Transcript Gamelan 2 - Home - Gresham's Intranet

GAMELAN 2
tonality
melody
texture
rhythm
structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
To understand the tonality of gamelan music
To understand the relationship between melody, harmony and texture
in gamelan
To study the rhythm and structure of Baris
TEST
What is it?
What is its function in the
ensemble?
TONALITY
Pelog is a scale:
Pelog selisir = the pentatonic subset of pelog which uses notes 12356
There are other modes, e.g. pelog tembung = 45612, pelog sunaren
56723
TEMPERAMENT
Equal Temperament
D
D#
E
F
F#
G
G#
A
A#
B
C
C#
293.7
311.1
329.6
349.2
370.0
392.0
415.3
440.0
466.2
493.9
523.3
554.4
Approximate pitches of pelog
Varies from village to village! Not set in stone.
Wide tuning
Pairs of instruments deliberately slightly out of tune with each other to
create interference beats  shimmering timbre (ombak)
MELODY
Based on pelog selisir
Core melody = pokok in Bali
(Java: balungan)
Played by the Ugal
Original form at U (p 523)
Notate it in Western notation
What is its range?
What about at H (p 527)?
What are the Jegogan and
Calung doing?
TEXTURE
Layers
Varies dramatically from section to section – what is Gong Kebyar
this a feature of?
When is the texture fullest?
Angsel sections
When is it thinnest?
Beginning
Heterophony – between which instruments?
Ugal & Calung
in B sections
What are the gangsa and reyong doing?
Embellishing the
pokok with high
melodic
decorations
HARMONY
No harmony
“Chords” happen when more
than one note is played at once
but this isn’t considered harmony
Pentatonic but only because all
the instruments are
Notice on 4th (kempli) beat
everyone plays note 2 – can be
a useful way of following the
structure
LET’S PLAY A GAMELANS!
RHYTHM
Basis of all Gamelan
Remember that this music is
written to accompany a dance
Each section will correspond to
what the dancers are doing
Gamelan ensembles take great
pride in rhythmic skill, precision
and ensemble (they practise a
lot!)
Leader: kendhang (signals
tempo/section changes)
RHYTHM 2
Constant pulse (except start and end)
Colotomic structure = hierarchy of rhythms. Every instrument has a
specific role
End accent – most important beat is the LAST one
8-note rhythmic cycle (like a bar) called a gongan
Gongan defined by the Gong! e.g.  (written in Jegogan part)
Jegogan on beat 4
Which tuned instrument plays on every beat?
Which untuned instrument plays on every beat?
RHYTHM 3
Reyong has a really complicated
part with interlocking rhythms
(This is called kotekan)
What do you notice about how
the kendhang part changes from
section to section?
STRUCTURE
How would you describe the
structure?
Identify three ways in which
variation is achieved when
sections are repeated.
Kendhang
accents
How do the players know when
to move to the next section?
Usual tune
ANGSEL
ESSAY QUESTION
Identify those features of
Baris Melampahan (extract)
which indicate the ritualistic
and communal nature of this
music (13 marks – 9+ well
illustrated points).