Unit 2: Puoro

Writer: Gayle Dowsett

How to use this unit

Unit 2 is for middle secondary students, levels 2–3. The focus is on the discipline of puoro. It includes a term planner and questions, information and activities for the classroom which relate to Māui – One man against the gods.

View the Term planner for Puoro: Māui – One man against the gods (Word Document – 163KB)

Questions for the classroom

Introduction

Music is another layer within the production that allows the atmosphere and the ambience of the scene to be felt.

• To show the strength and power of a compositional score, get the students to watch a scene from Māui with the sound muted.

• Ask what they felt about the scene, and if it had any impact on them. (Was it boring, powerful etc?) Next time, turn the sound up and see what type of a reaction it makes.

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Use of sound

Without sound we have a greatly reduced "atmosphere" to the work.

Sound is not only aural, it can be felt through the vibration that the instruments or speakers amplifying the sound created.

• See if the students can put their hand up to a speaker and feel the energy/vibration that comes off it.

• Different pitches also create different vibrations. What is different between a bass sound and a treble sound?

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Musical leitmotifs

In Māui there are certain instruments and musical sounds that link in with different characters from the show. These are called musical leitmotifs. In Māui, all the main characters have an instrument that helps the audience identify who that character is even before we see them on stage.

• What is the taonga puoro used for Tama-nui-te-rā? (Pūtātara and pūkāea = conch shell and horn).

• Why do you think we use this instrument to help us develop Rā’s character?

• What is the taonga puoro used for Hinenuitepō? (Pūmotomoto = research what this instrument looks like, it makes an amazing sound!)

• What kind of feeling does the pūmotomoto give you when you listen to it in the Māui soundtrack?

• What instrument is used for Taranga to help us connect with her when she loses her baby boy Māui? (Kōauau).

• What type of sound does the kōauau make, and how does it make you feel when you hear it in context of Māui?

• What type of sound connects to the four winds – Ngā hau e whā? (Pūrerehua and pere pounamu).

• Why do you think the pūrerehua and pere pounamu are used when the winds are the focus of the scene?

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Group activity

• As a class, compile as many instruments as you can guess that have been used in the score of Māui. They can be ngā taonga puoro and instruments from other cultures.

• Did you like how the traditional instruments combined with instruments from other cultures?

• Find out more about Gareth Farr and Richard Nunns, and what other works they have done before? (Either in combination together or on completely different kaupapa/projects).

• Who was Richard Nunns' great playing partner in the past decade (before he passed away in 2003)? (Hirini Melbourne).

• What works have Richard and Hirini produced that have revived the use of nga taonga puoro into our modern times?

• Tanemahuta Gray and Hirini Melbourne worked on Gray's first major work in 1997. Research to see if you can find out what that piece was that they worked on together? (Te Ao Hurihuri - The Changing World: Mana Wairua – adapted from a short story by Apirana Taylor called Mana).

• Find out what other major contributions that Hirini Melbourne has made to invigorating Māori music?

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