In 2000 I was invited by Dr. Carol Scott-Kassner of Seattle to be a panel member in a session entitled Evolution of Effective Practice through a Cultural Framework at the ISME Early Childhood Music Education conference held at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She asked me because she said that I had written school music materials 'using a Kodaly base' as well as showing an interest in Maori music, and that this would have given me some 'insight into the dilemmas of bi-musicality and the cultural implications of imposing a Western culture that operates with a whole different system in terms of the role of music, the music itself, and the meaning of music, etc.'
It is true that I have produced a series of music stories for children in the early childhood age range of three to eight years, with the initial aim of assisting the Pakeha children whom I worked with in New Zealand schools, to sing in tune and in time (1). It is not that I wanted to exclude Maori and Polynesian children in my classroom resources but I knew the research that had claimed that most of these children acquire those skills through the natural process of enculturation within their own society. I also knew that more than 10% of the Pakeha (i.e.non-Maori and non-Polynesian) adult students who came to my music education lectures at the College of Education where I taught, were still having problems singing in tune. Also I was convinced that the best time to address these problems was in early childhood not later on as was the case for these adult students.
It is also true that for over twenty years I have sought to understand and promote the place of Maori music in New Zealand music education (2). This interest has been approached quite differently from developing my Kodaly and Orff inspired resources. Here I have worked under the guidance and encouragement of my Maori elders in education, often reluctantly because of my cultural shortcomings, but always with a great sense of privilege. Even though my initial interest had met with little success, eventually I found myself selected by them to represent their insights and wishes in my predominately Western European influenced educational world (3).
Perhaps I am in a good position to compare these two areas for similarities and differences from the viewpoint of providing better music education for some of the different cultural settings experienced by the children with whom I worked or whom I influenced. I felt that there were many practical experiences I could draw on, particularly to highlight differences. Many of these remained vividly in my memory because they had arisen from situations where my ignorance or lack of sensitivity had caused cultural embarrassment. I wondered if such differences implied qualitative shifts in attitude and practice, or were just differences of degree.
Some years ago I wrote a little booklet called, 'Maori Music In New Zealand Music Education' in which I discussed the terms 'autonomous' and 'heteronomous' in relation to perceiving meaning and value in music (4). Up until the Western European Renaissance, meaning and value in music, typically were found outside the music itself. Music was performed for the glory of God or to appease certain spirits or to induce desired feelings. It was in the age of Enlightenment that the idea of art for art's sake became so popular and music was explained and appreciated in terms of itself; its melodies, rhythms, harmonies, tone-colours, dynamics, forms, textures and styles. As I considered the musical world around me I saw one group of people typically attending a concert for no other reason than, for example, to hear a certain Mozart or Beethoven symphony, and another group of people for whom music was always functional - it welcomed a stranger, consoled the bereaved, articulated a protest and so on. Whereas my Pakeha friends used music in both ways, my Maori mentors told me that the music they used always served some other purpose than just its own performance. Maybe here was the starting point for my comparison.
I must be wary of oversimplifying what is essentially a very complex issue. Elements of extreme views can be found in both cultural situations. Different positions produce different advantages and disadvantages. (I was as aware of the advantages of being Maori or Polynesian in relation to learning to sing in tune during early childhood, as I was aware of the advantages of being brought up in another tradition where sight reading with voice or on an instrument allowed the performer to be involved in such a vast repertoire of different kinds of music.) I sensed that understanding another viewpoint often depends upon understanding one's own first. I felt strongly that another viewpoint can only be defined adequately by those who 'own' it. I suspected that appreciating another musical practice can often help improve the performance of the practice of the primary culture into which we have been encultured; it need not be a threat. I believed that open-mindedness to change can be affected by perceptions of equality and inequality, of superiority and inferiority.
Another influence was in my mind at the time. I was part of the organizing team for the ISME regional conference, Taonga 2001, to be held in Auckland the following year. Its focus was on the sharing of values in cultures of the Pacific and the Pacific Rim. It proposed four strands within which to organize its papers, workshops, posters and performances. These strands centred around the challenge of understanding and sharing different cultures. We asked questions like, 'What are the responsibilities of music educators in the issues of cultural preservation and renewal, crossover situations and practical performance?' Here was similar territory covered by some of the questions posed by Carol Scott-Kassner for our Kingston panel.
Subsequently, a definition of the nature of Pakeha culture came to my notice in a paper written by Michael King, the historian and biographer. It identified the content of my own Pakeha culture in a way that I had previously not realised (5). He points out that in one of his previous books, Being Pakeha, he had tried 'to help explain Pakeha New Zealanders to Maori and to themselves; and to do so in terms of their right to live in this country, practise their cultures and values and be themselves'. He noticed 'a welcome congruence of some of the inclusive qualities of tikanga Maori and taha Maori with aspects of (his) own Irish-Catholic experience'. He lists: a love of language and eloquence; similarity between tangihanga and the Irish Wake; use of song and story; and enjoyment of physical and emotional closeness.
'Culture is, in the end, the sum total of what people do to enable them to cope with reality.' King singles out three ingredients from the time of his family's occupation of land in New Zealand as particularly significant: a strong relationship with the natural world; a relationship with the literature of this country; and a relationship with Maori people. All New Zealanders, both Maori and Pakeha share national heros and heroines of both cultural groups.
Pakeha culture shares some ingredients with its largely European cultures of origin: such as the English language; the Westminster Parliamentary system; an Open Society.
King writes:
If I consider the discussions with my Maori elders over the years, remember the occasions when misunderstandings occurred from the clash of culturally different points of view, and recall the resolutions that came from the advice of my Maori and Polynesian teacher colleagues, it might be possible to identify a number of significant cultural differences. There might be sufficient data to make a judgement about the kind of difference between the music of the two cultures under consideration. This would be a case study from which I would not be entitled to generalize; it would be my story, the interaction between my associates and me. But from it I could invite others to place their experiences alongside mine and comment on what in similar situations had happened to them, and what from my experiences 'rang true' for them.
Let us consider this issue in greater depth. World history shows that most cultures have found meaning and value in art through its associations with other things. Greek, Chinese, Indian, Arabic and Medieval European civilizations claimed political, educational, ethical, cosmic or religious meaning for their music, and its value was determined in accordance with these ideas. This is still true for many present-day cultures, for example those of Indonesia and Polynesia. The notable exception to this widespread view arose out of the thought and practice of the Renaissance in sixteenth -century Western Europe. Here, meaning and value in music were seen to be determined in terms of the music itself. Of course meaning, and thereforevalue, will always be affected by the experiences and particular views of knowledge held by the individual, but this was the time par excellence for an 'art for art's sake' approach to aesthetics.
The culture that produced this autonomous view of art, in which aesthetic significance is seen to be found only within the art form itself, at the same time continued to contain within it the opposing, but longer-standing heteronomous view of meaning and value being found outside the art form. This conflict of aesthetic philosophies remains a contentious issue to the present day. For example, much contemporary popular music must be understood in terms of its sociological or commercial value rather than its purely aesthetic value. Functional music such as marches, dances, programme music and some ceremonial music will always provide the possibility for some kind of conflict.
In New Zealand society we have a Pakeha cultural tradition in which there is little awareness of its own divergent autonomous and heteronomous views. This is placed alongside a Maori culture whether pre-European or present day, in which music serves a wider function than a purely aesthetic one. For Maori it is a vehicle for achieving some other end. Even though its musical content may be firmly based in a Western European tradition - the situation with most post-colonial music performed by Maori - it is inappropriate to separate Maori music from its cultural setting - the context in which it is performed.
The conflict between these differing views of meaning in music may be paralleled in the recognition of the value of music. Pakeha society tends to be competitive, materialistic, and scientific compared with the more co-operative, leisurely and artistically integrated lifestyle that is characteristic of the marae. 'The greater the value, the higher the price' is a maxim of some Pakeha that often embarrasses Maori. One culture, with its practice of buying and selling examples of its art, implies that art is too important not to have a price, while the other with its tradition of sharing, can imply that art is too important to have a price at all.
The following incidents influenced my thinking. In 1979 the NZ Department of Education seconded me to revise their existing Advanced Studies Courses in Music for teachers and to write new ones addressing important topics previously neglected. One of the topics chosen was the place of Maori Music in New Zealand music education. Archdeacon Kingi Ihaaka, a prominant composer of Maori music was selected by the Department to be my adviser.
When discussing this topic of values he pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk and showed me a cheque from the Broadcasting Authority that he had received as payment for the performance of one of his compositions. He explained that he had not cashed it because in doing so it would give a fixed price to something he considered to be invaluable. About the same time, an established NZ Pakeha composer told me that he had received payment from the same Broadcasting Authority for playing one of his compositions, at a rate that, matching hour for hour in preparation, was less than what he paid his mechanic for servicing his car. Both men were leaders in the cultures they represented, both were essentially modest people, and both were dedicated to music composition and performance. The difference lay in their view of what is an appropriate way to recognise this value. We need to find appropriate ways to acknowledge the different perspectives on value in different cultural settings.
What kind of metaphor could be used to represent these differences? Perhaps a magnetic field where items of different polarity interact with each other. Opposite poles could attract and supplement missing characteristic of the other. Similar poles could repel and keep their distance. Suppose a transverse section of this situation were drawn with the two interacting items placed on either side of a central point of equilibrium.
The situation might be represented visually on the following line of a cultural continuum between different points of view. PC indicates where I would place Pakeha Culture (according my experiences) and MC where my Maori (and Polynesian) advisers lead me to believe they would place theirs.
It must be recognized that these views are continually changing. There are many young Maori now who would not share the reservations held by Sir Kingi Ihaka. There are also idealistic Pakeha who can ignore the complete commercialisation of art. But such is the nature of cultures that are alive and interacting.
I must place MC as close as possible to the right because I keep being told that Maori music always serves another purpose than a purely musical one. PC is placed some distance from the extreme left because both autonomous and heteronomous elements exist side by side in this culture; but not in the middle, because they are not, in my opinion, at a point of similarity and balance.
The Maori word 'waiata' illustrates an important view of music from one cultural perspective. For Maori, it indicates an arts complex in which the element of organized sounds is only one component. The translation for waiata of 'song' in English is too limiting. Haka (war dance/chant) is as much waiata as is oriori (lullaby). Movement, drama, costume, and ceremony are all closely associated. Music is an integral as well as integrated part of the related arts of Maori culture. The close relationship between music, movement, and language can be seen in action songs, stick games, poi songs and haka. The traditional challenge to an important visitor to the marae, as part of the welcome ceremony involves closely linked aspects of music and drama. Suitable costume, which includes particular formalized designs, is important for ceremonial occasions.
Western European post-Renaissance thought, following Cartesian reductionism, has tended to conceptualize the various arts as separate entities. Of course there are many examples of related arts combinations, but they remain in concept as just that - the confluence of discrete components. There is a difference here although both traditions have related arts examples in practice; in one tradition, the arts are essentially linked and in the other they are thought of (and sometimes performed) as essentially separate.
Our model for this might be:
Again, Maori (and Polynesian) performance take the extreme position to the right and Pakeha practice is placed somewhere between centre and far left.
The social unit in Maori (and Polynesian) culture is the group, not the individual. Much has been written about the cult of the individual in the Western European development of a capitalistic society. The functional Maori groupings of 'iwi' (tribe), 'hapu' (sub-tribe), 'whanau' (family) all exist to support the individual and not leave him or her isolated. On the other hand, Pakeha students often feel that they have not reached maturity and independence unless they can 'go it alone'. The ultimate Western European academic hurdle is to defend one's thesis alone against the searching questions of qualified peers. Maori (and Polynesian) children at school will usually prefer to work in groups at such personal tasks as musical composition in a way that would frustrate most Pakeha children.
Although working in groups rather than individually may be the preferred organization for Maori and Polynesian, the influence of Western European expectations from a recent colonial past must have forced compliance to unwelcome circumstances. This is an example of cultural domination that contributes to dislocation and resentment. I would like to think that the airing of topics like this might lead to better social harmony and better accommodation of individual needs. The desire to develop more co-operative ways than competitive ways for learning however, is something shared by many teachers irrespective of their cultural background.
The way an individual or a community views knowledge will automatically colour the view of art they hold. Essential or ultimate qualities can be seen as coming solely from the physical environment as perceived by the senses or on the other hand, coming primarily from something beyond the material. This latter source is sometimes described as the numinous or divine and is associated with spirituality. One side of the continuum favours words like empirical, phenomenological, physical, material, sensory, while the other side favours words like spiritual, metaphysical, 'wairua', 'tapu'. The debate between both views is very much alive in the epistemology, philosophy, and theology of Western European and Pakeha thought, but the position of all Maori and Polynesian people I have consulted is one where the use of wairua and spirituality is universally applied and all important.
I have real difficulty in assessing the position of the Pakeha Culture on this scale because I know prominent music educators from that background who would place it at an extreme right point and others from a similar background who would place it at an extreme left point. When I look carefully at the current practice of institutions of tertiary learning in New Zealand however, I am forced to make my placement somewhere left of centre.
The democratization of knowledge over the past few hundred years in the Western world has meant that anybody who can use a library has access to the information stored there. Anybody with the money to buy a Schubert song or a Beetle's hit tune can perform this music. The restrictions are one's own capabilities as a performer and the rules of copyright. But some Pakeha academics act as if they have an automatic right to investigate whatever topic they choose in Maori and Polynesian culture and to collect and use 'taonga' (precious things). In the Maori world, kaumatua (elders) are the guardians of knowledge and they decide how it is to be used. However, the non-Maori teacher can try to avoid offence by consultation with tangata whenua and tohunga (experts).
Permission to use and study taonga must be sought and gained because taonga have specific ownership. All knowledge should reflect values of mana (creative potential), aroha (love), mauri (life force), wairua (spirit), ihi (authority), wehi (reverence), wana (uplifting quality). Most songs belong to a particular situation. Some can be used more generally without causing offence while others should be sung only on appropriate occasions. Some are tapu (sacred and forbidden). Some are restricted to certain people within a tribe; some are restricted to use by men or women only.
It can be argued that Western European culture (and thus Pakeha culture) has been largely denied to those who through circumstances like poverty, illiteracy, or disability are unable to access it. The point to note is that these are limitations suffered by one's situation but not imposed by an outside authority. I find it hard to be exact in placing the MC point but it implies an important difference and should therefore be placed somewhere to right of centre.
Access and practice are closely associated in performance. If Maori (and Polynesian) access do have limited access for some people, it is also true to recognize that they come from a tradition where as many members as possible in an available group are expected to join in performance. This has been noted previously in the effect of enculturation on young children, to the extent that all are singing in tune and moving rhythmically before the end of the early childhood period. When visitors are welcomed onto the marae practically all members will join in the songs and dances that support the formal speeches. And each speech will have its supporting waiata. The West with its emphasis on the individual and reductionism in learning has moved away from an inclusive practice and turned towards specialization and elitism. The cult of the virtuoso in the nineteenth century helped to reinforce this.
Skill acquisition
A conflict between co-operation and competition is noticeable in the motive for and the development of individual performing skills. The West has promoted competition as a base line for individual skill development not only in its political and economic spheres but also in the acquisition of musical expertise. Musical Competitions as a means of identifying outstanding talent are common. Parent's pride in children's musical achievement often depends on where they are placed on some arbitrary scale that shows their relationship to the perceived performance of others. On the other hand Maori (and Polynesian) performers thrive in co-operative situations where individual contribution is recognized by its enhancing of the group result.
Throughout 1985, as much time as my own lecturing commitments allowed, I spent time observing the programme of a class of children where all teaching was in Maori. That included many in their first year at school. I was able to visit for about a half a day at a time at least once a week. I was directed to this class by my Maori elders who considered their teacher to be well suited to my request to see the best example available of how Maori developed music skills suitable to their preferred ways of learning within the State system of education. Most of the children were five or six year old although, typical of a rather flexible approach to class grouping, there were even a couple of eight year olds (7). On one occasion they had been composing in three groups song-chants built on stories from their mythology. I was so impressed with the compositions that came from this exercise that I offered to write their compositions out in notation to preserve them for others to see and hear, as my koha (gift) to recognize the merit of their work and show my gratitude for being able to witness this outstanding example of children's composition. I had observed who had been the obvious group leaders during the preparation time and recognized their contribution by placing their names beside the titles of the compositions. When I showed the class what I had done I immediately sensed something wrong. They were too polite to tell me, but it was that I had singled out one person for praise. What would have probably been quite acceptable with Pakeha children had been unacceptable with Maori children.
The placing of positions for Maori and Pakeha on the above continuum are not as simple as the text above might indicate. There is also much co-operative learning in the New Zealand school system for all children and in the society from which they come. It would also be true to say that there still exists in Aotearoa (New Zealand) much competitive aggression between iwi (Maori tribes), particularly between those who had been former enemies. However I think it fair to claim that in everyday relationships, amongst themselves, most Maori are more co-operative than competitive, while many Pakeha are decidedly competitive.
The model of musical leadership in performance in Western European culture is well demonstrated by the role of the conductor in relation to the performing group. Here, one person is in control; one whose musical and personality characteristics mark him or her out as a leader who demands respect and deserves to be followed with sympathetic and sensitive compliance. A skilled conductor can take an already highly talented group of musicians and produce a performance that would be impossible without his or her direction. In the history of Western music, attempts to perform without such leadership with large groups by and large have failed, although small ensembles such as those performing chamber music, popular music or jazz can function well without an overt conductor.
However, consider a typical performance of Maori in ceremonial welcome on the marae. There is no conductor but there is strong leadership. One voice will signal the need to prepare for performance, may even sing a few opening bars of a waiata to establish key and tempo, may even count aloud in Maori to indicate the precise point of entry for the group, but the responsibility for performance is on each individual to so contribute with thebest effort possible that the mana of the group is enhanced and the wairua of the item is established.
During the performance of a haka, the leader may even perform movements and make sounds that would in another context be seen as distracting to the other performers. This only reinforces the resolve of the main group to give themselves to maintaining their parts with even greater commitment.
At the same time one should remember that, in the rehearsals leading up to this final point of performance, there has probably been as much overt direction and autocratic decision making as one could find in the behaviour of the most tyrannical conductors of the Western European tradition.
Overall, leadership can be achieved by example with performance being the responsibility of the group rather than any one individual, or it can be by direction, with a conductor in an autocratic role.
Leadership can, of course, exist in many other situations than the one of performance before others, but the underlying principles which prefer group relationships to individual relationships, and co-operation to competition, are sufficient to make for significant cultural difference.
If all the above factors are collected together in one diagram and the two profiles drawn connecting the placement points of the two cultures being compared, then the significant difference in these areas of comparison becomes more obvious.
Summary and conclusions
There is greater difference here than just one of degree; it is qualitative. It is a difference that does not allow one monocultural side to subsume the other into its view of reality from its own cultural experience. One must think and decide differently in the other culture; must see with new eyes and hear with new ears. Anything else is ethnocentric and, sooner or later, is bound to cause misunderstanding and offence.
Another cultural view is not necessarily better or worse. It will have advantages and disadvantages over the other in different aspects. The advantages of combining the good aspects of both within the retention of the integrity of either contributing component, is an enrichment beyond the advantages of either culture separately. Accepting difference as a possibility for enrichment, rather than opposing it as a threat to the status quo, is an essential attitude to foster. It is important to remember that there is a Maori component in Pakeha culture just as there is a Pakeha component in contemporary Maori culture.
Music in New Zealand schools should adequately represent the cultural traditions and practices found in New Zealand society. While people of Maori (and Pacific Islands) descent who are confident and competent and prepared to share their culture with others, are obviously suited to teach the music of their own culture, teachers who are not of Maori (and Pacific Islands) descent but who are bilingual and confident in a bicultural situation should also teach Maori (and Pacific Islands) music and dance. (The degree of bilingual confidence needed will always be problematic. Some will insist on high levels of fluency while others will encourage those who have a sincere desire to do their best, despite lack of fluency, to start teaching in a limited way and develop from that point.(8)) I am indebted to Toni Trinick, Dean of Maori studies at Auckland College of Education for reading this paper and giving consent to Maori content.
1. Manins, Stuart Music stories for Juniors, Auckland: S.M.Books, 1987 &endash; 2000. For further information on these twelve books and accompanying tapes, refer website: http://www.infoxchange.net.au/orff/sales_folder/so_me.htm
2. Manins, Stuart Maori Music in New Zealand Education, North Shore Teachers college, 1979; as well as a number of papers presented to ISME and recorded in their proceedings since then.
3. Manins, Stuart & Greg Tata Maori Music in the New Zealand Classroom &endash; Bicultural Issues, 23rd International Society for music Education Conference Proceedings, Pretoria, 1998, p.371 ff.
4. P.6.
5. King, Michael Allegiance to One's Origins; The Consequence of Belief. A Paper delivered to the Sea of Faith Network (NZ) Conference "Beyond Belief &endash; Putting Faith into practice", Havelock North, October, 2000.
6. Much of this section is a revision of the statement in Maori Music in New Zealand Education.
7. The class teacher was Angelina Hamiora, at that time at Clydemore school, South Auckland. Currently she is a lecturer in the Maori Studies Department at the Auckland College of Education.
8. Manins, Stuart & Keri Kaa Maori and Pacific Islands Music. Notes from a Music Curriculum Review Committee, North Shore teachers College, Auckland, 1985.