JAVANESE GAMELAN

Indonesia at a Glance

1. Indonesia logistics (population, land mass, location, ethnic groups)
1. Over 17,000 islands in the South Pacific, joined together as the Republic of Indonesia by a Declaration of Independence on August 17, 1945 after centuries of colonial and foreign domination
2. 260 million people; 60% of these live on Java
3. Over 250 distinct ethnic groups (unique language, history, customs, and music); 700 distinct language groups
2. Javanese/Java logistics (size, divisions, populations)
1. Size: Tennessee and Kentucky placed together on end
2. Javanese make up about 40% of Indonesia’s population (over 100 million)
3. Several subgroups distinguished by geographic location, heritage, dialect, and cultural aspects (like gamelan styles): Negari Agung, Mancanegara, Banyumas, Banyuwangi, Pesisir Lor

Music in Indonesia: Four Broad Currents

1. Those stemming from the Hindu Buddhist era: brass kettles, slabs, and gongs
2. Those that developed after the influx of Islam: strings, wind/read instruments, and frame drums
3. Modern popular style based on forms of traditional music: folk or children’s songs made into gamelan music, western instruments added to traditional ensembles, influx of popular styles, instruments and techniques from other countries and ethnic groups that have been “Indonesian-ized” (kreasi baru, campur sari, dangdut)
4. Modern popular style influenced by Western models

Sociological Context of Javanese Gamelan

1. Where does the word gamelan come from? “Gamel,” meaning to hammer or strike.
2. What is karawitan? Any form of Javanese art that uses gamelan as its musical base. Comes from “rawit,” meaning smooth, refined, delicate, and intricate.
3. What cultural values are expressed in karawitan? Rukun, guyub, slamet.
4. Where do you find karawitan? Genres? Places? court centers; various types of community gatherings (sanggar, tempat latihan, padhepokan, paguyuban, balai budaya, kursus); ceremonies (weddings, circumcisions, etc.) commemorative occasions and festivals; tourist centers.
5. What are the settings where gamelan music is the focus (not simply used as accompaniment to another art from): latihan and uyon-uyon.

Musical System

What are the ways of categorizing the various instruments of the gamelan? Based on musical function; three distinct layers of sound

1. Colotomic instruments (define the form and mark important coincidences in the musical structure): gong, kempul, kenong, kethuk, kempyang
2. Balungan instruments (play the skeletal framework of the melody): saron demung, saron barung, saron peking, and slenthem
3. Elaborating instruments (play variations of specific formulas according to the idiomatic conventions of each instrument in this group): gendér barung, gambang, rebab, siter, pesindhèn

All of these are led and held together by the rhythmic cues from the various two-headed drums (kendhang ageng, Kendhang ciblon, kendhang ketipung)

How are the instruments tuned?

For each instrument there is a pelog and slendro variant. Slendro has five distinct tones (12356; equidistant), and pelog has seven (1234567; non-equidistant). Usually pitch 6 is the same for pelog and slendro, and pitch 5 slendro is the same as pitch 4 pelog.

What are the basic modes or pathet?

For each tuning system there are three pathet:

Although the slendro tuning has five tones and pelog has seven, in practice, all pathet are centered around a five-note scale. Pitch 4 pelog functions as an interchangeable alternative (“accidental”) to pitch 5 or 3.

The various pathet are distinguished by tones of emphasis, common formulas, range, register, and extra-musical associations.

In wayang genres, uyon-uyon, and latihan, pieces in these pathet are played in a sequence or cycle. It is believed that playing through the sequence or cycle will restore balance to cosmic order. They symbolically reflect life cycles.

What are the basic terms crucial for understanding the musical system?

1. Balungan: the skeletal framework of a piece represented in notated form.

1. Lagu: literally, “song,” an abstract notion of a composite melody which constitutes the essence of a piece in Javanese conceptions about gamelan music. It is the lagu that represents the melody, not the balungan.
2. Titilaras: notation nomenclature and names of the various pitches.

All notes of the balungan notes are read from left to right in a steady “4/4” pattern.

1. Gatra: four-note groupings within the balungan (serves as a reference similar to a measure in Western music).
2. Sèlèh: the last note of each gatra; receives the greatest emphasis (down beat; opposite of Western music).
3. Gongan: the larger musical phrase between strokes of the large gong.
4. Kenongan: a smaller musical phrase between strikes of the kenong.

What are the basic forms used and what defines “form” in Javanese music?

Form is defined by the particular nature of the gong cycle, that is, what happens between the successive strokes of the large gong, and what or how often the other colotomic instruments are struck.

1. Lancaran: 4 kenongan phrases per gongan, and 2 balungan beats per kenongan.
2. Ketawang: 2 kenongan phrases per gongan, and 8 balungan beats per kenongan.
3. Ladrang: 4 kenongan phrases per gongan, and 8 balungan beats per kenongan.
4. Gendhing: upwards of at least 16 balungan beats per kenongan phrase. [The term gendhing is also used in a more generic sense to refer to any piece of gamelan music.]

In practice, pieces in these forms do not stand alone. They are normally combined into medleys or suites, the component parts of which are taken from several different forms. Example: “Gendhing Randhu Kèntir→dhawah Ladrang Ayun-ayun→Ketawang Manggung Soré→Sampak, pelog nem.”

How does a gamelan piece work?

1. Buka: introduction, usually played on the rebab, bonang, or gendér.
2. Cèngkok: literally, “formula,” the stock of melodic formulas unique to each of the elaborating instruments; the particular formula used in a given situation depends on the sèlèh, the contour of the gatra, melodic direction (where to or where from), pathet, position of the gatra within the macro structure of the form, register of the gatra, interaction with other musicians, and interaction with the lagu.
3. Irama: literally, “rhythm,” the proportion between the balungan beat and the number of notes found in the cèngkok of the elaborating instruments per beat.

A gendhing will begin at the level of the lowest proportion (1:2) and gradually slow down the pace of the balungan beat until the elaborating instruments enter into passages where their note density per balungan beat is increasingly greater (1:4→1:8→1:16). A piece will close by returning to one of the lower proportions in a passage where the pace of the balungan beat speeds up again before a final retard and closing gong.

Style

How old is gamelan music, and what is the history behind the predominant styles of Surakarta and the Yogyakarta?

Classic gamelan music as it now exits is considered to be the result of centuries of cultivation and development within the court centers of Central Java, primarily the two court centers of Surakarta (Solo) and Yogyakarta (Yogya). These two rival courts stem from the Mataram kingdom founded in the late sixteenth century by Panembahan Senopati. Alhough we know gamelan music existed prior to the rise of the Mataram kingdom (evidenced by the relief found on ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples stemming from as far back as the eighth century), the cultivation of gamelan as a court-related art flourished in the Mataram Kingdom, especially under Sultan Agung in the early to mid seventeenth century, as a means of showing power and prestige and in the practice mystic rituals. The Mataram kingdom was divided in two parts through an historic event known as the Palihan Negara via the signing of the Treaty of Giyanti in 1755. The split of the kingdom was the result of internal strife among the royal family regarding legitimate successorship and external pressures and manipulation from the colonial powers of the Dutch East Indies Trade Company.

Prior to the split, there was essentially one style. After the split each court center, located only sixty miles apart, began to distinguish itself from its rival by developing a unique style intended to demonstrate official lineage through its connection with the past. The Yogyakarta court (Kasultanan, the Hamengku Buwono dynasty) developed a style considered more conservative and reflective of that played in the courts of the Mataram kingdom. The Surakarta court (Kasunanan, the Paku Buwono dynasty) developed a style considered more progressive in the spirit of the thriving court arts of the former kingdom. Regardless of the politics or the motivation behind the distinctive styles, to this day the courts stand as rivals in the artistic realm and continue to practice distinct versions of a cultural heritage that sets them apart.

It is hazardous to put forward broad, overarching generalizations intended to highlight distinctions between the Yogya and Solo styles of gamelan playing precisely because of the complexity presented by a musical system replete with layers of sound and conventions of form and formulae. While some statements may bear true in the comparison of some layers within the aural stratification, in others such claims are shown to be contradictory. For example, the statement that the Solo style tends to be more florid and refined, whereas the Yogya style tends to be more conservative and restrained is indeed the case within certain domains of the musical structure: the pesindhèn melodies in palaran, the relationship between the gérongan and the balungan, or the tendency toward conjunct motion in Solonese balunganbalungan. However, in other domains¾for instance, the syncopated bonang elaborations, the accommodation of changes in density and a greater density within the balungan part or the céngkok for the kendhang, or the combination of imbal demung, pancer, and gemakanbalungan in the various types of saron¾it is the Yogya style that appears more ornate while the Solo style appears more understated and reserved. This circumstance is rendered even more complicated by the issue of historical development where the profound measure the Solo style’s dominance in all of Java, including the province of Yogyakarta, has caused the manner of playing several of the softer, formula oriented instruments (gendèr, gambang, and rebab) to lose any substantial distinction that may once have existed. Nonetheless, it is useful to reiterate or at least take into consideration the broad generalization used by cultural insiders in their discussions of musical style. and disjunct motion in Yogyanese techniques in the portrayal of the

In Java the notion of style is much broader than it is in Western Art Music usage. It encompasses a vast array of issues that in Western culture would normally fall outside the domain of music. Essentially the differences between the Yogya and Solo styles can be broken down into tangible, surface oriented elements and elements that are more abstract, that is, those specifically related to the domain of music sound. The superficial elements include differences in the repertoire (the unique nature or exclusive presence of some gendhing in one of the two traditions); differences in instrument construction (ranges, pitch collections, size, and physical features or shape of the wooded frame); differences in the consistency of¾or emphasis on¾various ensembles (cokean or siteran versus the full orchestra), differences in the manner of writing titles of gendhing (Solo: title/tuning/mode/formal structure; Yogya: title/tuning/mode/drum patterns); differences in emphasis (vocal versus instrumental); and differences in terminology (for example, uyon-uyonklenèngan, palaran versus rambangan, or bonangan versus soran). Elements that belong to the domain of music proper or music sound primarily include the nature and presentation of the céngkok, both at the balungan and the variation levels. In short, the Solo style is viewed as being more developed and possessing the greater tendency toward variation and embellishment; whereas the Yogya style is more bold, stately, dignified, and majestic. In Solo there is a greater emphasis on garapan, that is, the working out, in a musical sense, of motives, ideas, and the core building blocks (four note/beat groupings called gatra) of the skeletal framework of the gendhing. In Yogya there is a greater emphasis on soran, a loud style of playing that emphasizes the bonang and saron parts and is frequently used to accompany dance or the procession of royalty. Again, while this summary may be viewed as an over simplifications¾Solonese gamelan may also be used to accompany dance in a loud, stately fashion, and Yogyanese music also entails the process of garapan and sophisticated motivic development¾these are generally the terms and broad perimeters that Javanese musicians use to distinguish between the two styles. versus

The unique development of such constructions of stylistic distinction is not, of course, without a history. According to Cokrowasito (Kanjeng or Ki Wasitodiningrat), the two styles developed independently because when the Mataram Kingdom split in 1755 after the Treaty of Giyanti and negotiations surrounding the Palihan Negara, the palace benda pusaka (sacred artifacts, regalia), including the gamelans, and the abdi dalem (palace servants) were also divided. The division of abdi dalem whose primary role it was to play music for court rituals was also a part of this negotiation. Sumarsam claims that the subsequent development of the gamelan styles at the respective courts was the result of court interaction “which included exchanging artists or music and dance practice or repertoire, and the defection of musicians and dancers from one court to the other.”[1] In Cokrowasito’s view however, after the division, the best musicians went to the court of Susuhunan Paku Buwono III in Surakarta, but a small group of them were later sent the Kasultanan Ngayogyakarta to train and oversee the musicians’ playing at the court. They eventually left out of frustration because of the incompetence displayed by the Yogyanese musicians’ renderings of the former Mataram kingdom’s court repertory. But Cokrowasito also points out that many of the princes and sultans in the Yogyakarta court were dancers, and, being more interested in dance, they encouraged the development of the bedayan genre and the sorangarapan. style of playing. Hamengku Buwono I is famous as a patron and creator of several court dance traditions. In Solo, the court supposedly having inherited the most accomplished musicians, the emphasis, in turn, was naturally on developments related to the domain of music sound, its thematic presentation and adornment, and, hence, the predominance of

1. Style demonstrations:
1. Yogyakarta style example: soran, daily uyon-uyon at the Bangsal Sri Manganti
2. Solo style example:

i. Gendhing Lambang Sari, slendro manyura [a Yogyakarta gendhing played in the Surakarta style]

1. Newer styles:
1. Kreasi Baru: “New Creations,” work of Ki Narto Sabdo and Cokrowasito [Ki Narto Sabto: Pamujiku, slendro sanga]
2. Musik Kontemporer: “avant-garde”; more popular in academic circles
3. Campur Sari: popular music, gamelan base supplement with western band instruments (keyboard, drums, bass, and guitar)
4. Karawitan-ization of folk and children’s songs

i. Cucak Rowo