The Music and Dance of Polynesia

Polynesian music requires multidimensional analyses in an historic perspective that encompasses the study of poetic text, melody, rhythm, movement, and sociocultural context. Poetic texts, based in metaphor and allusion, formed the basis for most Polynesian music: essentially, music and dance were aural and visual vehicles for conveying oral literature. Rendered melodically and rhythmically, words suited the contexts in which they were performed, and were often accompanied by movements that contributed...