Hawaiian Music Research Paper

Hawaiian music, particularly vocal music, has undergone dramatic transformations under the influence of Hawaii’s rapidly changing island society as a result of colonization. The cultural significance and relevance of Hawaiian music to the people of Hawaii has also transformed over time. To the natives of Hawaii, Hawaiian music has been the aural representation of their culture, traditions, and histories; however, with the effects of colonialism, forced conformation, exploitation, and commodification, their music has subsequently been altered to reflect the times. Current Hawaiian music is also the product of culmination of the various ethnic and cultural backgrounds because the music has adopted various musical traditions as a result of the

Modern Hawaiian music is a genre that incorporates Euro-American musical rudiments and chordal stringed accompaniment such as guitar and piano which were brought from the west (Stillman 80).

Missionaries also taught Hawaiians how to read staff notation, which eventually led to its use in composing secular mele Hawaii songs throughout the second half of the nineteenth century (Stillman 82).

A prominent example of the westernization of Hawaiian music can be seen in hula; the modern hula are dances newly composed after conversion to Christianity, but also their accompaniment were westernized songs that performed to the accompaniment of strummed chordal instruments that are not indigenous to Hawai'i but are completely integrated into the performance practice of "modern" Hawaiian songs (Stillman 84, 85). T

The most commonly known Hawaiian music is the popular mainland and tourist market oriented hapa-haole, half-white or foreign, music which is not traditional Hawaiian music but is a kind of Hawaiian music that Hawaiian performers have adopted, adapted and acculturated by Hawaiian performers to their own musical standards (Solberg