A ''kōauau'' is a small

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, ductless and notchless, long, open at both ends and having from three to six fingerholes placed along the pipe. ''Kōauau'' resemble flutes the world over both in tone quality and in the range of sounds that can be produced by directing the breath across the sharp edge of the upper aperture.

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

''kōauau'' players were renowned for the power it gave them over the affections of women (notably illustrated by the story of Tūtānekai, who, by playing his ''kōauau'', convinced Hinemoa to swim to him across Lake

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

). ''Kōauau'' are made of wood or bone. Formerly the bone was of bird bone such as

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

or moa; some instruments were also of human bone and were associated with chiefly status and with the cultural practice of utu.

External links

Kōauau in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
End-blown flutes Māori musical instruments {{Flute-stub