“While the ‘ūkēkē was used to accompany the mele and the oli, its chief employment was in serenading and serving the young folk in breathing their extemporized songs and uttering their love-talk— hoipoipo.”
“By using a peculiar lingo or secret talk of their own invention, two lovers could hold private conversation in public and pour their loves and longings into each other’s ears without fear of detection”. (Emerson)
“The ūkēkē was used for amusement as well as for love making and by husbands and wives as well as by those who had illicit love affairs. The tones, though faint, were sufficiently strong to be heard either side of a wall of a grass house.” (Roberts)
“This display of ingenuity has been the occasion for outpouring many vials of wrath upon the sinful ‘ūkēkē.”
“The ‘ūkēkē, the one Hawaiian instrument of its class, is a mere strip of wood bent into the shape of a bow that its elastic force may keep tense the strings that are stretched upon it.”
“These strings, three in number, were originally of sinnet, later after the arrival of the white man, of horsehair. At the present time it is the fashion to use the ordinary gut designed for the violin or the taro-patch guitar.”
“Every ‘ūkēkē seen followed closely a conventional pattern, which argues for the instrument a historic age sufficient to have gathered about itself some degree of traditional reverence”. (Emerson)
Kauila wood was almost universally agreed to be the best wood to make the ‘ūkēkē (however, hau, ʻiliahi (sandalwood,) and other woods were used. Some suggest koa was too firm to make the ‘bow.’) (Roberts)
“One end of the stick is notched or provided with holes to hold the strings, while the other end is wrought into a conventional figure resembling the tail of a fish and serves as an attachment about which to wind the free ends of the strings.”
“No ‘ūkēkē seen by the author was furnished with pins, pegs, or any similar device to facilitate tuning. Nevertheless, the musician does tune his ‘ūkēkē, as the writer can testify from his own observation.” (Emerson)
“The strings of this ‘ūkēkē … are tuned to ē, to b and to d̄. These three strings are struck nearly simultaneously, but the sound being very feeble …”
“… it is only the first which, receiving the sharp impact of the blow, gives out enough volume to make a decided impression.” (Elsner; Emerson)
“When asked to give a sample of his playing on the ‘ūkēkē, he first gave heed to his instrument as if testing whether it was in tune. “
“He was evidently dissatisfied and pulled at one string as if to loosen it; then, pressing one end of the bow against his lips, he talked to it in a singing tone, at the same time plucking the strings with a delicate rib of grass. The effect was most pleasing.”
“The open cavity of the mouth, acting as a resonator, reenforced the sounds and gave them a volume and dignity that was a revelation. The lifeless strings allied themselves to a human voice and became animated by a living soul.” (Emerson)
“There was some stopping of the strings with the fingers, but very little … (u)sually the player struck but one string at a time, alternating between (the strings,) thus producing a little tune.”
“(A)lthough only one was struck, the other string would vibrate in sympathy, so that without the closest attention to the movements of the player’s hand it was most difficult to tell whether it, too, was being struck.” (Roberts)
“Experiment with the ūkēkē impresses one with the wonderful change in the tone of the instrument that takes place when its lifeless strings are brought into close relation with the cavity of the mouth.”
“Let anyone having normal organs of speech contract his lips into the shape of an O, make his cheeks tense, and then, with the pulp of his finger as a plectrum, slap the center of his cheek and mark the tone that is produced.”
“Practice will soon enable him to render a full octave with fair accuracy and to perform a simple melody that shall be recognizable at a short distance. The power and range thus acquired will, of course, be limited by the skill of the operator.”
Mahi La Pierre and the Ūkēkē:
“One secret of the performance lies in a proper management of the tongue. This function of the mouth to serve as a resonant cavity for a musical instrument is familiarly illustrated in the Jew’s-harp.” (Emerson)
However, the ūkēkē was not a Hawaiian Jew’s Harp; the Jew’s Harp is structurally different, with a vibrating tongue fastened to on end of the body and free from the other. (Roberts)
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