Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T00:59:43.448Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prelude to a Comparative Investigation of Protestant Hymnody in Polynesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Christian hymn-singing plays a prominent role in the daily life of many Pacific Island societies, and hymnody is acknowledged as a major historical influence on present-day Westernized music traditions. However, both contemporary performance practices and the historical foundations of Christian hymnody in the Pacific Islands1 remain little-documented, and, for the most part, neglected by ethnomusicologists. Contemporary traditions of hymnody in the Pacific Islands can be characterized as being diverse. The diversity is striking, considering the homogeneity of Western hymnody initially introduced by British and American missionaries throughout the region over a century ago. However, over time, different musical practices were used by missionaries and islanders in different locales. Therefore, any understanding of contemporary hymn-singing traditions must be placed in historical, as well as ethnographic, contexts.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 25 , 1993 , pp. 89 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 by the International Council for Traditional Music

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Barrère, Dorothy B., Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Kelly, Marion 1980 Hula: Historical Perspectives. Pacific Anthropological Records No. 30. Honolulu: Department of Anthropology, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.Google Scholar
Bliss, Philip P. and Sankey, Ira D. 1875 Gospel Hymns No. 1. New York: Bigelow and Main.Google Scholar
Bliss, Philip P. 1876 Gospel Hymns No. 2. New York: Bigelow and Main.Google Scholar
Christensen, Dieter, and Koch, Gerd 1964 Der Musik der Ellice-Inseln. Berlin: Museum für Völkerkunde.Google Scholar
Davidson, Alan K., and Lineham, Peter J. 1987 Transplanted Christianity: Documents Illustrating Aspects of New Zealand Church History. Auckland: College of Communications.Google Scholar
Elsmore, Bronwyn 1985 Like Them That Dream: The Maori and the Old Testament. Tauranga: Tauranga Moana Press.Google Scholar
Garrett, John 1982 To Live Among the Stars: Christian Origins in Oceania. Geneva and Suva: World Council of Churches in association with the Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.Google Scholar
Gunson, Niel 1962 “An Account of the Mamaia or Visionary Heresy of Tahiti, 1826-1841.” Journal of the Polynesian Society 71: 209–43.Google Scholar
Jenkins, John S. 1852 Voyage of the U.S. Exploring Squadron … in 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842. Auburn: Alden, Beardsley & Co.Google Scholar
Judd, Bernice, Bell, Janet E. and Murdoch, Clare G. 1978 Hawaiian-Language Imprints, 1823-1899: A Bibliography. Honolulu: The Hawaiian Mission Children's Society and The University Press of Hawaii.Google Scholar
Kartomi, Margaret 1981 “The Processes and Results of Musical Culture Contact: A Discussion of Terminology and Concepts.” Ethnomusicology 25(2): 227–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loomis, Elisha 1827 “Journal.” Unpublished manuscript, Hawaiian Mission Children's Society Library, Honolulu.Google Scholar
McLean, Mervyn 1986 “Towards a Typology of Musical Change: Missionaries and Adjustive Response in Oceania.” World of Music 28: 29–42.Google Scholar
Moyle, Richard 1985 “Report on Survey of Traditional Music of Niue.” Working Papers in Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistics, Maori Studies. Auckland: Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland.Google Scholar
Moyle, Richard 1987 Tongan Music. Auckland: Auckland University Press.Google Scholar
Nettl, Bruno 1978 “Some Aspects of the History of World Music in the Twentieth Century: Questions, Problems, and Concepts.” Ethnomusicology 22(1): 123–36.Google Scholar
Sankey, Ira D., McGranahan, James, and Stebbins, George C. 1881 Gospel Hymns No. 3. New York: Bigelow and Main.Google Scholar
Stillman, Amy K. 1991 “Himene Tahiti: Ethnographic and Ethnohistorical Perspectives on Choral Singing and Protestant Hymnody in the Society Islands, French Polynesia.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Sunderland, J.P. and Buzacott, Aaron 1966 Mission Life in the Islands of the Pacific. London: John Snow.Google Scholar
Sutton, Brett 1982 Primitive Baptist Hymns of the Blue Ridge. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Temperley, Nicholas 1981 “The Old Way of Singing: Its Origins and Development.” Journal of the American Musico logical Society 34: 511–44.Google Scholar
Thomas, Allan 1986 “The Fatele of Tokelau: Approaches to the Study of a Dance in its Social Context.” M.A. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington.Google Scholar
T'Serstevens, A. 1950 Tahiti et sa Couronne. Paris: Albin Michel.Google Scholar