It's Asian Pacific American
Heritage Month!
To honor this tremendous cultural heritage, today we learned about the "ipu" drum gourd and traditional Hawaiian chants and dances!
I think it is important for students to understand what traditional "mele" or Hawaiian storytelling chant looks like. The stereotypical "hula" dance we see is quite Americanized and much more importance is placed on the physical aspect of dancers rather than the story being told itself.
In music class, we have chosen to focus on the true heritage of mele and storytelling chants, using shakers and drum instruments made with natural materials, such as the "ipu" drum, which is made from a hollowed gourd and an important ceremonial aspect of Hawaiian chanting!
I showed the children some traditional Hawaiian chants on video today (look below for one of them) but we also talked about how gourds are hollowed, and I shared a small pie pumpkin that I had hollowed and taped myself this year, which produces a neat sound.
We also took a look at shakers and discussed "wearing" rhythm elements such as whale bone anklets. I don't have any bone shakers, unfortunately, but I did bring in some nut, seed and even goat-nail shakers to illustrate that point.
Worth mentioning: goats are NOT native to Hawaii and their unfortunate introduction as a species by British naval caption James Cook (in the late 1700's) has actually been very damaging for natural plant life and terrain.
Ask your child the questions below to engage them in music class conversation!
Mahalo nui loa na ho'olaule'a me la kaua!
(Thank you for celebrating with us!)
A fun and quick bumblebee chant in the two's room today! ;)
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD TODAY
1. What is the dried gourd drum in Hawaiian chanting called? An ipu.
2. Where is Hawaii? In the Pacific Ocean...you have to take a boat or a plane there!
3. Did you see a rhythm shaker today that was made with an animal's nails? What kind of shaker was it? A goat nail anklet (or bracelet).