2.5 Listening to balinese gamelan: a beginners' guide  (Page 5/5)

This is not the only way that such closely cooperative parts are produced. In the technique called kotekan , two distinctly different parts are combined, again to form a line that the ear hears as a single part. In a typical gamelan gong kebyar , for example, the elaborated-melody part for the highest gender instrument may have two, four, or even eight notes for every note of the core melody. For variety, some variations of the melody will be slower, while others are faster. At the fastest speeds, this part may be literally unplayable for a single person, so for these sections it is divided into two parts. The polos part is based on the melody, and still plays the same note as the core instruments at important points in the melody. The sangsih part may sometimes play at the same time, but also fills in gaps in the rhythm of the polos . At slow speeds, players may play both parts, but at high speeds, each player plays only one of the two interdependent, interlocking parts. Each part is incomplete by itself, and may be highly syncopated ; when played together correctly they form a single steady stream of notes.

Even when the main rhythm of a gamelan piece is a very steady stream of notes, the rhythm will sometimes be interrupted by dramatic cadences marking important points in the piece (which often correspond to actions in the dance or play that the music accompanies). Changes in tempo and dynamics also add to the drama of the music, and all of these are determined (sometimes during the performance, in coordination with the dance or drama) by the leader of the group, usually a drummer, who indicates them both with gestures and with drummed signals. The ensemble that can maintain a very "clean", highly-coordinated sound during such changes wins the respect of a Balinese audience.

Recognizing and listening to gamelan music

Easy-to-hear clues that what you are hearing is Balinese gamelan include: a predominantly percussion ensemble featuring drums, gongs, cymbals, and/or metallophones ; wide tuning with audible beats; use of a five-note mode; and thick, busy textures . The cyclical form of the piece may or may not be easily audible to the beginning listener.

If you have a chance to watch a gamelan performance, particularly in context (with dance, theater, or religious rite), take advantage of the opportunity to observe. Many of the important elements, such as the form and kotekan technique, are easier to appreciate if one can watch the instruments being played.

Watching performances

• Pay attention to the interplay between the dance or action and the music. Watch for the leader of the musicians to closely coordinate the form, dynamics, and tempo of the piece to the action.
• Try to get a feeling for the basic form or structure by watching the large gongs and/or other colotomic instruments .
• Watch for kotekan .
• Observe the different instruments being played. Which are playing colotomic parts? Which are playing basic or elaborated versions of the melody? Who is playing solos or leading?

Listening to gamelan music

• Try to get a feeling for the length of the form by listening to the repetitions of the melody. Listen also for the colotomic instruments to mark off the main points in the form.
• Listen for the variations on the melody.
• Listen for the beats produced by the wide tuning
• If you can, listen for mode.

You may also encounter gamelan techniques or instruments in specialist percussion ensembles, world music, or hybrid musics. Such performances may simply use the Balinese instruments for their particular timbre, or they may also incorporate other elements of Balinese music. For example here is an excerpt from Christopher Reyman's Reng Gam-Jazz , which uses a jazz rhythm section along with Balinese instruments, in a form that includes jazz-style improvisation as well as an eight-beat Balinese-style cycle.

Acknowledgments

Photographs, audio, and video recordings are all courtesy of the University of Illinois School of Music and The Robert E. Brown Center for World Music of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Special thanks go to gamelan instructor and artistic director I Ketut Gede Asnawa.

Thanks also to the Asnawa family and to all of the University of Illinois students and professors who participated in the Fall 2007 Balinese Music and Dance Concert at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for their cooperation in preparing the photos, videos, and audio recordings accompanying this lesson: including dancers Yonitika Asnawa, Yunirika Asnawa, Norshahida Ismail, Samantha C. Jones, Dewidiari Rachman, Ya-Han Tsui, Justina Whelchel, and musicians I Ketut Gede Asnawa, Putu O. Mardiani Asnawa, Tarika Asnawa, Yonitika Asnawa, Yunirika Asnawa, Taylor Briggs, James Bunch, Vincent Calianno, Joel Caracci, Samuel Carroll, Fang-chi Chang, Rosa Chang, Meghann Clancy, Philip Clark, Mark Eichenberger, Joshua Hunt, Justin Kothenbeutel, Mackenzie Martin, Andrew McBeath, Ayu Putu Niastarika, Christopher Nolte, Zackary Penckofer, Matthew Plaskota, James Price, Dewidiari Rachman, I Wayan Rachman, Christopher E. Reyman, Nur Syahida Mohd Shafei, Ahmad Azlan Shahrudin, Shahira Tunnaww Mohd Sharkar, Otto Stuparitz, Stephen Taylor, Priscilla Tse, Shane Wirkes, and Philip Yampolsky.