ANDERSEN.—An Introduction to Maori Music. 743 
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ArT. 46.—An Introduction to Maori Music. 
By JOHANNES C. ANDERSEN. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 19th July, 1921; received by Editor, 
20th July, 1921 ; issued separately, 18th June, 1923.) 
Plates 83-85. 
Tug few references to Maori music in the writings of early voyagers and 
early residents in the country do not assist much in enabling a conclusion 
be arrived at as to whether the Maori had any definite system of music 
—that is, whether music had with him become a conscious art. The 
appreciation of melody, except as mere accompaniment, was apparently in 
the earliest stages of its development: that is, the Maori did not con- 
sciously appreciate melody for its own sake—there was no tune existing · 
separately apart from words. He appreciated a song chiefly because of 
the words conveyed ; the tune, or rangi, was altogether secondary. 
There is nothing in early writings to help us to determine if the Maori 
was conscious of definite intervals, except the fact that tunes were known 
and remembered—tunes, too, that to European ears seemed destitute of 
melody. There is nothing at all to help us to determine if he was conscious 
of definite ratios between the intervals employed—to determine if he use 
any kind of scale. 
So little did Maori music, as a rule, appeal to Europeans that the great 
majority of writers declare that he had none. Most of them admit, how- 
it in parts, some are rhythmical throughout. It is especially in the song 
accompanying the dance that the sense of rhythm is most manifested. 
There it is extraordinary in its we T because so per- 
n. 
a song when the visited us on board. Their music is far superior in 
variety to that of the Society and Friendly Islands ; and if any nation of 
the South Sea comes in competition with them in this respect I should 
apprehend it to be that of Tanna. The same intelligent friend [? Burney] 
