In Search of Ernest Ka'ai 1906 or 1910 Book

Still new-ish - so I hope this is the proper place to ask about this.

I'm looking for a copy of Ernest Ka'ai's The Ukulele, A Hawaiian Guitar and How to Play It - either the 1906 original, or the revised 1910 edition. Aw, hell. Even the 1916 would be of interest.

I'm sure original copies are scarce and expensive, but I'm wondering if anybody knows of (for example) later facsimile editions that may have been put out? I found one promising source online after a lot of searching, but my inquiry about purchasing never got a response.

I'm also a rare books collector and my usual channels in that field have turned up nothing. (Aside from amused smirks at the mention of the word "ukulele." What is it with people who don't play?)

I thought about posting this in the Marketplace, since I'm willing to pay a reasonable price for a copy, but that seems to be reserved for instruments and equipment.

Any suggestions deeply appreciated. Thanks, all

There's a facsimile of Kaai's The Ukulele and How Its Played (1916) in Hawaiian Ukulele: The Early Methods. Not sure if this is an edition of what you're looking for.

franklin.habit said:

I'm looking for a copy of Ernest Ka'ai's The Ukulele, A Hawaiian Guitar and How to Play It - either the 1906 original, or the revised 1910 edition. Aw, hell. Even the 1916 would be of interest.

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The 1906 original would be a challenge: I've only seen one copy, and that was in John King's collection. (He found it at the Salvation Army.) The 1910 and 1916 editions should be a little easier to find, relatively speaking. My suggestion is to send a wants list to a book dealer you know and trust. That's how I acquired my 1910 copy. Good luck! Jim T.

ukeatan said:

There's a facsimile of Kaai's The Ukulele and How Its Played (1916) in Hawaiian Ukulele: The Early Methods. Not sure if this is an edition of what you're looking for.

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That is definitely of interest - thank you!

Jim T. said:

The 1906 original would be a challenge: I've only seen one copy, and that was in John King's collection. (He found it at the Salvation Army.) The 1910 and 1916 editions should be a little easier to find, relatively speaking. My suggestion is to send a wants list to a book dealer you know and trust. That's how I acquired my 1910 copy. Good luck! Jim T.

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Yes, indeed, thank you - my three usual suspects have it on their lists. I'll keep my fingers crossed and try to be patient. I've waited upwards of 20 years (half my lifespan, come to think of it) for a book before. Although do hope to have this one in hand before I'm sixty...

I'd get this uke instead...only 350 for a vintage Kaai...wooo hoooo
http://www.guitarandbanjo.com/

Oh, man. That's a beauty...

Bringing up an old thread, I saw reference to this book in the most recent Ukulele Magazine. Has anyone scanned this book? It would be permissible to do so, as its age would put it in the public domain. I would be fascinated to see how the first ukulele pedagogue approached the instrument. The article says that he was the first to standardize GCEA tuning.

A Google search surprisingly had nothing to say about it. If John King had this, would his estate allow it to be scanned? And who would I contact? (feel free to message me)

The University of Hawaii scanned it for me; $25 fee; 1910 version, now in the public domain: so I share:

https://ukestuff.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/ukulele_kaai.pdf

Thank you sharing the very important book for us Choirguy.

It is very interesting book in order to see the ukulele in early days.

I am interested in some points so far.
1) E is 1402.
2) He use stroke instead of strum.
3) Ukulele is really an accompany instrument to sing.
4) nice tab
5) He shows all of the keys almost equally.
6) He calls ukulele a Hawaiian guitar! (in the cover page).

Choirguy said:

The University of Hawaii scanned it for me; $25 fee; 1910 version, now in the public domain: so I share: https://ukestuff.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/ukulele_kaai.pdf

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Thank you for sharing.

This is the first time I see chords for an exercise or song written in numbers (see page 7). Why do some of them end in "one" instead of "1"?

Many thanks for a look into a bit of uke history.

zztush said:

Thank you sharing the very important book for us Choirguy.

It is very interesting book in order to see the ukulele in early days.

I am interested in some points so far.
1) E is 1402.
2) He use stroke instead of strum.
3) Ukulele is really an accompany instrument to sing.
4) nice tab
5) He shows all of the keys almost equally.
6) He calls ukulele a Hawaiian guitar! (in the cover page).

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I've done some comparison of the two texts, so I'll do my best to address these points.

1) This makes the chord (from lowest to highest) E(x2)-G#-B. It's in root position chord with two strings playing the root note. The 4442 position is also in root position, but with the fifth on two strings. Importantly, Ka'ai's E transitions to EM7 (1302) and E6 (1102), E7 (1202), C#m7 (1102), and Em (0432) all without moving the root on the E string or the 5th on the A string, making it useful for adding textural variety to strings of E major chords without creating unwanted movement nor requiring fretting hand gymnastics.

2) I know only a little about guitar tutors of the 19th century (that strumming was referred to as "rasgueado" and finger picking was called "punteado", a few strums had specific names, etc.). Most guitar tutors were very vague on right-hand technique. In the 1916 edition, Ka'ai is still a little vague as to how the strokes are to be executed, but be provides FAR more material to help the reader understand. I think he might use "stroke" to emphasize a deliberate approach to right hand technique (every pass through the strings is significant) and "strum" to refer to a specific down-stroke technique in which all of the fingers are quickly brushed across the strings. He occasionally says "with all the fingers strummingly" to indicate a quick pass down the strings (almost like a single strum in a multi-finger rasgueado), and he calls a pair of stroke patterns that emphasize this technique "The Strum 1" and "The Strum 2".

3) The 1916 edition is much more focused on instrumental solo work, many of which combine popular European forms like waltzes with Hawaiian hymnody and ukulele technique. I wonder if ukulele pedagogy was undergoing a revolution during this period.

4) Yes, very much so. By 1916, this tablature resembles the ukulele tablature widely in use today (standard notation appearing directly above tablature on a staff below).

5) F, C, and G dominate the 1916 edition's instrumentals, but D and A do make an occasional appearance. This probably serves a pedagogical purposes of making the chord-melody arrangements more accessible.

6) From the 1916 edition: "The ukulele is therefore not an invention but rather a creation. For its lines, as you can readily see, are a perfect facsimili of the old Spanish Guitar, but diminuative in size."

Mivo said:

Thank you for sharing.

This is the first time I see chords for an exercise or song written in numbers (see page 7). Why do some of them end in "one" instead of "1"?

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"... (one) means just one more stroke on the last position." (see page 6)

The chords indicated by numbers are assigned four beats. Later in the text, the numbers appear as if raised to the power of 2 or 3 signifying two or three beats.

Thank you very much David for the answers, David!

I have had a question related to #1 for a long time and I know you are one of the best person to ask. Because I know you used be a good Suzuki method student in violin. My question is which one is the primary E chord on ukulele (See the figure below).

pic hosting

According to Dr. Suzuki's book, he asked his students to pluck open strings and hear the sounds. He said this sound was the best sound on their violins and we had to produce that sound with bows. The open strings make the better sound than fretted sound.

Actually 1402 sounds better than 4442 to my ear.
I am thinking that 1402 is primary E chord and 4442 is not. 4442 shape is important movable chord shape in guitar. But we don't need movable chord on soprano. I am thinking that in early days there is only soprano and 1402 was primary E chord. Hence in this book may have shown 1402 as E chord.

Thank you very much for sharing this with us, Choirguy! What a wonderful resource!

ChoirGuy - thanks for sharing your copy of the Kaai method! Really, really fun and interesting. Super-chuffed to have this!

zztush said:

According to Dr. Suzuki's book, he asked his students to pluck open strings and hear the sounds. He said this sound was the best sound on their violins and we had to produce that sound with bows. The open strings make the better sound than fretted sound.

Actually 1402 sounds better than 4442 to my ear.
I am thinking that 1402 is primary E chord and 4442 is not. 4442 shape is important movable chord shape in guitar. But we don't need movable chord on soprano. I am thinking that in early days there is only soprano and 1402 was primary E chord. Hence in this book may have shown 1402 as E chord.

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ZZTush,

Open strings sound "best" on violin (to Suzuki) because they don't involve a big meaty finger muting one end of the vibrating string. Plucking the strings on a violin in any position other than open illustrates this point.

The bow allows the violinist to work around this problem, but frets are another solution. When you fret a string, your fretting hand finger serves as a sort of tuning peg while the fret serves as a makeshift nut. This allows us to forego the bow and embrace brushing, plucking, strumming, etc. while preserving enough resonance for us to make the most of our notes as we play. On that note, open strings may sound beautiful with ease, but they remove our ability to add certain forms of expression with our fretting hand (a vibrato can be accomplished by adding and releasing pressure on the string between the nut and tuning peg post).

As for which, 1402 or 4442, is "primary"...I don't know that there is a primary any-root chord on the ukulele. When we are beginners, many of us learn open chords in first and second position. This serves well many of us who accompany ourselves while singing popular songs with cyclic progressions, but for many who strive to play ukulele in other contexts, the use of these chords as a springboard to more "sophisticated" playing is rooted more in pedagogy than their "essential" nature. There is a musical time and place for all things, including these chords, but a broader palette of open chords can be quite liberating.

In addition to 1402, many open E chord options exist farther up the neck. Some other open E chords include: 4802 (a variation on 1402), 4807 (doubled root in the outer voices), 9|11|0|11 and 13|11|0|7 (doubled root with extended third on top), and 9|8|0|14 (doubled root with extended fifth on top). Other options exist; I'm omitting dyads and voicings with doubled thirds.

Any one of these open E chords has contexts in which its use is more validated. If you want a final resolving chord, 4807 is a generally safe bet with its octave spread and doubled root. 9-8-0-14 has a beautifully wide voicing that contrasts nicely with the uke's usual "ball of sounds" (to quote UUer Pleasure Paul). And all of these chords allow the player to take advantage of that ringing open E. In cadential E major progressions, these shapes can be exploited to great effect. For example, play 9|11|0|11-4807-1402 one strum each. C'est magnifique!

On a separate note, I edited my response to your questions. I was incorrect in stating that Ka'ai's strum is an up-stroke technique. It's a down-stroke technique.

For any UUers interested in comparing the 1910 and 1916 editions of the Ka'ai tutor (they are substantially different):

I have a facsimile of the 1916 edition of Ka'ai's book on my Google Drive and will share it with any UUers who PM me their e-mail address.

bacchettadavid said:

Open strings sound "best" on violin (to Suzuki) because they don't involve a big meaty finger muting one end of the vibrating string. Plucking the strings on a violin in any position other than open illustrates this point.

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Thank you David!

I think advantages of open string are these least three. And they make sound better.
1) no muting by fingers or frets
2) long string (more over tone)
3) easy handle

I think 1402 E has all of these advantages compare to 4442 E even without open string. I am curious why many books and sites show 4442 instead of 1402. And I am thinking the reason may be the importance of 4442 shape. This shape is definitely important movable chord shape in both ukulele and guitar.