MUSIC OF INDONESIA: Javanese gamelan
Indonesia: pop. 180 million
Ethnic diversity; many local languages coexist with national language.
Java: central island and capitol of Indonesia.
Javanese are largest ethnic group (70 million).
Religion: Muslim (syncretized with Hinduism)
Tradition of royal courts (kraton) and courtly arts (music and dance)
Today courtly arts are sponsored by individuals, institutions and colleges.
Gamelan: a set of instruments unified by their tuning and design.
Many kinds of gamelan of various sizes found throughout Indonesia.
Gamelan instruments:
knobbed gongs (struck idiophone; sound emanates from center)
metallophones (struck idiophone; various sizes of metal bars)
drums (played by the conductor or leader)
xylophones (struck idiophone; wooden bars)
other instruments may include: fiddles, flutes, zithers.
Gamelan construction and identity:
The forging of bronze has mystical and cosmological significance.
Each gamelan set is unique in tuning; named and consecrated.
Javanese gamelan terminology:
Scale systems
Slendro: 5-tone scale (equidistant)
Pelog: 7-tone scale (non-equidistant)
Modes (type of scale in which certain pitches have special properties)
Pathet determined by: pitches used and pitches avoided;
contour of phrases; general pitch level;
mood (e.g., calm or lively); time of day or night.
Form
Stratification: polyphony of low-pitched instruments playing few notes
medium-pitched instruments playing more notes,
high-pitched instruments playing the most notes (density).
Balungan: basic melody of a gamelan piece (lit. “skeleton”)
Colotomic: musical system that marks off music into temporal units
by entrances of specific instruments at specific times.
Gong cycle: the longest division of music in gamelan.
Styles
“Soft-playing” (CD example 15): indoors; involves singing
Theater music (CD examples 16-17): music for shadow-puppet plays.