Library Digitised Collections
Author/s:
Jackson, Paul
Title:
Percy Grainger's aleatoric adventures: The Rarotongan part-songs
Date:
2012
Persistent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/11343/118257
Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures:
The Rarotongan part-songs
Paul Jackson
Grainger Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, no. 2 (2012), pp. 1–32
Published by the University of Melbourne Library
www.msp.unimelb.edu.au/index.php/graingerstudies/index
Published 10 August 2012
© Copyright the author and the University of Melbourne, 2012
Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures:
The Rarotongan part-songs
Paul Jackson
This article draws together a range of source material relating to the
recording and notation of the Rarotongan part-songs encountered by Percy
Grainger during his 1909 concert tour of Australasia, and presents his
transcriptions and notes for the first time within a critical framework. The
various extant recordings, initially made in 1907 during the New Zealand
International Exhibition by Alfred J. Knocks and later copied by Grainger,
together with Grainger’s attempts at transcription, are evaluated in both
the context of his activities as a collector of folk music and within the
framework of his developing ideas of the notion of democracy in music.
Grainger cited the music of Rarotonga as ‘a treat no less than the best
Wagner’1 and he maintained its importance throughout his life. Whilst his
transcriptions of the songs, and his planned settings of the music, were
never completed, echoes of the Rarotongan music can be found in much of
Grainger’s experimental output. In particular, he was to mine this material
for the production of Random round, the genesis and development of
which will be examined in part two of this article (to be published in
number 3 of Grainger Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal).
The Rarotongan songs
In record sweet of ancient song,
That Rarotongan’s brought a long:–
Percy, my friend, thy voice I hear
With music, giving tuneful cheer.2
First encounters
Percy Grainger first encountered the native music of Rarotonga, the largest of
the modern-day Cook Islands, during a concert tour of Australasia he had
undertaken with the singer Ada Crossley in the early months of 1909.3 Here,
Grainger made the acquaintance of Alfred J. Knocks (1851–1925), a licensed
interpreter and native agent of Otaki, New Zealand,4 who ‘came into contact
with the native race, their customs and usages, and always made it a point to
learn anything that was of interest from them’.5 On 20 January 1909, in the
Jubilee Hotel, Otaki, Knocks played Grainger examples of Rarotongan partsinging that he had recorded during the time of the New Zealand
International Exhibition held in Christchurch between 1 November 1906 and
15 April 1907.6 The Rarotongans were part of a larger group of visiting Māori
and South Sea Islanders, all of whom were installed in the Arai-te-uru Pa, a
reconstruction of pre-Europeanised Māori village life. The pa was intended to
promote a sense of kinship between the races represented therein, and to
educate modern-day New Zealanders about Māori culture, a culture that,
according to the official record of the exhibition, ‘had attained a high degree
of skill in many handicrafts, and in decorative art certainly had evolved some
of the most beautiful designs which even the cultured pakeha [White New
Zealanders] cannot but regard with admiration’.7 The record confirms the
enthusiastic reception the Rarotongan singers received, where, ‘chanting their
ear-haunting tuneful himenes […] one never tired of listening to the delightful
part-singing harmonies of these South Sea people, so different from the
monotonous chant of the Maori’.8 The meeting between the New Zealand
Māori and the South Sea Islanders was clearly very friendly and was
accompanied by songs of welcome and songs of thanks, the Māori graciously
attempting to imitate the Islanders’ more complex music.
Grainger had, in fact, made fairly extensive pre-tour plans to enable him to
investigate examples of the indigenous music of Australia, New Zealand and
the South Sea Islands; his encounter with Knocks, although fortuitous, was
not entirely accidental. Indeed, his work as an ethnomusicologist and recorder
of folk musics at this crucial time, when much indigenous art was thought to
be on the verge of extinction, was in large part driven by his interest in the
kind of frontier civilisation the Māori and Rarotongans represented for him.
Grainger’s view of such societies, which he broadly incorporated within a
‘Mongolian-Nordic musical tradition’ (in contrast to the ‘Mohammedan
musical tradition’ that was characteristic of much Mediterranean music),9
would enable him to include the music of the South Sea Islanders in his
definition of Nordic music.10
Grainger described his initial impression on hearing the music of the
Rarotongan singers in a letter he sent to his mother dated 21 January 1909
following a visit to Knocks’ home. In typically urgent language he related that
the Rarotongans:
go fast with swinging hammering pattering rhythms, & the whole
effect of the group of singers is like a band of banjos, spluttering,
wiring in, brazen tongues. […] The whole music is the outpouring
of everglad ungloomable souls, merriness incarnate, & trickling
good humor & devilish energy in overflow […] If such music isnt
the voicing of ‘the joy of life’, where else shall I look for it? If the
best pulses of humanness do not flow in these cannibals we’d be
better lacking them. […] I’ve taken the whole concern down near
2
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
enough to be able to perform it on chorus in London.11 Wait till you
hear these fiercesouled phrases frolic into song.12
Ten days later, he wrote a more detailed account of his meeting with
Knocks to his friend, the composer Roger Quilter:
I met a dear old man […] born here, I should say, brought up in the
country when Maoris swarmed & whites were scarce; ½ (at least)
native in feeling, married to a Maori, very chummily pally with his
handsome but erratic ½ breed sons, quite a card he is. Kind and
easygoing to animals; they browse in his unkempt gardens, doesn’t
kill flies if he can help it & takes phonograph records of every bit of
native music that he can. Two years ago Rarotongan natives were
brought over to Christchurch (NZ) Exhibition. They sang
gloriously. This old man phonographed them. Nobody else did
seemingly. His name is Knocks […] I came to hear his Maori
records, but he made me hear the Rarotongan records & I
straightaway noted them down in his cobwebby, dirty,
manuscriptbelittered, brokenwindowed, queersmelling house from
afternoon early to 5 the next morn. The old man stayed up to 2
o’clock with me, & he and ½ breeds & I had great fun manning the
phonograph & chatting and getting on well together & feeding on
tea & bread & butter. That old chap is a dear trustful tolerant
(though a bit bitter against the whites) kindlisouled born artist
nature; you don’t find that sort in Australia.
These Rarotongan things are the strongest impressions I’ve met
since the Faerø dance tunes. These are dance music also. But
polyphonic. They have real harmony, & of course tons of rhythmic
delights. Sometimes their spirit is very sweet, rocking & kittenish, &
at times fierce & rending like tiger claws, but always it is great larks
[...] Red flowers in shining blueblack hair, the easy graceful gait of
Sea air bedewed coastdwellers, the bold free eyes of islanders, the
dance instincts of folk shortly ago fighters & maneaters; there is lots
of fun ahead. I am taking some phonograph records of Maori songs
myself. Not sung in harmony ever as far as I can make out; but
queer interesting intervals they use, & they sing & recite like heroes;
such wantonness, laziness, energy, unselfbeknownst attack, &
strong coaxing throbbing voices.13
On his return to New Zealand in 1924, when Grainger again met Knocks,
he wrote of his hopes of encountering further examples of native music,
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
3
noting in his ‘round letter’ of May–June that ‘I was told that many of the
people who were at the Christchurch Exhibition in New Zealand around 1906
(& were then phonographed by my old friend Knocks) are still alive, so I live
in hopes of later trips to Rarotonga’.14 But this was not to be, and Grainger’s
transcriptive work on Rarotongan music remained incomplete.
Figure 1: Group of the Rarotonga Natives, headed by Makea Daniela, from James Cowan,
Official record of the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries, held at
Christchurch 1906–7. A descriptive and historical account, Wellington: Government Printer,
1910, p. 354
Makea Daniela (chief [far right?]); [from left?]: Tapuae and Tira (women), Arona te
Ariki (Makea’s brother), Mama (a boy), and Manaia, Aiteina, Iotia, Puka and Tutakiau,
Te Ariki, Tauei and Tairo (men)15
Grainger, democracy and the importance of
Rarotongan music
For Grainger, Rarotongan part-songs encapsulated many of his developing
notions of music as an expression of democracy, ideas that were to be
expressed with growing coherence through his articles ‘The impress of
4
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
personality in unwritten music’16 and ‘Democracy in music’.17 His ‘Description
of Rarotongan part-singing’ from ‘The impress of personality in unwritten
music’ provides a detailed account of the music (and also provides a blueprint
for what was to become Random round), and is worth reproducing in full:
These choral songs, which were sung as thank-offerings by the
Rarotongans in return for gifts they received from the Maoris of
Otaki, are more full of the joy of life than any other music (art or
native) it has yet been my good fortune to hear, though they also
abound in touching and wistful elements. The polyphony displayed
by the four to eight singers was prodigious, and as the whole thing
went prestissimo (Polynesian languages lend themselves very readily
to speed) it reminded me of nothing so much as of a seething,
squirming musical ant-hill, bursting into furious song for sheer joy
and high spirits. No doubt the habit of harmony here displayed had
been caught long ago from missionary hymns (Rarotonga was
‘converted’ before many of the other islands of the South Seas), yet
the use made by these brilliant musicians of their foreign
accomplishment was completely native in its application and was
throughout governed by the individualistic dictates of Unwritten
Music. Their procedure followed habits rather than laws.
Each part-song consisted of a succession of small sections, each
lasting some fifteen to twenty seconds, and separated one from the
other by a brief moment of silence.
A short solo began each section, consisting of a curving,
descending phrase, starting off on the fourth, fifth or sixth of the
diatonic major scale and ending on the tonic below. As soon as the
first singer reached the keynote the other voices would chime in,
one after the other or in a bunch, according to the free choice of
each individual concerned, while the first singer kept up a stirring
hammering and highly rhythmic patter (which in the phonograph
closely resembles the twang of banjos or rattle of small drums,
though actually no instruments at all were used) on the tonic until
the end of the section.
These other voices also sang curving, descending diatonic
phrases (never twice quite alike, but always bearing a sort of family
likeness to those of the first singer), which were repeated by each
singer several times before the end of the section, which was
heralded by a growing lassitude in all the voices—often fading away
in an indolent sort of ‘dying duck’ wail—whereas each new section
was attacked in the most vigorous manner.
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
5
The various melodic lines as well as the whole character of the
performance showed great variety during the course of a longish
chain of such sections, while the harmonic and polyphonic
happenings were kaleidoscopic in their everchanging aspects.
It will be seen that a great range of personal choice was left to all
the members of this Rarotongan choir, in each of whom a highly
complex, delicate and critical sense for ensemble was imperative.
Each of these natives had to be a kind of improvising communal
composer, and to a far greater degree simultaneously creative and
executive than is the case with peasant songsters in Great Britain or
Scandinavia, though a somewhat similar gift for complex
improvised part-singing is displayed in the wonderful Russian choral
folk music so admirably collected and noted by Madame Lineff.18
For Grainger, the ‘highly complex, delicate and critical sense for ensemble’
of the ‘peasant songsters’ might also equally stand as an analogy for his
idealised view of a fully democratised society, one in which its members coexist in a spirit of individualised fellowship: ‘a chance for all to shine in a
starry whole’.19 Similarly, polyphonic music—with its free-flowing and subtly
interdependent melodic lines—becomes, for Grainger, an embodiment in
sound of the act of democratic pursuit. In polyphonic music, melody, rather
than harmony, remains the principal musical concern, whilst the associated
non-architectural formal imperative—form-finding rather than formbuilding—‘allows melody to retain its selfhood’.20 Grainger initially afforded
the Rarotongans a ‘well-developed harmonic consciousness’ in the
performance of their polyphonic music, suggesting that they regulated the
movement of the songs’ individual parts by ‘courting certain discordant
effects which they probably like & avoiding others, (which they probably
dislike)’.21 However, Grainger seems to have revised this view by the time of
the publication of ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’ in 1915,
when he acknowledges that, whilst Rarotongan polyphony has ‘a seductive
complex harmonic appeal’, the music arises from the Rarotongans’ ‘exceptionally
developed individualistic polyphonic instincts [which] are still free from the
kind of harmonic consciousness which art-musicians have gradually built up
through the centuries’.22 Grainger would have also been attracted to the
irregularity of metre exhibited in the Rarotongan part-songs, where the
rhythm of the words, which were of uppermost importance, conditioned the
structural fabric of the music. Such an approach was similar to Grainger’s
compositional experiments in irregular rhythm—itself a manifestation of a
type of temporal democracy—as exhibited in works such as Love verses from the
6
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
Song of Solomon (1899), the uncompleted Train music (1900) and Hill song no. 1
(1901–02).
Unfortunately, only one of Grainger’s Rarotongan transcriptions contains
a text (SL1 MG13/6-4:2, known as ‘Fierce I’), which Alfred Knocks had
attempted to transcribe and translate. At a surface level, the individualised
phonemic components characteristic of Polynesian languages, together with
the concomitant tendency towards non-melismatic vocalisation, bears a
similarity to the treatment of words exhibited in English folk songs, which
favour the use of one note to one word (or syllable).23 Indeed, in his analysis
of North Lincolnshire folk songs, Grainger had noted the use of ‘nonsense
syllables’ frequently inserted within and around words in order to avoid
melismata.
The phonograph recordings
The accurate identification of the various recordings of the Rarotongan partsongs, and of the numerous copies produced shortly after, is achieved only
with some difficulty. The 1984 catalogue of the Grainger Museum’s
Rarotongan cylinders24 lists multiple versions of what appear to be the same
original five recordings by Knocks, although there appear to be several
discrepancies in the naming of the cylinders. Table 1 reproduces those entries
from the catalogue that are relevant to this paper:
Table 1: The Rarotongan cylinders held in the Grainger Museum
Box
Cylinder
Description or title
19
P1
‘Rarotonga 1 1st copy’ ‘Gentle antiphonal (title may be
“Hoani Hakaraia te Whena”)’
19
P2
‘Rarot. 1 2nd Copy’ [Description as for P1]
19
P3
‘Rarotonga 2 (2ce) 1st copy’. ‘Similar to No. 1 probable text,
first phrase: Noho aho ite whai nu matine’
19
P4
‘Rarot 2 2nd copy’ [Description as for P3]
19
P5
‘Rarot 2 3rd copy’ [Description as for P3]
19
P6
‘Rarot 3 1st copy’
19
P7
‘ “Ari aria” Rarot. 3 2nd copy’
19
P8
‘Rarot fierce 1 1st copy’ ‘First Fierce part-song. First phrase
of text: Tu ma pa ne e tau mai nei ke raro nei’.
19
P9
‘Fierce 1 2nd copy’ [Description as for P8]
19
P10
‘fierce 1 3rd copy (broken)’ [Description as for P8]
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
7
Box
Cylinder
19
P11
‘fierce 2 1st copy’ ‘Similar to No. 4’, [i.e. to “fierce 1”]
19
P12
‘fierce 2 2nd copy’ [As for P11]
19
P13
‘3rd copy Fierce 2 (changes pitch) not good’ [As for P11]
19
P14
‘Rarot. fierce 2 4th copy (bad)’ ‘P14 (fragm) fierce 2, not
good 4th copy’
20
-
‘Working 3’ [“Ari ari a”]
20
-
‘Working 2’. [Noho aho ite whai nu matine]
20
-
‘Working 5’ [“Fierce 2?”]
20
-
‘Rarot. 1 1st working copy’ [Gentle, antiphonal: “Hoami
Hakaraia te Whena”]
20
-
‘Working 4’ [“Fierce 1?”] [Tu ma pa ne e tau mai nei ke raro
nei].
21
1
‘A.J. Knocks’ Rarotongan record No. 1 orig’ – P.G.
‘duplicate of this given to Percy Grainer 21st-1-1909
Rarot. 1’ – A.J.K. ‘Rarotonga Record ‘mina mina Tohu
mai kei o taua tuio [or tino?] [then last word illegible]’ –
A.J.K. [Discrepancy in title – see PG note on P1/Box19]
21
2
‘original Rarot 2. Rarotongan Record No. 2’ ‘A.J. Knocks’
Rarotongan Record No. 2 orig’.
21
3 [4?]
‘orig fierce 1 No 3 A.J. Knocks’ Rarotongan record No 3’ –
P.G. ‘Rarotonga’ A.J.K. (Discrepancy – see PG note on
P8/Box 19 & P7/Box 19)
21
4 [5?]
‘No 4 orig A.J. Knocks’ Rarotongan Records fierce 2
BROKEN’. [Discrepancy – see PG note P11/Box19]
21
5 [3?]
‘Rarotongan Record No 5 Rarot orig’ ‘A.J. Knocks’
Rarotongan Record, No 5’ – PG ‘diaph etc’ – A.J.K.
[Discrepancy – see PG note cylinder P11/Box19]
22
-
‘Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 1 Dansk Phonograph magazin
copy black’.
22
-
‘Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 2 Dansk Phonograph magazin.
Black copy’
22
-
‘Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 3 Black copy’
22
-
‘Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 4 Black copy’ [Rarotonga “fierce
1” or “fierce 2”?]
22
-
‘Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 5 Dansk Fonograf magazin. Black
copy’
8
Description or title
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
The reproduction quality of many of the cylinders is so poor that the
melodic lines are often indistinct.25 Furthermore, the songs seem to be, at least
to western ears, variations on the same five- or six-note patterns, with
frequent melodic and motivic similarity apparent, making accurate
identification problematic.
Knocks’ recordings were presumably made using an Edison phonograph
and all subsequent copies organised by Grainger were taken from Knocks’
original cylinders.26 The correct playback speed for these cylinders is, however,
a matter of some uncertainty. Edison cylinders operated at speeds ranging
from 100 r.p.m. for the earlier models, up to 160 r.p.m. for the Edison Gold
Moulded Record cylinders, introduced in 1902, which subsequently became
the standard speed. Grainger owned an Edison Standard Phonograph from
1908, which was intended to operate at a speed of 160 r.p.m., various
recorded pitch-pipe calibrations confirming this to be the correct setting for
his own cylinder recordings. However, the table of keys and metronome
markings found at the beginning of Grainger’s transcription of Record 1 (SL
MG13/6:5-2) implies uncertainty on his part about the correct speed setting
for the Knocks recordings, which may have been made on an older machine
reproducing at a slower rate. When Knocks’ cylinders are played back at
160 r.p.m. the pitch centres correspond to Grainger’s keys of ‘between E-flat
and E-natural’ and the associated metronome mark of minim=126 (Figure 2).
However, the songs appear to be unnaturally fast and high-pitched at this
speed and a more appropriate playback speed of between 125 and 132 r.p.m.
matches Grainger’s metronome indications of =196 and =208, giving
B-flat or C as approximate key centres. Grainger’s notated key centre of G,
which is adopted for all of the transcriptions apart from SL1 MG13/6-4:4
(B-flat) and SL1 MG13/6-5:3 (C) follows in the tradition set by the Finnish
ethnologist, Ilmari Krohn, and later modified by Grainger’s contemporary,
Béla Bartók, to standardise the tonal centres of transcriptions.27 Grainger’s
own transcriptions of English folk songs, as published in the Journal of the
Folk-Song Society in 1908, favour G as the notational ‘key’ centre (although
these transcriptions, unlike the Rarotongan transcriptions, also contain
confirmation of the original key centres as sung by the folk singers). 28
♩
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
♩
9
Keys
Bb
C
D
Between Eb & E§
Between E§ & F
M.M.
q = about 196
q = about 208
h = about 112
h = about 126
h = about 138
Figure 2: Grainger’s metronome marks for Record 1 (SL MG13/6:5-2, Grainger
Museum, University of Melbourne)
Grainger’s Rarotongan transcriptions
By the time Grainger encountered the recordings of Rarotongan music in
1909 he had developed a sophisticated approach to the task of transcribing
folk music. He had an innate sensitivity towards, and appreciation of, the
complexities of orally transmitted music, an art that he felt:
the general educated public […] shows little or no appreciation of
[…] in its unembellished original state, when, indeed, it generally is
far too complex (as regards rhythm, dynamics, and scales) to appeal
to listeners whose ears have not been subjected to the ultra-refining
influence of close association with the subtle developments of our
latest Western art-music.29
Grainger’s experiences between the years of 1905 and 1909 with the
English folk singers of Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire,
Worcestershire and Kent prompted his attempts to preserve the nuances of
performance in notation, a notation that sought to recognise the concept of
variation inherent in folk music practice. His account of the Lincolnshire
singer who, when confronted with a recording of one of his songs performed
by another folk singer, retorted ‘I don’t know about it’s being fine or not; I
only know it’s wrong’,30 succinctly encapsulates the notion of folk songs as
multiple variations of a non-existent original.31
Grainger’s efforts at notating folk music were greatly helped by the ability
of the phonograph to replay music at a speed slower than the original, thereby
enabling fine details to be revealed that would otherwise elude even the most
sensitive ear. But even with the aid of reduced-speed playback, Grainger’s
notes to his transcription of Rarotonga I (SL1 MG13 6/4:5) attest to the
complexity of the task, and he records that it is ‘well nigh impossible from
10
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
merely hearing the phonograph record only to determine which notes […]
were allocated to which particular singer of the 4’, adding, perhaps a little
modestly given the uncommon acuteness of his transcriptive ear, that ‘it is
pretty easy to distinguish the lead singer (top singer) from the rest’.32 Of
course, the transcriptions do not represent the music in a meaningful way and,
for all of Grainger’s care in the matter, must be viewed in a similar light to his
seminal transcriptions of English folk songs: as aids in the apprehension of
otherwise lost examples of orally transmitted music. It must also be
remembered that Grainger only ever heard the Rarotongan part-songs
through Knocks’ recordings (although he did hear live examples of Māori
music in 1909, which he subsequently recorded),33 and his transcriptions are
therefore already at a further state of remove from the original performances.
It is useful therefore to keep in mind the caveat that ‘even an exceptionally
accurate score, such as Percy Grainger’s […] does not convey the reality of
performance to someone who is not acquainted with the sounds of the
music’.34 Grainger made several attempts to transcribe the Rarotongan
recordings and Kay Dreyfus’ catalogue, excerpts from which are reproduced
in Table 2, provides a summary of the available material held within the
Grainger Museum:35
Table 2: The Rarotongan transcriptions
Score cat. no.
Description
SL1 MG13/6-3:1
Double leaf of AL manuscript music No 18, 24-stave. Sides 1 &
2 are blank. Sides 3 & 4 contain a pencil sketch labelled
“Rarotonga I/Otaki N.Z. whole nighthro 20-21.1.09”
SL1 MG13/6-3:2
Pencil sketch, “Rarot. I”, sides of a single leaf (torn) dated
18.10.09. The first side has been crossed out.
SL1 MG13/6-4:1
Blue-covered “music book”. Five sides of pencil sketches,
mainly “Fierce 1. Piece 3.” Some pencil notes on inside front
cover.
SL1 MG13/6-4:2
Text for “Fierce 1”. One side of notepaper.
SL1 MG13/6-4:3
Notes. 1 side.
SL1 MG13/6-4:4
Double leaf of sketches for “Rarotonga 1” (Bb major - 2 sides)
and 2 (2 sides).
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
11
Score cat. no.
Description
SL1 MG13/6-4:5
Double leaf AL. Manuscript music No 18, Rarotongan music
Collected by ---/noted by Percy Grainger, Otaki, N.Z. 2021.1.09”. Sides 1 & 2 staves of side 2 are a noting of Rarotonga
I, 75 bars marked “end’. Then follow 3 sides of notes with a
loose ½ sheet insert, (6) also of notes. Notepaper has been
pasted over music staves.
SL1 MG13/6-5:1
“Fierce Rarotonga I (Tu ma pa ne e tau mai nei)”. Collected and
phonographed 12.1.07 by A.J. Knocks in Otaki, N.Z.; noted by
P.G. 20-21.2.09, Otaki, N.Z. Two double leaves of 12-stave ms.
Paper stitched together by P.G. and containing 4½ sides of his
transcription. Ink and pencil. For 4 men’s voices.
SL1 MG13/6-5:2
“Rarotonga II”. Record I. Two double leaves of 10-stave ms.
Paper, AL No. 4, stitched together by P.G. and containing 3
sides of his transcription of section 1.
SL1 MG13/6-5:3
Pencil sketch “Rarotonga I (1947)”. Two sides of a single leaf,
14 staves. Dated 28-29 September, 1947.
SL1 MG13/6-5:4
“Rarotonga 2”. Three sides of a double leaf of 12-stave ms
paper. Ink, some pencil, no date.
The task of matching the recordings to Grainger’s transcriptions, all of
which are incomplete to some degree, and all but one of which (SL1
MG13/6-5:1) lack a text, is made even more difficult by the rather
interchangeable names appended to the scores. Thus, ‘A.J. Knocks’
Rarotongan record No. 1 orig’, identified as box 21, cylinder no. 1 in the
Grainger Museum catalogue, seems to appear in Grainger’s hand as sketch
SL MG13/6-5:2, headed ‘Rarotonga II/Record 1’. For the purposes of this
article, a summary of the most completed transcriptions, matched against the
box 22 copy recordings, is given in Table 3:
Table 3: Correspondences between the recordings and the transcriptions
Box 22 description
Score heading(s)
Score cat. no.
Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 1
Rarotongan Music – Rarotonga II
Record 1.
SL1 MG13/6-5:2
Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 2
Rarotongan Music
Rarotonga I.
SL1 MG13/6-4:5
Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 3
Fierce Rarotonga I.
Rarotn 3 – (Fierce I) – Piece III
SL1 MG13/6-5:1
12
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
Box 22 description
Score heading(s)
Score cat. no.
?
?
Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 5
?
?
-
Fierce I.
Text only]
SL1 MG13/6-4:2
-
Rarotonga I (1947)
SL1 MG13/6-5:3
Rarotonga (Knocks) No. 4
[The ‘Working Copy 4’
identifies this as Fierce I.
However, the version
performed is not quite the
same as Rarotonga 3]
[This does not obviously match any
of the recordings, and seems to be
a simplified version of the basic
outline of the songs. It is possible
that these pages, together with the
two double-sided, loose-leaf pages
marked ‘Draft Orchestrations’ (SL1
MG13/6-5:5 and 6-5:6) represent
Grainger’s sketches for an
unrealised work for orchestra and
voices based on the Rarotongan
material]
-
Rarotonga 2.
SL1 MG13/6-5:4
[This appears to be a much
sketchier version of SL1 MG13/65:2, possibly an earlier draft]
-
Draft Orchestrations
SL1 MG13/6-5:5
[These two double-sided
manuscript sheets include material
related to Rarotonga I (1947),
together with unidentified shortscore harmonium and orchestral
sketches. Various sections of the
‘Rarotongan’ material are marked
with letter names in red (also
present in Rarotonga I (1947)). The
relationship between the various
sketches is not clear, however.]
SL1 MG13/6-5:6
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
13
Editorial notes
In editing the various extant transcriptions of the Rarotongan part-songs, I
have sought to preserve Grainger’s original layout and notation. Whilst this
approach does not necessarily provide for the simplest performing edition, it
continues in the tradition, established by Grainger, of presenting the material
in as accurate a form as possible, free from simplification and the tendency
for editorial amendment. Because much of Grainger’s material is in draft
form, and seems to incorporate multiple attempts at transcription, only the
three most complete versions, identified as Rarotonga I, Rarotonga II and Fierce
Rarotonga I, have been edited. These correspond to Knocks’ recordings 2, 1
and 3 as given in Table 4:
Table 4: Correspondences between transcription titles, Grainger Museum catalogue
numbers and Knocks’ cylinder descriptions in edited transcriptions
Transcription title
Museum catalogue
no.
Cylinder description
Rarotongan Music /
Rarotonga I
SL1 MG13/6-4:5
Rarotonga No. 2
Rarotongan Music –
Rarotonga II / Record 1
SL1 MG13/6-5:2
Rarotonga No. 1
Fierce Rarotonga I / Rarotn 3
– (Fierce I) – Piece III
SL1 MG13/6-5:1
Rarotonga No. 3
Grainger’s transcriptions were made on large-format printed manuscript
paper in ink and are, for the most part, reasonably clear to read. The
transcriptions of Rarotonga I and Fierce Rarotonga I both contain several pencil
additions (some very faint and difficult to read), which Grainger has used to
notate passages where he was less certain, whilst the transcription of Rarotonga
II adopts the same practice, but includes both pencil and red ink additions. All
of these additions are represented in small notes in the current edition.
Throughout, Grainger’s inserted time signatures change where he chooses to
use bars of different length, but he omits rests for whole bars and, on many
occasions, for parts of bars. This practice has been retained in editing the
transcriptions, the vertical alignment of the various parts making his
intentions clear enough. Grainger made extensive accompanying notes to his
transcription of Rarotonga I (SL1 MG13 6/4:5), and these are presented, as far
as possible, in their original layout, with his characteristic idiosyncratic
spelling. The numerous crossed-out passages are, however, omitted. The
14
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
notes provide a fascinating insight into Grainger’s practices as a transcriber of
folk music, which go beyond ‘mere’ notational conversion, but which also
offer insightful speculation into the performance aesthetic of the singers.
Transcription and translation of the text
Fierce Rarotonga I (SL1 MG13/6-5:1) is the only transcription that contains a
sustained attempt to include the words sung by the Rarotongans. Some of the
words are included directly in Grainger’s transcription, in both ink and pencil,
although the additions are rather fragmentary and do not occur in all parts.
Additionally, there is a one-page transcription in ink on notepaper from the
Jubilee Hotel, Otaki (SL1 MG13/6-4:2), presumably made at the time of
Knocks’ first meeting with Grainger in January 1909. Finally, on 8 March
1909, Knocks sent Grainger a two-page letter containing his attempt at a
translation (Figure 3) in which he pointed out the inherent difficulty of
rendering the highly syllabic Polynesian language into English:
I tell you what I find in connection with my attempt at translation
of words of Rarotongan song into English, that to do anything like
justice to the composition it takes a lot of consideration, and it is a
matter that can not possibly be hurried, however to give you an
idea, I am sending herewith a rough copy, which will show what the
composer meant, but it is indeed rough as it now stands, the great
difficulty is, one is tied to so many syllables—or notes—no more no
less, and to make sense of it, or rather to translate without
destroying the sense of it, is difficult, you might easily improve on
what I have done, that is if you can find the time.36 All three sources
contain minor orthographical variations, with some sections
appearing in one source but not in another. As some of Grainger’s
text in the transcription is difficult to decipher, a comparative
reading across the versions confounds as much as it clarifies.
Neither Grainger nor Knocks makes use of hyphens to indicate
where phonemic components belong together as parts of a single
word, although Grainger does use some hyphens (inconsistently) in
the word underlay in the transcription. As the Rarotongan language
comprises a wide variation of a small number of phonemic
components, it is difficult to assess where words belong together or
exist as separate units. Knocks’ rather poetic translation, whilst
attempting to be true to the spirit of the verse, is of limited use in
clarifying the detail of the sung text, which is, at least in the
surviving recordings, extremely difficult to hear clearly.
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
15
1st Section
Solo
Ta
Ye
ma
pa
friends and
Chorus
Au
e
Love is
Solo
Ta
Ye
ma
pa
friends and
Chorus
Ra
But
ngi
me,
Solo
Au
Oh
ma
te
great, your
ro
ra
ki
and
ri
kin
te
king
tu
the
ku
gifts
tai
this
ra
day.
ro
ra
Ra
just
ngi
me,
au
cy
e
me
} repeat
e
see
te
the
tu
ta
a
youth shy - ly
te
ta
ma - king
ne
love (2nd)
wha
mem
kaa
ber
ro
the
ko
gifts
te
of
tu
ku
dear-est
nga
a
friends, kith
Te
tai
Poor we
tu
can
ku
not
tai
give
a
in
ra
like
u
re
e
[?]
E
Pa
pa
rent
ko
ma
te
king
tu
the
ku
gift,
e
pa
pa
rent
ko
ma
Ko
Who
wai
te
made ma
tu
ny
ku
hun
nga
dred
rai
gifts
Ko
The
nu
ku
kind - ness
nu
the
ku
nga
kind - ness
ki
our
ri
kin
tu
end
nga
ing
o
of
kia
days
with
o
then
her
ti
nga
come to
days com
ra
end
plete)
Kia
mau
Ta - ken
lu
Hei
The
ra,
fan
ko
Oh
a
of
te
mu
hap - py
nui
te
ma
ra
is
made clear and
moon is
at
the
ma
our
full
i
maua kia
mau te
ma
ra
a-way when know ledge comes to
ma
stay
o
ori
ri
sooth ing
gain
ta
whi
ri
i
te
a
with
mu
sic
sing
well
come a
mau
a -
e
way
Hei
as
pe
a
re
sou
ra
ve
ro
nir (repeatedly)
ra
our
ro
an
mai
cient
au
e
home gra
o
ta
cious love
pu
best
ra
of
pu
seed
ra
free
pa
all
ori
whi
laby
a
Kia
mau
Ta - ken
5th Section
Solo
O
In
Chorus
ra
ra
4th Section
Solo
i
Chorus
nei.
here.
ma
i
pa - rents
3rd Section
Solo
Ki
a
When all
(or) (When the
Chorus
ra
ro
greet us
i
see
Te
mu - tu - nga
Sweet est
end - ing
(fragment) Wa i nei
mai
gifts
tau
mai
nei
ki
ga - ther’d near, that
ne
we
2nd Section
Solo
Kia
Re
Chorus
ma
e
pa - rents
ra
from
ua
from
wa
tu
aye
ku
gifts
a
kau
ta
gain
and
yet
pai
each
pai
weed
P.S. Section 5 with chorus really means that the Rarotongans of Cook Islands and Maoris of Otaki
New Zealand love each other as a kindred race etc
Figure 3: A.J. Knocks, Translation of the text for Fierce Rarotonga, from his letter to
Percy Grainger, 8 March 1909, Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne
16
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
Knocks had previously attempted his own transcription of part of one of
the ‘fierce’ Rarotongan songs, with words and a translation, which he sent to
Grainger on 23 January 1909 (Example 1).37 However, the melodic line is not
obviously related to Grainger’s transcriptions (Knocks was clearly not as
skilled as Grainger in this respect) and the words do not match those given in
Knocks’ own versions of the text for Fierce Rarotonga.
(Part of a Rarotongan Song)
Probably some
of the notes under
close scrutiny will
be found incorrect
Translated by
AJ Knocks
Otaki
The Parting
Wai - ho i - ho
Fare - well We love
ra
i
thee, may
re
wa
bless - ings
hi
rest
nei
over
O - ta
O - ta
-
ki
ki
no
un
-
ho
til
i all
(hold this note while these other 6 are played and sung)
ho
ma
things do
hi
die
nei
ra - ngi
con - stant this
hi - a
love hear
mai
our
nei,
cry
ra - ngi
With its
hi
sad
a
par
-
mai
ting
nei
sigh
Example 1: A.J. Knocks, Transcription of part of a Rarotongan song, from his letter
to Percy Grainger, 23 January 1909, Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne
Afterword
Whilst Grainger’s transcriptions of the Rarotongan part-songs remained
unfinished, the impression these songs made on him was sufficiently strong to
ensure that he regularly cited their influence on his compositional outlook
throughout his life. As transcriptions made from second-hand recordings,
they join the unfinished sketches of indigenous music from Australia, Somalia,
Yemen and Africa that Grainger encountered at the height of his folk music
collecting activities in the early years of the 20th century. Many of Grainger’s
early experimental pieces exhibit characteristics similar to the manyvoicedness and kaleidoscopic ‘harmonic and polyphonic happenings’ found in
the Rarotongan music, whilst echoes of Polynesian languages can be found in,
among others, Scotch strathspey and reel (1901–11) and The Lonely desert man sees
the tents of the happy tribes (1911–49), the latter’s ‘Tam pam pa ra di da’ being an
amalgamation of the more extreme phonetic modification heard in many
English folk tunes and the language of the ‘fierce’ Rarotongan songs. Grainger
more successfully mined ethnographic recordings in the 1930s when he
encountered examples of music from India (Bahariyale V. Palaniyandi), Bali
(Gamelan Anklung: Berong Pengètjèt), Java (Sekar Gadung), and Madagascar
(Mampahory Ny Masoandro Seranin-Javona), from the gramophone record set,
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
17
Musik des Orients.38 Grainger finally returned to his Rarotongan sketches in
1947 (see Table 3), and the two-page transcription of Rarotonga I from that
period (SL1 MG13/6-5:3), together with the orchestral drafts (SL1 MG13/65:5 & 6), suggest that he had planned further work.
However, it is to Random round, a piece the composer described as ‘[not]
“significant,” but possibly amusing’,39 that we must look to find the most
complete and sustained influence of Grainger’s Rarotongan experience. One
of his most far-sighted musical explorations, an experiment in ‘Concerted
Partial Improvisation’,40 Random round occupied Grainger at several points
throughout his compositional life. The genesis of this fascinating piece and its
relationship to the Rarotongan part-songs forms the next section of this
article, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures: Towards Random round’, to be
published in no. 3 of Grainger Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
Paul Jackson is a pianist, conductor and academic based in Cambridge,
England. He is Head of Music and Performing Arts at Anglia Ruskin
University, where he teaches and researches composition, improvisation,
electro-acoustic music, 20th-century musicology and music entrepreneurship. He has a particular interest in the music of Percy Grainger, and has
recently contributed to The new Percy Grainger companion, published by
Boydell and Brewer.
This article has been independently peer-reviewed. It was published on
10 August 2012.
NOTES
Percy Grainger, Letter to Rose Grainger, 21 January 1909 (from Grand Hotel,
Palmerston North, New Zealand), in Kay Dreyfus (ed.), The farthest north of humanness:
Letters of Percy Grainger 1901–1914, South Melbourne; Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1985
(hereafter The farthest north of humanness), p. 264.
2 A.J. Knocks, Letter to Percy Grainger, 7 March 1909, Grainger Museum, University
of Melbourne.
3 For a comprehensive account of Grainger’s interest in Polynesian arts and craft, and
his experiences with Knocks, see Graham Barwell, ‘Percy Grainger and the early
collecting of Polynesian music’, Journal of New Zealand Studies, nos. 2–3, 2005, pp. 1–17.
4 For further biographical information, see Historical Journal, vol. 5, Otaki Historical
Society, 1982, pp. 30–32.
5 A.J. Knocks, Letter to Percy Grainger, 1 June 1909, Grainger Museum, University of
Melbourne.
6 The precise circumstances of Knocks’ recordings are not known. However, one of
the recordings (‘Rarot 2’) contains Knocks’ confirmation of the place and date of
1
18
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
recording (Otaki, 12 January 1907), which confirms that the singers travelled to Otaki
during the period of the International Exhibition (see also note 37). After hearing
Knocks’ recordings for the first time, Grainger sent a telegram to Rose Grainger
during the afternoon of 20 January 1909 with the simple message: ‘NEVER HEARD
THE LIKE TREAT EQUAL TO WAGNER I AM GODLY LUCKY LOVE
PERCY’ (The farthest north of humanness, p. 263).
7 James Cowan, Official record of the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and
Industries, held at Christchurch 1906–7. A descriptive and historical account, Wellington:
Government Printer, 1910, p. 310. The record contains a highly evocative and
detailed account of the meeting of the Rarotongan and Maori singers (pp. 353–60).
8 Cowan, Official record of the New Zealand International Exhibition, p. 353.
9 Percy Grainger, ‘Characteristics of Nordic music’, in Malcolm Gillies and Bruce
Clunies Ross (eds), Grainger on music, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999
(hereafter Grainger on music), p. 259.
10 See Grainger’s articles ‘Nordic characteristics in music’ (1921) and ‘Characteristics
of Nordic music’ (1933), reproduced in Grainger on music, pp. 131–40 and 258–66;
Music: A commonsense view of all types: A synopsis of twelve illustrated lectures, Melbourne:
Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1934, reproduced in John Blacking,
A commonsense view of all music, Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp. 151–80; and [The
centrality of race], [Pure-Nordic beauty], [A flawlessly Nordic way of living] and [The
truly Nordic life] (all 1933), excerpted from The Aldridge-Grainger-Ström saga,
reproduced in Malcolm Gillies, David Pear and Mark Carroll (eds), Self-portrait of Percy
Grainger, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 132–43.
11 Knocks states that he ‘would be delighted to get a copy, or two, of the Rarotongan
music that you & your friend are working at’ (A.J. Knocks, Letter to Percy Grainger,
8 February 1910, Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne). However, it appears
that no such work, or performance, materialised.
12 Percy Grainger, Letter to Rose Grainger, 21 January 1909, in The farthest north of
humanness, p. 265.
13 Percy Grainger, Letter to Roger Quilter, 31 January 31 1909, in John Bird, Percy
Grainger, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 147–8.
14 Percy Grainger, ‘Round letter’, May–June 1924, in Malcolm Gillies and David Pear
(eds), The all-round man: Selected letters of Percy Grainger, 1914–1961, New York: Oxford
University Press, 1994, pp. 68–73.
15 The names of the Rarotongan singers given in the official record do not obviously
correspond with those annotated by Grainger in his transcription of Rarotonga II
[SL1 MG13 6/5:2], which appear in faint pencil at the head of the manuscript paper.
The names are not clearly audible on the extant recordings, so it is possible that the
differences arise from Grainger’s attempts at a phonetic realisation, and the
orthographic transliteration of the heard sounds used in the official record.
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
19
Percy Grainger, ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’, Musical Quarterly,
vol. 1, no. 3, 1915, pp. 42–5.
17 Percy Grainger, ‘Democracy in music’ (1931), in Grainger on music, pp. 217–22. He
concludes this text by stating that, ‘For me democratic music is only a halfway house
on the road to “free music” ’, defining the latter in 1952 as: ‘1) Melody freed from the
tyranny of harmony; 2) Harmony freed from the narrow conceptions of concordance;
3) Intervallic freedom unrestrained by the hampering confines of scale & key;
4) Rhythm freed from the constant in-step-ness-with-Jim (coincidence between the
rhythms of the various voices); 5) Musical form freed from unsuitable “architectural”
conceptions’. (Percy Grainger, Unpublished address to American Guild of Organists,
29 December 1952, cited in Grainger on music, p. 376, note 10).
18 Grainger, ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’.
19 Grainger, ‘Democracy in music’, p. 217. See also Malcolm Gillies, ‘Grainger, early
music, democracy and freedom’, Grainger Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, no. 1, 2011,
pp. 21–33.
20 Ben Etherington, ‘Said, Grainger and the ethics of polyphony’, in Ned Curthoys
and Debjani Ganguly (eds), Edward Said: The legacy of a public intellectual, Carlton:
Melbourne University Press, 2007, p. 231.
21 Percy Grainger, Transcription of Rarotonga I, SL1 MG13/6-4:5, Grainger Museum,
University of Melbourne.
22 Grainger, ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’, p. 425.
23 See Cecil Sharp, English folk-song: Some conclusions, London: Simpkin, 1907, p. 109.
24 The cataloguing of the Grainger cylinders was undertaken by Helen Reeves, and is
reproduced in the International Association of Sound Archives, Australian Branch Newsletter,
no. 17, July 1984.
25 The poor quality has doubtlessly been exacerbated by the deterioration of the
original cylinders and Grainger’s early copies, now over 100 years old. Knocks thanks
Grainger for arranging copies to be made, noting that ‘the records are really a
splendid reproduction’ and telling Grainger ‘not [to] trouble about sending back the
original Rarotongan records, as I have now got from you such superior duplicates’
(A.J. Knocks, Letter to Percy Grainger, 8 February 1910, Grainger Museum,
University of Melbourne).
26 Knocks mentions a mix-up in the transference of the recordings from Knocks to
Grainger, and suggests there were six original Rarotongan records (A.J. Knocks,
Letter to Percy Grainger, 23 January 1909, Grainger Museum, University of
Melbourne). Grainger later arranged for the cylinders to be copied to acetate discs by
the Library of Congress.
27 See Erkki Pekkilä, ‘History, geography, and diffusion: Ilmari Krohn’s early influence
on the study of European folk music’, Ethnomusicology, vol. 50, no. 2, spring/summer
2006, pp. 353–9, for a summary of Krohn’s practices and influences of the work of
Bartók.
16
20
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
See, for example, the transcriptions ‘Six dukes went a-fishin’ ’ (two versions), ‘Three
dukes went a-fishin’ ’, ‘The “rainbow” ’, ‘The north-country maid’ and ‘Rufford Park
poachers’, Journal of the Folk-Song Society, no. 12, vol. 3, no. 3, May 1908.
29 Grainger, ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’, p. 417.
30 Grainger, ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’, p. 421.
31 In the essay entitled ‘The impress of personality in traditional singing’ Grainger
noted that ‘Behind all this variegated mass of personal characteristics the collector,
and the student of accurately noted variants, may feel the throb of the communal pulse,
[my italics] but each single manifestation of it is none the less highly individualistic
and circumscribed by the temperamental limitations of each singer’. (Journal of the FolkSong Society, no. 12, vol. 3, no. 3, May 1908, p. 163).
32Percy Grainger, Transcription of Rarotonga I, SL1 MG13/6-4:5, Grainger Museum,
University of Melbourne.
33 Grainger eventually visited Rarotonga in 1924, hoping to hear live examples of the
music he had encountered through Knocks’ recordings. He met Knocks again on the
occasion but only experienced contemporary dance music: ‘In the evening an
Australian man & I went to a dance in which the natives danced with themselves &
with the sailors & stewards from our boat. No native music but quite jolly playing of
accordians [sic], guitars & ukuleles by natives, very musical & rhythmic.’ (Percy
Grainger, ‘Round letter’, May–June 1924, Grainger Museum, University of
Melbourne).
34 Blacking, A commonsense view of all music, p. xi.
35 Kay Dreyfus, Percy Grainger music collection part three: 1st supplementary list and index,
Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne Library, 1995, pp. 197–8.
36 A.J. Knocks, Letter to Percy Grainger, 8 March 1909, Grainger Museum, University
of Melbourne.
37 Knocks writes: ‘herewith I send you three lines of an attempt to write the music,
and translation of the words into English, of course it is a hurried translation, and
with a little time the words could be put into much prettier shape, however they
express the feeling in which the Rarotongan’s sang on the Eve of their departure from
Otaki’. A.J. Knocks, Letter to Percy Grainger, 23 January 1909, Grainger Museum,
University of Melbourne.
38 Erich Moritz von Hornbostel, Musik des Orients: Eine Schallplattenfolge, Berlin:
Lindstrom A.-G., 1931). English edition: Music of the Orient, London: Parlophone Co.,
1934).
39 Percy Grainger, Letter to Karen Holten [original in Danish], 8 November 1912, in
Farthest north of humanness, p. 473.
40 Grainger, ‘The impress of personality in unwritten music’, p. 431–3.
28
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
21
Percy Grainger, Transcription of [Rarotonga I] (SL1 MG13
6/4:5, Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne)
Rarotonga I.
1
section 1
Actual notes;
without determining
which part was sung
by which particular
singer.
?
{
?4
4
{
œ œœœ œ
Collected by [....]
noted by Percy Grainger,
Otaki; N.Z. 20-21.1.09.
Rarotongan music
Certainties (more or less)
are given in ink;
uncertainties in pencil*
œ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ ˙
J
p
?4
4
Ó
%
E
? etc
? etc
Ó
?
e ?e ™
Œ eœ eœ ™™
p
Œ
Ó
œ œ œ5 œ œ
Œ
eej ee ee eeœ eeœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ œ? œ
œœ œ
J
œ
œ ˙
œ œœ˙
etc
? œe e e e eœ e eœœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eeœ eœ eœ eœ eÓœeœeœ œe ee ee ee ee ee ee
Ó
Œ
or
louden gradually in all voices
? œ œ ˙
{
œœœ œœ
˙
œ 4˙
2
4Œ
4
? œœe œe œœe œœe œœe œe 2 eœ e eœ 4 eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ
4
4
soften
?2 œ œ œ 3 e e e e e
4
4
{
eœ
ee eeœ
? 2 eœ eœ eœ 3 eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ œ 4 Ė˙
œ
4
4
4
J
‰ mp >
(marked)
section 2
œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ25
œ
3
?4
4
4
{
sff
mf
?4
4
sff
e ˙
Œ
œ
?
e e e e E
4E
4
eœ ee ee ee ee ee ee
e
œœ œ
p
20
U
p
mp
˙™
ee eeœ w
˙w
œ
Ó
œ 2 œœœ 3 œ
4
4
pause
U
w
w
w
u
Œ
u
f
ee e ee ee ee œe ˙™
eee
ee
E˙
Œ œ 43 œ eœ œ 42 œ e œ 43 e˙™ e e e 44 œ œ œ eœ eœ eœ
> >
sff
sff
f
Ó
œ œ >œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
3
J
4
4
30
xx
sf
?j
j >
e
e
œ œ œ œ œœ e eœ œ 3 eeœ œ œe œe œe e
? e ee ee ee e eœ 3 eœ œeœ eeœ eœ eœ eœ eœ eœ œe 4 œ™
4
4
4
{
xx or:
œ œ œ œ œ
>œ œ >œ
œ 4˙
4
f
a œ e e e e ej e ‰ >j ‰ >j
J3
?
2
4
or
ej eeœ eœ eœ 2
4
ee ee ee ee ee eœe ˙˙
œ œ œ
?
œ
very full & clingingly
15
e™ e E
10
a
Œ Œ
œ 4 œ™
4
2
4
œ œ
3
4
2 eœ e e 3
4
4
?
* Here rendered as small notes and text.
22
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
œ
?3 œ
4
{
sf
35
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 40œ œ œ
mf
2Œ œ 4
3
4
4
4
mp
˙ j e
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e e e e e ee 3
2 e e e e 3 E˙ œœ œ 2 œ eœ œ 4 œ œ e e e e
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4
3
4
45
.
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4 Ó
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?
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4
4
4
4
4
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4
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2œ
4
.
? œ
>œ œ
˙
%
{
{
Ulong
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u
? eœe œ eœe œ eœe eœe
pause
{
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?
?
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4
sf
e
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4
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sf
sf
eeœ
sf
sf
boldly
œ 3 œ
J 4
Π44
œj slide
? œ
2
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{
˙
œ œ
˙
? eeœ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ 2 ˙˙˙
4
f
w
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3
4
?
2
4Œ
œ œ #œ œ e
60
4
4
œ e >œ
œ
f
55
œ œ
e œ œ
4 eœ œ eœ œ œ œee
4
**
œ™ œ œ
œ slide œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
œ
4
3
J
4
4
œ™ œœj œœ œ 4 œœ œ œjœœ œjœœ eœœ œ œœ œ eœ œ eœ œ œ œ œ
3 Ϫ
œœœœ
J
4
4
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>œ
65
3œœœœœœ2œ œ 4œ
4
4
4
? œœœœÓ
Ó
.
œ
? œœ œœ œœ œœ eeœ eeœ
-
>
w
e e e ?e
?
? e
œ œ œ œ œ 42 eœ eœ eœ 43 eœ œ œ œ œ œ 42 eœ >œ 44 e e e e e e e e
.
- -
{
œ œ
2
4
3
4
p
f
>
3 eœ ? eœe œe œe 4 ? Eœ˙™ œ œ œ œ œœ œ 3 eœ eœ eœ eœ
4
4
4
-- - ?
œ.
50
#œ œ
f
u
long
?4
4
section 3
U
2
4
.
œ œ70 œ œ œ œ œ œ soften
œ œ œ -œ œ
? œ Œ œ œ 3
4
. >
?e
œœe ˙œ ™ œ œ
œ
eœ œ œ
œ #œe œœ
3 œe œ œ
?
4
{
œ œ œ
œ
75
˙™
pp
long
w
eœœ eœœ eœœ U
w
ulong
?
2
** Grainger originally wrote this bar as two bars of 4 but later deleted the bar line without amending the bar numbers.
This has resulted in the misplacement of bar 70. Grainger's incorrect barring has been retained however, to avoid
confusion with the examples given in the accompanying notes.
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
œœœ
mp
.
œœj ‰œ
>.
end
mp
23
Percy Grainger, Notes to [Rarotonga I] (SL1 MG13 6/4:5,
Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne)
(bars 29, 30)
a
a
These bars are very hard to make out in the record.
Bar 30 has very strong limping syncopations, most banjolike in effect on the
phonograph.
One of the singers (top singer?) may have caused this effect
by singing out of time somesuch phrase as the following:
!
So that it became:
" " " " "! " " $" $" " "
# # #
(
$$$$$ $ $ $
$
#
"!
)
etc.
Comparison with the corresponding passage in the 3rd section (bars 54, 55, 56, 57) suggests that such a
passage is not unlikely, maybe somewhat like:
$ $ $ $ $ $
# !!
$ $ $
!"
$
€$ €
% %
$$ $ $ $ $
# !! $$ $$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$ !" $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $$ $$ $$ $$
(29)
or
etc.
etc.
$
# !" $$ $ $$ $$ $$ $ $$ $$
Or the passage may have been more on the following lines:
# !!
$
$ $ $ $
$ $ $ $$ $
# !! $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$
(29)
or:
!
"
" " #
$ $$ $$
!"
$
$ % $
$$$ $$$ $$$ $ $ $$ $$
!" $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
" """
etc.
etc.
" $ " "
" " " ""
! "" "" "" "" "" """ "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
etc.
Section 1 is sung with much more tenderness than the 2 following sections, which are fierce, brisk, &
sharply pattering, the earlier portions of them, at any rate[.]
It is well nigh impossible from merely hearing the phonograph record only to determine which notes
of the foregoing were allotted to which particular singer of the 4. But it is pretty easy to distinguish the
leading singer (top singer) from the rest. One voice seems to restrict itself to singing the keynote,
(keynote singer) or arabesques around it throughout. But as all 4 parts often dwell upon the keynote it
is at times hard to distinguish the work of the singer from that of the others, but as a rule his effects
24
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
are more vigorously rhythmic than those of the 3 other voices, & in fierce moment such as bars 28-31,
32-35, 57-61, the quickly sung syllables of his text hammer & rattle like drums. At times again, the
singer seems to take rhythm into his own hands, ignoring that of the others (knowing that his keynote
will always harmoniously fit in with whatever else is going on) with whose rhythmic pulse his beats no
longer fall together. It is difficult for me to distinguish between intention & accident in such a case as
this, having no experience of the customs of performance that are in this music.
The lowest voice (bottom singer) comes next to the top singer in prominence & distinguishableness,
except the endnote of his phrases, which is almost invariably the keynote, when it becomes wellnigh
impossible to tell him apart from the keynote singer. If it is his
custom to end his phrase on reaching the keynote, (as
!! ! ! !
"
! ! ! #
then we find in this music, the topsinger & bottomsinger engaged in an endless dovetailing of short
phrases, each beginning when, or nearly when[,] the other ends; as follows:
! #"
! " " " $" " " " ""
%
'
!
$ % % % % % % % !" & % "# %
(56)
$ %
&"! " $" " " " " "" $" " etc.
or:
'
%(% "" % % % % % % % % & % % % % % ) ' '% % % % %
%%%% %%%%% % % )
It maybe, however, that he joins in with the keynote singer on reaching the keynote, continuing upon
that note until the start of the next phrase. This would change the 2 above examples to:
'
! #"
! " " " " " " " " "" $"! " &" " &" " "
%
(
'
%%
!
$ % % % % % % % !" & % "# %% ! %%) %% % %% % % % %% % %% %
"" "" "" " "" "" "
etc.
%% %%&% % etc.
%%%% %%%%
etc.
(56)
The indestinct f# in bar 73 seems to suggest a descent of the bottomsinger from the keynote to
the d of his next phrase,
! " " " "!#"" " " " "
etc.
unless it be that the
(71)
?
! " " " " !#"
" "" "" "" ""
keynotesinger
keynotesinger is responsible for the indestinct note, &
the correct allotment of parts as follows:
(71)
etc.
bottomsinger
The least distinguishable singer is the 4th (accompanying singer) whose work his on & around the 3rd of
the key (b)[.] A sound of b is very continuous throout the record but it is hard to me to tell whether is
it a note sung by his accompanying singer, or merely strong overtones of the g of the keynote singer.
In some places this singer has pretty clearly distinguishable, (such as bars 15, 20, 58-60, etc) & I incline
to believe that he sang almost as continuously as the keynote singer, only less loudly, in most places.
Is the
!
"""" "
in bar 56 sung by him, maybe? And ought this passage to read
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
25
!
" " "" #
"
"
" "
$
! "" " "" " "" "" """"" """""""""""""""
Maybe the keynotesinger never leaves
the keynote at all, & all the a, b, cs in the
piece (except those of the topsinger) are
taken by the accompanying singer, so
that bars 61-62, for inst, should read:
f
etc.
"#
etc.
But this suggestion does violence to the
otherwise neverbroken rule that the top
voice ends each phrase on the keynote.
accent
singer
topsinger as before
keynote
singer
! "" "" "" """""""" """""""""" ""
bottom
singer
# $
(61)
"""" """"" "
etc.
The aforementioned dovetailing of top voice & bottom voice phrases is probably answerable for the
strangeness that European ears will probably feel in bars 41-42, 46-47, & 61-62. But probably, to the
Rarotongan ear, there is nothing “final” (calling for harmonic finality in other parts) in the gs that [???]
[???] end the topsingers phrases. I suggest, in all tentativeness, after observing the upbuild of this piece,
that the Rarotongans probably may feel finality (if they ever do so at all) when the bottom voice
reaches the keynote. Against this view, however, the ending of section 1 maybe be quoted, where the
bottomsinger ends his phrase without reaching the keynote. Note, however, that his d is not sustained
like the g, b, d of the 3 upper voices, which thus bring the section to a close with the keynote for bass,
after all.
Note that the range & phrases of the top voice, keynotesinger, & bottomvoice are arranged so that
they have no opportunity for crossing each other. The phrase dovetailing habit further ensures
freedom from the dischordant simultaneous sounds of e in the top voice & d in the bottomvoice, &
vice versa, for the bottomsinger is either silent or sounding the keynote while the topsinger moves
about on d & e, & the topsinger is concerned with c, b, a, g while the bottomsinger sounds d & e.
a The simultaneous sounding of e & d in these voices in bar 50, may (but I do not at all wish to “explain
away” discords) be due to a faulty (too early) entry of the bottomvoice, (proper entry in bar 52?) or to
its taking to the e too early, instead of staying on keynote as it seemingly does in the corresponding
passage in section 2 (bars 24-29).)
b The same discord (d & e) in bar 63 may also be due to
a too early entry of the accompanying singer. Maybe
bars 62-63 would more properly represent the
Rarotongan harmonic standards if they read:
or:
# "! $ $ $ $ % &
&
(
'
# "! $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $ $
$ $
etc.
etc.
! """"#
#
""
%
$
! "" "" "" "" "" "" " " " " " "
etc.
compare kindred passages; bars 36-37, 42-43,
68-69. With the exception of these 2
instances, a & b no 7ths occur, except d
(bottom voice) & c (top voice) which discord
is seemingly not avoided at all.
Surely these customs show that the Rarotongans do not move the different parts of this polyphonic
music about merely with a sense for “melodic line”, but point to their having well developed harmonic
consciousness; that is to say that they are conscious of the harmonic results of moving parts, &
regulate these movements accordingly, courting certain discordant effects which they probably like &
avoiding others, (which they probably dislike)
26
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
Percy Grainger, Transcription of [Rarotonga II] (SL1 MG13
6/5:2, Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne)
Rarotongan Music
Rarotonga II
Record 1.
indistinct
Opens with list of names. Pau-ua, Tua-ua, Tipikirau, Naubahan, Tikaru, Uka,
g
Ukawaru, Uaru, Waawau-u, Hakau-paro-ku-parau, Oapaku, Ngaka.
au
Comparative certainties in black ink. Faint & doubtful notes in red ink.

Keys
Bb
C
D
Between Eb & E§
Between E§ & F
{
{
{
M. M.
q = about 196
q = about 208
h = about 112
h = about 126
h = about 138
Section 1.
>3
b?
œ 45 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 44 œ œ œ ˙
&
mp
3
5
4
&
4
4
very long
U
& w
œ slide
p
(e
e
or
)
indistinct ?
Π45
4Ó
4
5
4
4Œ
4
&
& Œ Œ œ
mp
>
œ œ œœœœ œ œ
œ
3
&
nœ
. .
& œ œ œ
& œ œ Œ
>. >.
œ
œ œ
Œ
Œ
œ
>j
œ œ œ œ œ ‰
œ
f
mf
œ œ
™
& ˙
1
4œ
4 œ
4
1
4œ
>
a
1
4
4 <n#> >œ.
4 ?
4
œ
>
mf u
- a
&
œ
u
j
œ ‰
œ œ œ œ?
¿
-.
œ
j
œ
sf
or
˙™
œ œ
3
3
œ œ œ
¿
Ϫ
§ or #
œ
œ œ
mp
mp
?
œ
>.
œ œ œ œ œ
Ϫ
œ œ œ œ œ.
>
œ
mp
mf
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
Œ
1
˙
2
4
3
4Œ
2
4œ œ
3
4œ
2
4
3
4
mp
4
4
>. 2
1
4
& œ œ œ œ œ œ 4œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ 4Œ
mp
j‰ ‰ j
e
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ- œ œ.
mf
j
œ
3
œ œ œ
p (or mp)
?
2
œ
f
œ
or
& ‰
¿1*
œ
>1
¿
j
j
œœœœ œ œ‰ ‰ œ
mp
f
2
mp
œ œ
u - a
3
œ œ 4œ œ œ œ
mf
* These and subsequent similar markings are not explained in Grainger's transcription.
Presumably, these were to refer to a table of explanatory notes.
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
27
4
˙™
& œ œ œ œ
{
{
u - a
mf
u - a
warmly
2
œ
mp
&
œ
˙
4˙
4
3
4
4
4
3
4 ˙™
4
mf
œ
p
u
-œ œu - œ-
- a
very slightly
faster
2
&4
3
4
3
j‰ Œ
œœœœ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ -œ. -œ. 4 œ œ œ
mf <n#>
?
.j
3
.
3
4
œ ‰ œ œ ˙
œ ‰
4 œ œ œ œ 4 ˙™
J
>
>
mp
mf
u - a
u - a
>
3
4
œ
Œ
œ
œ
4
4œ
2
&4 ˙
3
4˙
& œ
2
&4
?
2
&4 œ
-.
œ
>.
>
¿
3
4Œ
Œ
4
4
¿
4
4
low notes
œ
mf
?
& w
&
4
3
2
4œ œ œ œ 4œ
u - a u -a
& œœœœ
3
4
œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
2
4
Œ
rhythm indistinct
Œ
&
Œ
œ œ
4
4
¿4
3
4
Œ
3
4
¿4
.
j
œ ‰ œ™ œ œ
mf
œ™ œ œ
w
4f
4
¿5 œ
4 ™
4œ
j
œ œ œ œ œ œ
mf
mf
¿
œ
?
¿
2
3
4
4 Œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ™ œ œ 4 œ
3
œ œ- œ- 4 >œ
œ
j
œ. ‰
>
‰
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
.j
œ‰
4
3
u - a
3
?
{
f
mp
& ˙
&
¿3
3 >œ ˙
4
sf
2
4Œ œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ-
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
3
4
{
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
Ó
¿˙
5
& w
mp
very long
U
w
w
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
> > > > > > >.
f
28
very slightly
faster
3
4 œœœœ
3
Œ
&
f
4w
4
p
Œ
p
œ
¿6
very slight
˙
(spoken:) Ka pa rau!
Œ
Section 1 noted
18.10 - 4.11.09.
Grainger Studies, number 2, 2012
Percy Grainger, Transcription of [Fierce Rarotonga I]
(SL1 MG13 6/5:1, Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne)
Fierce Rarotonga I.
(Tu ma pa ne e tau mai mei)
noted 20-21. 2. 09.
Otaki. N.Z.
by Percy Grainger
collected & phonographed (12. 1. 07?)
by A. J. Knocks, in Otaki. N. Z.
sung by 4 men's voices
Rarotn 3
Solo-Singer
&
{
Piece III
4œ œ œ œ 3œ œ œ 4œ œ œ œœ
4
4
4
˙™
Section 1.
Very fast
Tu ma pa ne
e tau mai
4
4
?#
4
4
3
4
4
4
>œ. U
4
J ‰ 4
3
4
4 Œ e˙™ E
4
w
?# U
(tuning up)
e
3
4
{
{
{
ke
ra ro ra
? #3
4
ra ro ra
ran gi ran gi ra
#5
& 4
&
&
au e te tu ta a te
ran gi ra au - e
ma ti ma ne e
au - e
œœœ œ œ
w
œ
œ
Tu
3
4
ta
Tu ma
w
pa
w
(a)u - e
œ
˙
3
4
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ
ran gi ran gi ra
w
#œ
3 ™
4˙
ta
6
4w
˙™
ne.
?
ni
U
∑
œ œœœœœœœ œ
au - e te tu ta a te ta - ne.
6
4
∑
œ œ œ 6
4
∑
∑
ran gi ran gi ra
3 ˙™
4
œ Œ
œ
U
w™
w™
e
-
-
-
-
œœœ 2 œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
3
4
ee
œœ 4œœœœœ 4œ œœœœœ
4
4
Ki a wha
2
4
ka - ro
4
4
?#
2
4
4
4
?#
2
4
4
4
ne
œœœ œ œ
ma
Section 2
3
#
au - e
e
2
6œ
4œ œ <n#>œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ
?# 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ
4
4
#
œœœ œ œ
change of pitch
#4
3
& 4œ œœœœœœ 4 œ ˙
?# 4
4
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
e
mi na mi na tur no mai - ke
œ 4œ œ œ ˙
4
? #3 ˙
4
nei.
œ œ œ œ
Œ œ œ œ 43 œ œ œ œ œ
4œ œ œ œ Œ
4
4
4
{
Œ
e
ie
ke
ro
4 Œ e˙ ™ E
4
or
#3 œ œ œ
4
& 4
œ 4œ œ œ ˙
#3 ™
& 4˙
nei ke ra
#
&
Chorus
#
(Fierce I)
ko te tu kunga a
ki ri
te
ta - e tu ku tai
3
4
3
4
œ œ
œ
Paul Jackson, ‘Percy Grainger’s aleatoric adventures’
a - ra u e. E
pa ko te tu ku, e
œ 4w
4
au
e
e 4e e e e e œ
4
>œ.
J‰u
ia
2
4
2
4
2
4
œ 3 œ œ œ œ auœ 4 œ%e œ œ œ œ œ œ 2
4
4
4
29
#2 œ
& 4
{
{
{
{
pa
œ >œ 43 œ >œ œ >œ Œ
#2
& 4˙
ko te
? # 42 œ
œ >œ 3 œ >œ œ >œ œ
4
tu ku tu ku
>œ
œ.
œ
ko
>œ
wai
œ.
te
>
? # 42 eE e e 43 eE ™ e e e #œ œ œ
œ.
œ
3
4˙
Œ
œ
a
#3 ™
& 4 ˙
œ œ œ œ œ œ 2 œ œ œ 44 œ œ
œ œ
œ
4
ki ri te mu tun ga
Ϫ
ko te mu tu
œœ
J
? # 43
? # 43 œ œ œ
e™
>œ
4œ œ œ ‰
4
J
ba
3
4
Œ
nga o tae ra
4˙
4
Ó
4
4
>œ œ œ œ œ
3
4
4 Ϫ
4
3
4
4 Ϫ
4
4 Ϫ
4
∑
œ œ
J
? # 42 œ
4
4
œ
œ œ 3˙
4
4 >˙
4
œ
œ œ 3 œ œ >œ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
4
4
wa - i
œ œ œ œ
œ œ 43 œ
3 ™
4˙
œœ3œ
4
œœ
J
wa - i
nei
œ 4 œ™
4
œ œ
J
œœœœ
3œœe
4
3
4œ œ œ œ
˙
3
4 ‰ œJ œ
w
i
˙
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 3
4
3 œ œ
4‰ J
nei
> >
>>
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 43 œj œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ 44 e e e e e e e
(no pause) Section 3
∑
Ki a nui te ma ra ma
#4
& 4œ œ œ˙
∑
? # 44
∑
? # 44 w
˙
w
œœ
J
?
œ œ ˙
>
œ œ œ œ 43 œ œ œ 44 w
#4
& 4˙
ru ku nga ku nga
3 ™
4
4 œ œJ œ 4 w
4 >˙
4
œ
œ œ œ œ œ
J
ko
wa
#2
œ
& 4Œ
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