Intro to Javanese gamelan

[ganainm]

(For askesis. Warning: nerdliness limits are NOT in force. Insufferable detail ahead.)

"Gamelan" refers to both a kind of instrumental ensemble and a genre (or several closely-related genres) of music that originated in what is now Indonesia. Similar ensembles and genres occur in Cambodia and Thailand. The tradition is rich both chronologically and geographically: it dates back to prehistory and is still being elaborated, and many distinct regional styles have developed in close proximity to each other. I'll concentrate on Central Javanese gamelan, because I know it better than I know the others.

In Central Java, a gamelan orchestra consists of six layers of instruments:

• The kendhang and other drums; the kendhang player is responsible for setting tempi, giving cues, and generally keeping the group together.



• The gongs, which come in three general pitch-ranges: the deepest, generally called gong, sometimes with a qualifier like ageng (big) siyem (not so big), or the name of a pitch; the middle, called kempul; and the highest, called kenong, kethuk, and kempyang. This group marks off periods of time: the gong marks off the longest periods; the kenong plays (generally) at intervals one-fourth as long; the kempul plays at the same intervals, but 180 degrees out of phase with the kenong--i.e., they alternate, with some exceptions; and the kethuk and kempyang add another layer of alternation. Together this instruments form what's been called a "cradle for the balungan", balungan being a skeletal version of the melody. Note that the kempyang, kethuk, and kempul are not always played; some forms don't use some or all of them.



• The saron and slenthem; the saron have thick bronze keys, with trough resonators, and come in three ranges one octave apart, while the slenthem has thin keys with tuned tubular resonators. Together they carry the balungan and occasionally add some elaboration.



• The bonang--two sets of small gongs mounted horizontally in racks, tuned an octave apart, which add a simple elaboration or accompaniment to the balungan.



• The other elaborating instruments: the gender, with thin bronze keys amplified by tuned tubular resonators; the rebab, a two-stringed spike fiddle; the gambang, a trough-resonated xylophone; the suling, a bamboo flute; and the celempung and siter, both lyres. These instruments venture the farthest from the balungan in their elaborations.



• Voices. Generally men sing in chorus, with little elaboration, while a woman sings solo, with almost nothing but elaboration.

Forms are defined pretty much by their rhythmic structure. The shortest have only 8 or even fewer beats between gong strokes; the longest have 128. Here's an attempt at a picture of the basic balungan-and-cradle layer in a medium-sized form (leaving out the kempyang to save space):

Balungan:  3 2 3 1 3 2 1 6  1 6 3 2 5 3 2 1  3 5 3 2 6 5 3 2  5 3 2 1 3 2 1 6
Kethuk:   t.t.t.t.t.t.t.t. t.t.t.t.t.t.t.t. t.t.t.t.t.t.t.t. t.t.t.t.t.t.t.t.
Kenong:    . . . . . . . N  . . . . . . . N  . . . . . . . N  . . . . . . . N  
Kempul:    . . . . . . . .  . . . P . . . .  . . . P . . . .  . . . P . . . .  
Gong:      . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . G

If you're wondering why the kempul doesn't play on the fourth beat, as it would if it were really alternating with the kenong, it's because, uh, it doesn't. One reason is that its sound is similar to the gong's and so it would get drowned out; the other is that the rest-stroke-stroke-stroke pattern helps the other players stay oriented in time.

Tempos tend to slow way down--to maybe 12 pulses per minute--to allow for elaboration between balungan tones (which means, actually, that for the elaborating instruments things are speeding up, but more about that later). If we assume that's happened to the piece above and zoom in on the fourth quarter of it, we can see the kempyang:

Balungan:    5   3   2   1   3   2   1   6   
Kempyang: p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.p.
Kethuk:   .t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t..
Kenong:   ...............................N
Kempul:   ...............P................
Gong:     ...............................G

More later.