Tātarakihi Kapa Haka Festival - Our First Time on Stage for 2019!!

Kapa Haka Performance Group Practise Videos for Tatarakihi

He Kākano Ahau

Today we started to learn the most beautiful waiata "He kākano ahau" - I am a Seed - which talks about that we hold onto and cherish the things that are important to us.  Matapaepae referred to it as "Frankleytanga", the way we do things at Frankley and hold dear, we will take them away with us wherever we go.

Here is the first part of our waiata to learn - how is it different to our usual waiata?

Haka Pōwhiri Waiata - The Actions

2019 Nau mai haere mai...

Today we kicked off our Kapa Haka programme for 2019 with our expert Kapa Haka tutor, Whaea Matapaepae Urwin.  We filled the hall with our Haka Pōwhiri that we use to welcome guests throughout the year and we are now learning a new part.  Keep practising during the week in your hubs and we will see you next Wednesday!  Ngā mihi nui :)

Click on here to listen to the tune

The Season is here!! Kua tae mai ra te wāhanga!

Check out the new waiata that we all learnt today.  See if you can pick out the tune too :)

Puanga Festival - Kahikatea at their best!!

E Tu Kahikatea...

Last Friday, 53 of our tamariki were a part of the annual Tatarakihi Kapa Haka Festival held in Hawera.  For many of them it was their first time performing on a stage and they did Frankley School proud.  Each one of them performed with mana (pride) and wehi (courage) and had lots of fun along the way.  We are so proud of all of them and it was great to see all their mahi (hard work) pay off!

Click on the link to see some videos taken by parents and also below is the official video of Frankley School's performance...

Kapa Haka Videos

Warming Up and Moving our Tinana!

Today was a pretty chilly day and te Rā was definitely not shining down on us.  It didn't matter though because we got pretty warmed up in Kapa haka singing our vowels warm up song and learning a new waiata-a-ringa "Pāpaki Mai".  I remember learning this as a child so I'm sure many of you will know this catchy tune too!  It is a great song to practise kupu hou (new words) about te tinana (the body) and actions like wiri "shake", whiua "swing", hikoi "walk" etc.  We have added the words to our waiata slide so everyone can sing it at home or back in your hubs.

Thanks everyone for your great enthusiasm and fun in our session today.

Practising our Vowel Sounds

Today we learnt a new waiata to warm us up and to help us with our pronunciation.  Great song and fun also - check us out.  Mrs T's phone died during filming so first verse is there and we will video again next week!!

What a great way to end the term!

We have only had 6 kapa haka sessions so far this term and already our whole school is adding to their repertoire of waiata.  We are loving having all of our tamariki and staff learn together each Wednesday.  Mrs McAllister received this email from Whaea Mata the other day, so congratulations Frankley School on living the values and tikanga of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world).

Tēnā koe Merryl

I have had a ball this term with Frankley! Could you please thank the staff and also yourself with the effort being put in from the teachers and students,

It's been a joy teaching, so much fun, passion and enthusiasm from all, I look forward to Term 2 

Nā  Matapaepae

Frankley is getting way too good at their waiata!

Whole School

Whaea Matapaepae was again blown away by our amazing enthusiasm and commitment to learning when fine tuning "He Pikinga Poupou".  We told her all about the awesome performance we had put on for our E.R.O. visitors without her there and she was so proud :)  It was also great to have a couple of our Frankley community members present during this time, we would love to see more of you at this time.

Today we reviewed our actions and waiata and lots of students (and staff) are feeling that both are becoming more automatic for them - remember practice makes progress and we want to get better all the time.  One tip from Whaea was that we need to sing the words firstly, and the actions will follow.

Our next item to conquer was the Haka Pōwhiri, which is performed when welcoming someone into our place, our hau kainga.  We were actually treated to it by some of our kapa haka rōpu on Monday at the pōwhiri.  We focused on the correct pronunciation of the words and actions.

Kupu hou for the session

menemene - smile
takahia - stamp for the tane (males), slight lift of the foot by the wāhine (females) - helps us with timing.
ngā waka instead of te waka

Tips
Never wiri when we are singing about the mounga, it is strong and straight.
Follow your arm actions with your eyes, rather than turning your whole head.
Remember repetition is the key and don't forget the a e i o u sounds when tackling a Māori word that you don't know.

Performance Rōpu

We had a few less today as lots were off competing in the Weetbix Tryathlon, but that didn't matter, as the rest of us got some extra practice time with Whaea Mata.  We continued working on the poi version of "E Nga Iwi" and are enjoying the specific parts for the boys and the girls.  Imagine how cool it will be when we can also bring in the poi actions...

Kupu hou for the session

whaka rarangi - make a line

We love Wednesdays!

Another fantastic Kapa haka session today with Whaea Mata.  Our Frankley students have been practising their words and actions lots and we have pretty much mastered E Pikinga Poupou.  This is a celebration song which we will be able to perform as a whole school together on many occasions.

Today Whaea Mata talked to us about pukana and its meaning as part of our performance.

Pūkana or facial expressions are an important facet of Māori performance. They help emphasise a point in a song or haka, and demonstrate the performer’s ferocity or passion.

For women, pūkana involves opening the eyes wide and jutting out their chin.

For men, it means widening the eyes and stretching out their tongue or bearing their teeth.

Though these expressions may be intimidating, they are not necessarily a sign of aggression, but may simply show strong and deep-felt emotions.