933] Johannes C. Andersen. “Maori Music with its Polynesian Background: Part 6 - Polynesian Musical Instruments”, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume 43, Number 10, 1933, pages 195–252. See the Journal of the Polynesian Society web site

[Dashper 1996] Mark Dashper. He Nguru, He Koauau: A User's Guide to Maori Flutes, 40 pages, ISBN 0-9583545-0-2 (978-0-9583545-0-9).

[Dodge-ES 1945] Ernest S. Dodge. “The Acoustics of Three Maori Flutes”, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume 54, Number 1, published by the Polynesian Society, March 1945, pages 39–61. Publication 20702995 on JSTOR (subscription access).

[Edge-Partington 1903] J. Edge-Partington. “A New Zealand Flageolet”, Man - A Monthly Record of Anthropological Science, Volume 3, Number 106, published by Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1903, page 186.

[Flintoff 2004] Brian Flintoff. Taonga Pūoro / Singing Treasures — The Musical Instruments of the Māori, published by Craig Potton, Nelson, New Zealand, 2004, 132 pages, ISBN-13 978-1-877333-14-9

Publisher's description: Taonga Puoro: Singing Treasures is the first book to be published that comprehensively covers the world of Maori musical instruments, a fascinating and little-known area of traditional Maori culture.

Written by master carver and Maori instrument-maker Brian Flintoff, Taonga Puoro includes a background to the tunes played on these instruments and the families of natural sounds with which they are associated. There are sections covering the varous types of instruments, such as flutes, gourds, wood and shell trumpets and bullroarers; but what really breathes life into this book is the way that the technical information about each instrument is interwoven with the mythological and cultural context to which it belongs.

In addition, instructions are given for making and playing these singing treasures, as well as an explanation to help understand Maori art forms. Taonga Puoro is illustrated with colour photographs of exquisite contemporary instruments as well as ancient taonga held in museums around the world.

Taonga Puoro comes with a CD sampler, compiled from a selection of recent releases and featuring tracks of contemporary Maori music and the natural sounds which inspire it.

[Freedman 1962] Sam Freedman. Māori Melodies — 33 Recorded Songs from the Polynesians of New Zealand, published by Criterion Music, 1962, 36 pages.

[Hamilton-A 1896] Augustus Hamilton. The Art Workmanship of the Maori Race in New Zealand: A Series of Illustrations from Specially Taken Photographs, with Descriptive Notes and Essays on the Canoes, Habitations, Weapons, Ornaments, and Dress of the Maoris, Together with Lists of Words in the Maori Language Used in Relation to the Subjects, Volumes 1-5, published by Fergusson & Mitchell, 1896, 438 pages. Publication cu31924029890153 on Archive.org (open access).

[Mair 1895] Gilbert Mair. “The Ancient Tribe Te Panenehu”, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, Volume 28, published by Royal Society of New Zealand, 1895, pages 36–40.

Two citations: Pokarekare Ana - Sheet Music for Native American Flute (2)

Introduction: The following account of an ancient tribe called Te Panenehu, the descendants of a chief named Ngatorohaka, who came in the Nukutere canoe from Hawaiki, was given to me by an old man of the Whakatohea and Ngapotiki Tribes at the hearing of the Whitikau Block, Opotiki, 1880.

[Marstine 2012] Janet C. Marstine. Routledge Companion to Museum Ethics, published by Routledge, 2012, 512 pages, ISBN 1-136-71526-6 (978-1-136-71526-6).

Publisher's description: Routledge Companion to Museum Ethics is a theoretically informed reconceptualization of museum ethics discourse as a dynamic social practice central to the project of creating change in the museum. Through twenty-seven chapters by an international and interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners it explores contemporary museum ethics as an opportunity for growth, rather than a burden of compliance. The volume represents diverse strands in museum activity from exhibitions to marketing, as ethics is embedded in all areas of the museum sector. What the contributions share is an understanding of the contingent nature of museum ethics in the twenty-first century—its relations with complex economic, social, political and technological forces and its fluid ever-shifting sensibility.

[McLean 1964] Mervyn McLean. “Can Maori Chant Survive?”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 47, June 1964, pages 34–36.

Introduction: In almost every tribal area the traditional songs or waiata of the Maori people are now being heard less and less, and competent performers are becoming fewer. One is constantly told, ‘When the old people were alive it was different, but now there's hardly anyone left.’

At tangis and huis it sometimes happens that none of the old songs is performed at all, and it is left for action songs to fill the gap.

Why should this be so? And can anything be done about it?

This article will examine some of the reasons for the current decline of the traditional songs, and will try to suggest remedies. At the conclusion of the article, new means will be described which are becoming available to aid the revival of the songs.

That the songs are worth saving there can be no doubt. Their literary merit has been attested again and again. And it is beginning to be realised also that their musical merit is just as great.

[McLean 1964a] Mervyn McLean. “The Music of Maori Chant”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 47, June 1964, pages 36–38.

[McLean 1964b] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part One”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 48, September 1964, pages 23–29.

[McLean 1964c] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Two”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 49, November 1964, pages 35–39.

[McLean 1965] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Four”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 51, June 1965, pages 23–27.

[McLean 1965a] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Five”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 52, September 1965, pages 40–41.

[McLean 1965b] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Six”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 53, December 1965, pages 39–40.

[McLean 1966] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Seven”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 54, March 1966, pages 22–23.

[McLean 1966a] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Eight”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 55, June 1966, pages 16–18.

[McLean 1966b] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Nine”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 56, September 1966, pages 40–43.

[McLean 1966c] Mervyn McLean. “Transcriptions of Authentic Maori Chant, Part Ten”, Te Ao Hou - The New World, Number 57, December 1966, pages 23–25.

[McLean 1968] Mervyn McLean. “An Investigation of the Open Tube Maori Flute or Kooauau”, The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume 77, Number 3, published by Polynesian Society, September 1968, pages 213–241. Publication 20704559 on JSTOR (subscription access).

Introduction: The kooauau is an instrument of the flute family made of wood or bone. Usually, kooauau are 5 to 6 inches long (12 to 15 cm.); most have three finger holes and all are open at both ends. When not in use, the instruments were often worn around the neck as an ornament and most accordingly have provision for suspension. In the wooden instruments the suspension hole is usually bored through a bulge on the back and in the bone instru ments it is bored close to one end. The wooden instruments are often elaborately carved and about a third of the bone instruments are decorated with incised lines.

[McLean 1974] Mervyn McLean. “The New Zealand Nose Flute: Fact or Fallacy?”, The Galpin Society Journal, Volume 27, May 1974, pages 79–94. Publication 841755 on JSTOR (subscription access).

[McLean 1982] Mervyn McLean. “A Chronological and Geographical Sequence of Maori Flute Scales”, Man, New Series, Volume 17, Number 1, published by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, March 1982, pages 123–157. Publication 2802105 on JSTOR (subscription access).

Abstract: Three populations of Maori flutes are examined, two of which can be dated archaeologically. They are: thirteen albatross-bone flutes from coastal sites in the South Island; eighteen stone flutes, mostly from a single site at Oruarangi in the North Island; and 110 made from wood, human bone, and ivory from ethnographic collections. A scale chronology and pattern of areal dispersion arrived at on musical grounds is matched with archaeological and ethnographic evidence.

[McLean 1996] Mervyn McLean. Maori Music, published by Auckland University Press, 1996, 418 pages, ISBN 1-86940-144-1 (978-1-86940-144-3).

Publisher's description: Maori music records and analyses ancient Maori musical tradition and knowledge, and explores the impact of European music on this tradition. Mervyn McLean draws on diverse written and oral sources gathered over more than 30 years of scholarship and field work that yielded some 1300 recorded songs, hundreds of pages of interviews with singers, and numerous eye-witness accounts. The work is illustrated throughout with photos and music examples.

[Nunns 2004] Richard Nunns. “Te Ara Puoro: The Pathway of Sound — An Introduction to Traditional Instruments of the Maori”, Voice of the Wind, Year 2004, Volume 3, published by the International Native American Flute Association, Suffolk, Virginia, 2004, pages 5–7.

[Tapsell 1997] Paul Tapsell. “The Flight of Pareraututu: An Investigation of Taonga from a Tribal Perspective”, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume 106, Number 4, 1997, pages 323–374. See the Journal of the Polynesian Society web site

[Tapsell 2012] Paul Tapsell. “"Aroha mai: Whose Museum?" — The Rise of Indigenous Ethics within Museum Contexts: A Maori-Tribal Perspective”, contained in [Marstine 2012], 2012.