music had been overlooked. In the Preface to part 1, Ngata expressly pointed out that ‘there can be no proper rendering of Maori songs without capturing the air’. Only since the advent of the tape recorder, however, has it been possible either to record a sufficient number of melodies for study or to undertake the much more difficult task of devising a notation that could handle the material.

AESTHETIC VALUE Before going on to discuss the style of Maori chant it may be worthwhile to say a word or two about the aesthetic value of the songs. That the songs have great merit from a literary point of view is well attested by Sir Apirana Ngata and others. That they have equal value musically is not so widely recognised. From the start it ought to be made clear that judgements of musically untrained persons about the so-called ‘monotony’ of Maori chant should be disregarded. Such judgements are made in terms of Western culture whose values are quite different from those of Maori chant. They form no more valid a means of comparison than would (say) Chinese music or Japanese music, both highly developed forms in their own right but virtually incomprehensible to most untrained Western listeners. As the conclusions which follow will demonstrate, Maori music was, and in its traditional form is, an advanced form of music with its own rules and its own values.

SONG TYPES The classification traditionally adopted for the chants is one of function, with most of the finer points literary rather than musical in nature. The tangi (or lament) for example, can be sub-classified as a song of grief, sorrow, longing, self-pity, regret, etc., depending on context. This is quite fully treated by Sir Apirana Ngata in the Prefaces to parts 1 and 2 of ‘Nga Moteatea’. Musically, it is possible to put each type of chant into one of two broad groups according to whether it is sung or recited. Amongst the sung types of chant are the waiata of all kinds including the Tangi, Waiata aroha (love long), and Waiata whaiaipo (sweetheart song); the Oriori (lullaby) and the Pao (entertainment song). The recited songs include the Patere (historical or genealogical tour), Whakaaraara pa (watch song), Kaioraora (abusive song), Tauparapara (recitation before speaking) and Karakia (incantation). In addition to these there exist a few others perhaps best described as semi-sung. Notable amongst these is the Karanga which is the generic name for the calls of all kinds performed by women on the marae. It includes Powhiri (greeting calls) and Poroporoaki (farewell calls). The sung type of chant differs from the recited in the following ways— (1) It is melodically organised. That is to say, it has a recognisable air made up of notes definite enough in pitch to be capable of arrangement in the form of a scale. Rises and falls of pitch may become established in some recited songs but they cannot be arranged in scale form. (2) The melody of sung items can be melismatic, i.e. more than one note can be sung per syllable. Recited songs by contrast are always syllabic and melisma cannot occur. (3) Sung items nearly always have a much slower tempo than recited ones. This results both from melisma and the greater tendency to dwell upon certain notes. The latter is particularly in evidence in the ‘drags’ which are discussed later under the heading to performance. Recited songs on the other hand, particularly karakia, sometimes rattle along at tempos in excess of 300 syllables per minute. (4) The characteristics of sung items which make for slower tempo, have their effect also on metre and rhythm. For example the durational values of the notes employed in recited song tend to be fewer than those of the sung items. Often, indeed, there are only two—long and short.

PERFORMANCE Breathing. With most songs it is customary for the performer to sing without any breaks for breathing such as occur at the cadence points in European songs. When two or more people are singing this is easy to achieve since the singers concerned can take breath at different moments during the song. In the case of the solo singer however, to sing without break is impossible. It is for this reason that solo singing—except for a few song types such as the tauparapara—is not greatly favoured. A solo singer makes the best of things by singing for as long a time as possible on one breath. When he does take a breath, it may or may not be at the end of a line. It is more likely to be in the middle of a line and may even be in the middle of a word.