No major gathering takes place on Rotuma without singing or dancing. At domestic ceremonies, such as weddings or gravestone-raisings, songs honor specific persons. At these performances, audiences enthusiastically receive successful innovations. Sheds may be erected to protect honored guests and dancers from rain and sun. While informal singing or dancing may occur prior to serving kava and food, formal performances generally follow feasting, with participants facing the high chiefs and featured persons.
Music also forms an integral part of playtimes, periods set aside for intensive socializing.
The beachgames provided culturally controlled frames for courtship, but the missionaries, fearing immorality, curbed them. Guitars, ukuleles, and cassette-players are not available for purchase on the island, but return sojourners bring them from abroad. Several persons have local reputations as composers. Some older people keep song texts in notebooks, which they sometimes bring to meetings, to consult while planning performances. A few Rotuman bands have composed and recorded songs in late-20th century popular Polynesian styles.