"Ku'u Lei Awapuhi Melemele" arr. Keola Beamer

Friends:

Aloha

I know it may be unexpected to be seeing a Hawaiian tune on the first of December, but often the work I do here is a reflection of current events in my life. I recently reconnected with a great old friend who lives on Lahaina, and I also think of this as one of my favorite slack-key pieces and have wanted to include something from the genre here for a long time.

Nearly all Hawaiian guitar music is played in alternate tunings, thus the term slack key, or "slackening" the strings to a different pitch than what we know as standard. This particular arrangement is in F Wahine (pronounced wäˈhēnē). Keola Beamer is a monument of knowledge regarding the Hawaiian slack key tradition and speaks more eloquently than I can dream of when describing the art. I leave a quote from him below regarding Wahine tunings:

“Wahine” refers to the female of our species. Because Wahine tunings contain a major 7th note, they were perceived by the founding fathers of our art to have a personality or “sound type” that  was more complicated than the normal Major (Male or Kāne) tunings. There is respect here, an unspoken intuition that women may be more complex creatures than men.

Speaking from a musicianʻs point of view, the “Wahine” class of tunings are beautiful, generally
darker and more evocative than the Major tunings. There is the very real element of tonal
coloration here, but please keep in mind this entire Wahine/Kāne discussion amongst slack key players over the years, is somewhat of a generalization. In the hands of a true Master, any tuning can transform into any coloration.

"Ku'u Lei Awapuhi Melemele" is played in the key of F using this F Wahine tuning. The major 7th in the tuning is the E, relative to the key. You may notice how closely F Wahine resembles open C tuning.

This will be one of the more accessible piece on the patreon. I consider it beginner friendly, though I feel most will consider it an intermediate level piece. Nearly all the melody is played in harmonized dyads on the first and third strings. Take care in learning the various positions and moving gracefully from one to the next. Practice sustain with the fretted notes and open notes alike. A lot can be added to the tune with the tasteful use of horizontal vibrato. The only special technique used in the piece is a half-strum brush. This is executed by holding the thumb and index finger together as if you are holding a flatpick and brushing down on the strings with the back of the index nail.

Please enjoy the 30-minute lesson video here: https://youtu.be/nsa5V6Qo4T8

I spent much time carefully editing the entire score to reflect the exact fingerings that Keola uses to play the piece. It is attached below.

We will be back next month with a grand John Fahey piece.