Music of Indonesia

1
Music of Indonesia

• MUSI 3721Y
• University of Lethbridge, Calgary Campus
• John Anderson

2
General Musical Characteristics

• Music of Central Java usually has four layers of
  activity
• basic melody
• elaboration
• rhythmic punctuation (colotomic structure)
• and cyclical forms

3
General Musical Characteristics

• In Bali we have
• A kotekan and
• An ostinato
• The term kotekan implies the interlocking of two
  or more instruments in the ensemble
• Ostinato mean repeating melody or bass line.
  Theres no interruption or variation

4
General Musical Characteristics

• Let me sing a simple 3-note ostinato for you
• To create a kotekan find a partner and lay your
  hands interlocked and flat on the desk. Count
  out a 4-beat rhythm

5
Dynamics

• Javanese music can generally be divided between
  loud- and soft-style pieces
• This is achieved through adding or subtracting
  instruments of varying density

6
Javanese vs. Balinese

• Javanese styles are much more predictable and
  orderly
• Balinese styles are more virtuosic to our
  ears, having more fluctuations in dynamics and
  tempo

7
Tuning

• There is no concept of standard pitch
• Each gamelan has its own individual tuning
• You cannot take an instrument from one gamelan
  and expect it to be in tune with the
  instruments of another ensemble

8
Tuning

• There are two different scale systems (laras),
  each of which has three modes (patet)
• Slendro is a five-tone scale
• It uses pitches 1 2 3 5 6
• Its patets are called Nem, Sanga, Manyura

9
Tuning

• Pelog is a seven-tone scale
• It uses pitches 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• It also has three patets called Lima, Nem, and
  Barang
• Each patet only draws upon a selection of five
  pitches

10
Instrument Functions and Formal Principles

• The three levels of musical activity in gamelan
  music are coordinated by the drummer
• They are
• Melody
• Elaboration
• Rhythmic punctuation

11
Melody

• Balunga (skeleton)
• Main melody or close variation
• Played in three different ranges by sarons and a
  single slentem
• High, medium and low ranges

12
Elaboration

• Bunga, (flowering)
• Higher register instrumentsbonang and gender
• In quieter pieces, rebab, gambang, celempung,
  suling, and pesindhen (solo female singer)
  ornament the tune by subdividing the beat

13
Rhythmic Punctuation

• Colotomic structure
• Conceived cyclically
• The big gong marks the longest units
• Kenong and kempul subdivide the cycle
• Ketuk and kempyang provide tertiary punctuation
• The number of beats and particular arrangement of
  punctuation in a cycle determine the form of a
  composition

14
Buburan Udan Mas (Golden Rain) Laras Pelog,
Patet Barang

• As the full title tells us, Udan Mas (Golden
  Rain) is a piece in buburan form
• Its a 16-beat gong cycle with four kenong
  phrasescalled kenonganeach of 4 beats
• It uses the barang mode of the pelog scale
• A buburan is a closing piece, played at the end
  of a function as the audience departs

15
Buburan Udan Mas (Golden Rain) Laras Pelog,
Patet Barang

• Udan Mas is a simple loud-style piece with only
  two phrases
• Each phrase is repeated
• AA BB AA BB
• It begins with a short introduction (buka) played
  by the lower of the two bonangs
• Can you pick out the balungan played by the
  sarons? That is the basic beat
• Can you find the colotomic punctuation?

16
Buburan Udan Mas (Golden Rain) Laras Pelog,
Patet Barang

• The kempul and large gong are easiest to hear
  since the sound of hanging gongs carries better
  than the suspended kenong and ketuk kettles
• Each large gong stroke marks the last beat of the
  buburan cycle
• Anything playing faster than the saron is an
  elaborating instrument
• For example, the saron panerus plays at a ratio
  of 21 to the main saron line
• Bonangs play at ratios of 21, 41, or 81,
  depending on tempo

17
Ketawang Puspawarna(Kinds of Flowers) Laras
Slendro, Patet Manyura

• Puspawarna is a piece in ketawang form, another
  16-beat gong cycle
• But this time with two kenongan, each of 8 beats
• It uses the manyura mode of the slendro scale
• This more complex soft style piece is performed
  for the entrance of a prince

18
Kebyar Teruna

• This is a typical example of the gong kebyar
  style
• The frequent changes of tempo, dynamics, and mood
  allow the solo dancer to express a wide range of
  moods and emotions
• Musically, the composition is a series of
  ostinato patterns of different lengths
• The fantastic speed of the metallophones is
  possible because several performers play
  interlocking parts (kotekan)

19
Kebyar Teruna

• The Balinese rule of thumb is that if one player
  can play so fast, four players can play four
  times as fast.
• In the slow, quiet sections, soft style
  instruments, particularly the suling (bamboo
  flute), can be heard
• In Central Javanese style you would not expect
  both soft- and loud-style instruments to play in
  the same piece

20
Tabuh Empat Pagawak

• A typical old style piece for gamelan gong gede
• It contrasts the newer kebyar style
• The meandering trompong introduction is starkly
  different to the explosive beginning of "Teruna"
  of the previous example
• The stately progression of the melody when the
  whole ensemble enters is rigidly organized with a
  regular meter and equally regular ornamentation
  and orchestration

21
Dangdut Quran Dan Koran (excerpt)

• This contemporary recording prominently features
  synthesizers in both the lead and supporting
  roles
• The synthesized voices imitate traditional
  instrument sounds, while also setting them in a
  more modern context

22
Discussion Questions

• How may Westerners conceptualize colotomic
  structures in Western music?
• What caused the divergences of Javanese and
  Balinese music in the fifteenth-century, and then
  in the twentieth-century?
• Why can Indonesia be labeled a bronze culture?
• What other cultures can we list that are
  influenced by a material as bronze is to
  Indonesia?

23
Discussion Questions

• In what other world music cultures might we find
  interlocking?
• Where might we find Western, African, Asian,
  Native America or folk European equivalents to
  Balinese musical instruments that contain
  spirits?
• How may shadow play be compared to opera or
  ballet?

24
Discussion Questions

• What acculturations had Balinese music made in
  the twentieth-century, and how/why was it
  beneficial?
• What were the forces that created Arabic and then
  Portuguese influences on Indonesian popular
  music?
• Effects of Tourism on Traditional Music
• This is a good place to discuss the effects of
  tourism on local cultures, the phenomenon of the
  cultural attraction, and the growing
  standardization of traditions. In Bali, new
  genres, developed to entertain tourists, are
  accepted by Balinese themselves as part of
  traditional culture
• What is traditional? Is this syncretism or
  hegemony?