Papa Mele - MH1

Do you love Hawaiian music and/or hula and wonder what the songs actually mean and how they relate to movement? Do you want to get past simply looking up individual words in a dictionary and then trying to figure out by yourself how they are all working together? This course will help you understand how words are woven together to create meaning in phrases and verses. Kumu Kaliko will guide you, line-by-line, through each of the mele and teach the techniques you can use on your own with any other song. You will learn vocabulary, basic Hawaiian grammar, and delve into the kaona, or layers of meaning, in Hawaiian poetic compositions.

Introduction

“Mele” are poetic compositions: some are meant to be chanted, some to be sung, and some just to be read. This eight-week session will focus on those mele which are sung and how we can learn Hawaiian language through their analysis.

Engaging

I am sure that you will agree that Hawaiian music is so often emotionally engaging. The reason may be nostalgia, a moving melodic structure, or even simply fun-sounding lyrics. Countless people far and wide spend many hours listening to and enjoying Hawaiian music without ever understanding even a small portion of the language used in its creation, yet they are still “touched” by the beauty of the song. This course will add a new dimension to that enjoyment by teaching you how the Hawaiian langauge is being used to tell stories of love, places, events, and many other things.

Social Bonding

Hawaiian music also frequently provides a setting for social bonding. This might be in the realm of hula, or musicians performing Hawaiian music, at concerts, at competitions, or folks just enjoying an evening together with Hawaiian music playing in the background. All of these realms can be enhanced by being truly able to understand the words and poetry of the mele.

Course Goals

Some of the goals of Mele Hawaiʻi Level I are as follows:

• listening to a mele and discerning the individual Hawaiian words
• to learn about and discuss poetic themes
• to discover elements of “kaona” (hidden meaning) within the poetry
• learning Hawaiian words and phrases commonly found in mele
• understanding and memorization of common grammar patterns
• appreciation of Hawaiian songwriting techniques
• better connection of the self to Hawaiian culture
• an overall improvement in the ability of the student to speak and understand Hawaiian language
• to have fun while learning something new!

We prefer to keep things simple! 

If you need to cancel your eight-week Session with us within the first two weeks of class, we will refund you 100% of the cost of the class. We can also defer your attendance until the following Session if you prefer. 

If you wish to change to another level after the Session has begun, we are happy to do that at no charge! Just let us know, and we'll get you set up in the class that fits your needs best!  

If you are further than two weeks into the Session and wish to drop or otherwise have an issue, please contact us, and we can evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

You can contact us at: https://oleloonline.com/contact/

LIVE CLASSES

You will have access to the live lesson for the section you register for. You will get an email with the Zoom ID and link after your successful purchase. Please note that if you purchase both sections, you can attend both live, via Zoom. Otherwise, please only attend one of the sections live on zoom. Either way, you will get the recordings for both sections in your BAND.us group (more information about BAND below).

RESOURCES

In the email with your Zoom link, you will also get a link to a BAND.us group for the class for which you registered. In this BAND, you will have access to the recordings of all the sections for the class, as well as the notes for all sections. You can ask questions there, practice, and get feedback from your classmates. Best of all, BAND is free! Make sure to join the BAND for your class using the link provided in the email. If you sign up for more than one class, you will get an email for EACH class, so be sure to join the BAND for each class.