Finding The Right Samoan Hymn Book

By Karen Barnes


Music from this country traditionally made use of instruments such as the fala. This particular device for making beautiful music provides great accompaniment for most any hymns in a Samoan hymn book. It resembles a mat that has been rolled up, and the players use sticks to beat on it to make the music.

Soundingboards are instruments that have been used for a long time in this sort of a situation and have a sound that is both unique and beautiful. There are often times when a person will read some scripture solo, which can sometimes be a lot of pressure on the person reading if there are no instruments backing her or him up. This is generally the time when people make use of this beautiful instrument.

If you are looking for something to make a grand announcement, you might want to look into getting a conch shell. These have been used for thousands of years as sacred and holy instruments for these people in their culture. Although a lot of people are familiar with this shell, they might not realize its potential as an instrument in this environment.

Some instruments that are popular in one culture translate well into others, and are thus used in both a lot. You might be surprised to hear that a lot of people in this culture use the nose flute, jaw harp, and panpipe in this kind of music. These are not very expensive and add a lot.

It is good to add some rhythm to the group, no matter what the size of it may be, especially if you have some members of it who have a hard time finding the beat. There are various drums out there to help with that. One of these is the pate, a type of a slit drum, and it is very commonly seen nowadays.

The fala has nowadays fallen out of use as the drum of choice for these type of choral ensembles. Although the pate is much more popular for people now, it by no means diminishes the value of this type of percussion instrument. For a traditional sound, you can include this instead by employing the same rhythm other drums use.

It was way back in 1830 when LMS missionaries first came to the islands of Samoa and started influencing their music. Both the popular music and the hymnodic music came into their culture this way. This had lead to countless songs filling up numerous books that are out there right now today just waiting for the right group of singers to pick it up and start singing them.

It is wonderful to sing in a choir, especially when the songs are praising the Lord. It is unfortunate though that Christianity's influence on the people of Somoa had to make it so they did not want to make as much use of the instruments that their ancestors had made and used for centuries. Nowadays, people can respect both of these in their music.




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