TRANSCRIPTIONS OF AUTHENTIC MAORI CHANT part one by Mervyn McLean The editor would like it known that to avoid any appearance of commercialising the songs, Mr McLean has declined to accept payment for his work in preparing this series. As promised in the last issue, this is the first of a series of transcriptions in musical notation, of traditional Maori chant. Most of the recordings from which the transcriptions are being prepared were made with the help of a grant from the University Grants Committee during a series of field trips over the past two years. All of the recordings used have been fully released by the performers.

Performances by Acknowledged Experts The songs transcribed are not only authentic examples of their kind but the performances are authoritative ones by acknowledged experts. The transcriptions in this issue, for example, are of songs recorded for the writer by Turau and Marata Te Tomo at Mokai on 10th September 1962. Turau Te Tomo belongs to Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Tuwharetoa tribes and his wife Marata belongs to Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Maniapoto tribes. As a singing team they have few equals. Between them they have recorded over 50 songs for the writer. Of the songs which follow, ‘E Pa To Hau’ is a waiata or sung type of chant and the ‘Wairangi Haka’ is recited.

Varied Repetition of Basic Melody In common with other waiata, ‘E Pa To Hau’ uses as a formal principle the varied repetition of a basic melody. The transcription is so arranged that each repetition of the basic melody fills one line of manuscript. This makes it easy to see correspondences between lines. The beat is not regular' as in most European music but is organised sometimes in units two quavers long, sometimes in units of three quavers. Great care should be taken when reading the transcription that a two is not inadvertently read for a three or vice versa. The note D in this version is decidedly variable in pitch, sometimes appearing as D-flat, sometimes D-natural and sometimes in between. In seems likely that it was intended to be flat throughout. Since there is no melodic organization in the haka it has been transcribed as a series of rhythm patterns only, without any attempt to show pitch beyond the occasional use of arrows to show upward inflection of the voice.

Great Uniformity Between Versions The haka has been given in two versions to illustrate the great uniformity that exists between versions when a song is well sung or recited. The only real differences to be seen

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