This piece is an unnamed medley of gamelan tunes from
Indonesia, specifically the islands of Java, Sunda and Bali. The performers are
members of Amadinda Percussion Group, Triginta Percussion, Péter Szalai and
László Tömösközi. The instruments being used predominantly are metallophones (bronze bells) and mebranophones. There is also an aerophone used briefly.
When creating and performing music there are many strategies
that can be implemented. This piece reflects some of the examples in our text.
As gamelan music, the pieces follow colotomic patterns. These patterns are
partially created by the natural “speed” at which each instrument should play.
The pitch range of the instrument corresponds to how active the instrument
should be in the piece – high-pitched instruments play more often than low-pitched
instruments. These performers must have spent many hours listening to the
individual pieces being performed in this medley and studied the various musical
inflections as well as timing. Because this is a medley, the arranger must have
examined all three pieces and searched for possible points of transition. It is
not always possible to have a direct segue and sometimes arrangers need to compose
a transition so that two different pieces can be combined.
When learning this piece, the performers most likely did so
by ear – through listening to recordings, or by taking instruction from the
arranger. If possible, they may have also watched video recordings of other
performers. It is also possible that the performers wrote out each of the
colotomic patterns to help them remember what to play. Gamelan music also does
not have a conductor so the performers must have rehearsed together for a
considerable amount of time in order to learn all of the tempo changes as well
as how their individual parts fit together.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to hear the way the sounds change when the performers switch between the sounds of Javanese and Balinese gamelan instruments. This is a good representation of how musicians are able to put different musical styles/genres together to create a new musical experience for listeners. I also think that it is interesting to see performers from outside the culture of origin to present a performance that is obviously familiar with the musical practices of that culture.
Interesting to hear the different sounds of the Javanese and Balinese instruments being performed. This is a good way of creating something new using something old. We can do this in our classrooms as well to take something old and make it new that the students can relate to in our current times. From our reading we have different strategies that we can create, learn and perform music. Something like this could be done similarly in our music classrooms as well.
ReplyDeleteHey Mark,
ReplyDeleteI would agree that these musicians learned by ear. I would also wager to say that they watched a few video, and possibly had hands on learning. However, I believe learning by ear are one of the best ways to learn the piece and possibly one of the most authentic ways as well. it is difficult to put music into writing, and especially difficult if the culture is not familiar to you.
What a great resource for explaining the timbral differences between the Javanese and Balinese gamelan. The role of drummer is also very clear in this particular video - I see exciting applications possible for this resource.
ReplyDelete