AOS 2 Gamelan
* Gamelan Music is from Indonesia, especially the two islands of Java and Bali.
* Gamelan is played at celebrations, religious events and entertainments such as shadow puppet plays and dance performances.
* Gamelan performances are very important in village life for bringing people together and expressing their feelings in a culture which is not always possible to do so publicly.
* The Gamelan is thought to be magical and spiritual – players treat their instruments with total respect and would never step over them as they believe they are tied to heaven and stepping over the instruments could break these ties.
* Gamelan music is handed down from generation to generation with children learning, watching and copying from their father’s and elders. This is called the oral tradition where music isn’t written down.
* The word Gamelan means ‘to hit with a hammer’.
* The Gamelan is made up mainly of percussion instruments.
* There are typically between 4 and 40 instruments consisting of gongs, metallophones and drums, sometimes a kind of bowed fiddle called a rebab and often a singer.
* Generally, higher pitch instruments play more intricate parts and lower pitch instruments play simpler parts with fewer notes.
* Gamelan music is made up of set patterns that each player has to learn.
* Sometimes a player or singer will have the chance to ornament or decorate a melody, but they are expected to follow quite strict rules.
* Gamelan music uses two types of scale. The pelog scale made up of seven notes and the slendro scale made up of five notes (pentatonic scale).
* The main melody is based on one of these two types of scale and is called the Balungen. This melody is repeated over and over again to make a cyclic melody and is often performed by the sarons.
* Other instruments such as the bonangs. Gongs mark out the beginning of each rhythmic cycle. Drummers cue the performers like an orchestral conductor, keeping the players in time.
* Gamelan music has a heterophonic texture – where each layer of sound is a variation of the main melodic pattern.
These variations might be subtle, such as the addition of ornaments, or more dramatic, such as playing the melody at a different speed or in a different key.
Listening example:
Gamelan Galura Bendrong
Gamelan Gong Kebyar