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Te Ao Hou, September 1965, Page 40

it is equally natural to sing the second drag with one quaver short because the preceding bar is this time 3 quavers long and is therefore also a quaver short. Knowing this may be a help to some readers in learning the song, but it is not essential. The only way to become really sure of a song is to practise it with careful attention to time values until it becomes part of oneself. When this happens, counting is not only unnecessary but could even be a hindrance. As someone has said, if a centipede had to think which leg went before which, it would probably fall over! Another point which intending singers should know is that even in western music, singers make small changes here and there which are not really part of the song. Sometimes these changes are intentional and sometimes they are not. Some musicians think that when a song is written down from a performance, all these slight changes should be included. If the singer pauses to cough, for instance, this pause should get written down too. Others think that only the essential things should be noted. A lot depends, of course, on the purpose for which the transcription is to be used. If it is to be used for teaching, there is not much point in writing down coughs and other things which the singer did not really intend. On the other hand, if there is doubt about the singer's intentions or if the song is performed in different ways by different people, everything should be noted. In Maori chant it is the drag figures which are most subject to change. Different singers tend to have their own drags, and sometimes a singer may alter a drag slighlty during the course of a song. A few singers use ornament seemingly at random during the drags. To make things easier for the reader the drags in the present transcription have been made the same at each repetition, although the grace notes didn't always come quite at the same places in the recording. These changes were in fact so minute that many people would be quite unable to hear them, so including them would certainly not be worthwhile

for the person who wants to learn the song. It should be noted that the time of the grace notes is taken from the notes to which they are tied. The zigzag line in the first drag indicates a portamento. The song is a variant of the turehu song which appears as song 38 in Part One of ‘Nga Moteatea’ edited by Apirana Ngata and Pei Te Hurinui. The text also appears in John McGregor's ‘Popular Maori Songs’ (1893) P 43 and in the ‘Journal of the Polynesian Society vol. 3 p 31. The recording from which the transcription was made was recorded for the writer on 10 February 1963 at Makara by Kore Crown (leader) and her daughter Rina Tuwhangai. These singers belong to Ngati Hounuku and Ngati Horotakere tribes of Waikato. The song has also been recorded by Whati Tamati (Waikato tribe) of Hamilton and in its ‘Nga Moteatea’ form by Sam Huia (Waikato tribe) of Makomako.