Te Kaea
Te Whare Puoro Panui 19 July 2005
Kia Ora Koutou,
Well, the year is certainly progressing with quite a bit of momentum and sometimes with a little bit of backspin, but always onwards and upwards. There is a lot of exciting happenings in the world of the TP (Taonga Puoro) and it is wonderful to see that it is being more intergrated into our lives. So, to assist this, Te Whare Puoro have put together a few notes of interest to share as well as a review of a number of articles within the magazine 'Flute Focus'.
If you have any TP news that you would like to share, i.e performaces, wananga or any matters of interest, please feel free to send them to tewharepuoro@yahoo.com so that we may share them with the ever increasing whanau.
Hoping that you are all taking time to connect with the sacred sounds of your taonga puoro as they help us on our journeys of discovery.
Naku Noa,
Pania Witoko
Te Whare Puoro
Just a note to let you know what is happening in the Taonga Puoro World.
This weekend, Sat 23rd July is the Concerto competition at Hei Tiki Gallery, 17 Tyron St Rotorua, starting at 9am. It is the only Taonga Puoro Competition of its nature. The adjudicators are none other than Richard Nunns and Honomona Horo (a previous successful contestant). This competiton has been hosted by Ngawara Gordon at Hei Tiki Gallery for the past few years and has proved to be quite a platform for emerging talent. It is good to see that there are few more woman entrants this year, Ka mau te mana wahine! So if you would like to go and support the entrants and to deepen your whanuangatanga, it would be great to see you there! For further information contact Ngawara Gordon on (07) 3470888 during working hours.
The new edition of Flute Focus is especially pleasing this month with a special tribute to both Hirini Melbourne and Taonga Puoro. Feature writers for this edition are Richard Nunns, Brian Flintoff, Alexis Stills and Gillian Whitehead focussing on Taonga Puoro. The other focus of this edition is dealing with and preventing Performance Anxiety (something I definately need this weekend!) and some essential hints on control and awareness of the breath, which I have found particularly useful in my developing style of playing.
Richard has written a great informative introduction to the different varieties of wind instruments, which will be individually examined and explored in each new edition.
Also to add audio to the written word, a website, `He Ara Puoro' (Pathway of Song) features sound clips of Richard playing and describing the taonga based on their (Hirini Melbourne, Brian Flintoff & Richard Nunns) research of 30 years. This resource comes from Radio New Zealand series and can be located at http://www.radionz.co.nz/richardnunns
Brian Flintoff gives some wonderful insight into the sound variances of the different materials used for making the taonga puoro ie matai, emu bone, tutu, stone etc. Hints on playing and making a koauau, taken from his book `Singing Treasures'. A must-read book for all taonga puoro enthusiasts!
Alexa Stills and Gillian Whitehead give beautiful tales of their introduction and continuing journeys with the Taonga Puoro. Alexis gives a `flute-geeks' rough guide to playing a koauau for the generally already accomplished flutist. Alexa also makes a very interesting note about playing, `it helps to understand that the highly desirable aesthetic of our native music is emotion'. Meanwhile Gillian starts to give a tiny insight as to how she herself as a composer uses the Taonga Puoro in a classical integrative composition. Another interesting article written by Lyn Dashper, a specialised music teacher, explains her research `whether the use of these cultural artifacts is more relevant for Maori students - so they engage in their learning more effectively, and educating students of the taonga puoro (music) via tradition and technology (e-learning).
For those that do not know about this fantastic magazine, it is an international magazine specialising in flutes and wind instruments (as the title would indicate). The magazine is edited by Mary O`Brien who plays 2nd Flute and Piccolo with the Auckland Symphony and lives north of Auckland. Annual subscription is $35 + $12 (p&h) for 4 magazines. It features national and international artists, helpful hints on technique etc, it even has a problem page for flutists, to name but a few. Another valuable resource. The website is http://www.flutefocus.com.