Music  of a Culture: Balinese  Gamelan

About

A Gamelan is an orchestra of mostly tuned-percussion instruments. Gamelan originate from Indonesia, but there are many gamelans worldwide, including in Sydney. Gamelan means 'to hammer' and most of the Gamelan instruments are played with mallets that resemble hammers.

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There are two different styles of Gamelan music - one is from Java and the other from Bali (Gambelan). Each Gamelan has its own tuning - therefore instruments belong to specific Gamelan and aren't transferred from one Gamelan to another. Gamelan are kept in open-walled buildings and are owned by nobility or temples. Gamelan traditionally accompany religious events, dancing, or wayang puppet theatre.

Gamelan compositions are created from one melody called a balungan. Each instrument in the Gamelan plays a variant on this melody but at the same time as the original melody, resulting in multiple layers of sound, some acting like an ostinato. This type of texture is called heterophony. 

Gamelan music is characterised by the following:

• the lower the pitch, the longer the note values
• the highest layers are for virtuoso soloinstruments played very fast
• the lowest gongs are often played by beginners
• the music is divided into four beat groups called keteg
• gongs of different sizes are used to mark cycles of music known as the gongan

(From bbc.co.uk)

Gamelan music has influenced Western art composers over the years including Debussy, Satie, Britten, Bartok, and John Cage. Listen to Debussy's piano work called Pagodes and see if you can hear this influence.

Gamelan in Australia:

Click here for more information about the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Semaradana Gamelan.

Gamelan   Instruments

The video below (made for a music class) gives a summary of Gamelan music. Watch the video which shows the picture of the instrument before the explanation.

Scales

There are two scales used for most Gamelan music. However, the tunings of these can vary greatly from region to region. 

1. Slendro - a 5-note scale

2. Pelog - a 7-note scale

Terms  and   Definitions

Read through the quiz cards to learn Gamelan terms and definitions:

Activities

MUSICOLOGY - Gotta love a quiz:
- How much can you remember? Test yourself below, see how you go!

AURAL - Getting to know you:
- Listen to the Focus Piece 'Topeng Angklung' played by Gamelan Angklung (a Balinese Gamelan) and answer the following questions:
1. A Gamelan Angklung tends to have around 20 musicians in the ensemble. How many layers can you hear? Describe some of the layers.
2. What is the tempo of the piece? Describe the changes that occur throughout the piece.
3. Dynamic contrasts are used structurally in Gamelan music. Draw a timeline of dynamic changes in 'Topeng Angklung'.
4. How many sections can you hear in the structure? Which musical elements define the structure?

PERFORMANCE - Gamelan in the Classroom:
- In small groups, and using classroom percussion instruments (such as xylophones and metallophones), set up the instrument so that it is using the scale CDEGA. Within each group, compose a melody from these notes. Play this melody as a group to secure it. Then, using this melody, have each group member vary the melody either in tempo or rhythm (eg lower parts, double some of the rhythmic values). Layer these melodies and repeat so that multiple sounds are heard at once in a heterophonic way. Perform this to the class.

COMPOSITION/CREATIVITY - Create a Ringtone:
- Using the piece developed in the performance activity, ask each small group to record their performance using a voice recorder. Ask students to then use the instructions in the following link to create their very own ringtone (suitable for iPhone). This activity can also be further developed as a basis for a loop composition in Garageband or Soundation by importing the ringtone into the software and using it as the loop.
Click here for RINGTONE INSTRUCTIONS