Simulating Gamelan

The following appeared on the Gamelan list, but I think much is
relevant to recent discusions on psychoacoustics, instrumental
simulations, and "translating" music such as Harry Partch's for
different orchestral forces.


Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 12:12:56 -0800
From: Kenneth Newby
Subject: Electroacoustic Composition from Gamelan

Al Nurbandana wrote:
>I still do not know
>what to do to find the appropriate 'kendang' sound especially the
>'kendang batangan'. I just cannot imagine how 'ciblon' can be played
>in keyboards.

Well, it's tough using samples of "other" instruments, although it sounds
like you're exploring the processing part of your instruments. With
respect to the ciblon, one thinks of the cello parts sometimes heard in
Kroncong, which mimic (quite effectively) pitch and rhythms similar to
ciblonan. With appropriate control of dynamic envelope you should be able
to achieve a similar quality with a sampled cello.


>A friend of mine
>gave me an idea to use my computer - but I do not have the program. Do
>you know what program I can use and where to find it ?

You might consider using Max. (By Opcode for the Macintosh) It's a little
more demanding than a conventional sequencer, but if you're interested in
modelling musical behaviour like Karawitan (a very interesting challenge)
Max is useful in that you can program variations into the individual parts
and come up with something closer to the "dynamic steady state" that's
essential to this music. An interactive system like this provides
compositional challenges and opportunities that point to some of the deeper
levels of intercultural creativity discussed on the list in the last few
days.

With respect to tuning (embat); Al's posting to the gamelan list in Bahasa
Indonesia several months back elaborated on some of the possibilities
inherent in the tuning of a gamelan: (also check out Polansky on
"Paratactical Tunings" and Wendy Carlos on "Tuning", both in past Computer
Music Journals for more fruitful musings.)

1. 'mbat Pleng: in which the tone an octave above agrees with the pitch
below. Usually used for dance with Mataraman-style pieces.

2. 'mbat Larasati: in which the tone an "octave" above is raised slightly
higher than a "true" octave (more than 1200 cents).

Actually this can be quite subjective and dependent on the nature of the
timbres being tuned, as the problem of tuning the somewhat inharmonic low
strings of the piano has shown.

3. 'mbat Sundari: where the tone an "octave" above is lowered slightly
lower than a "true" octave (less than 1200 cents).

Al mentions that the effect of this tuning is similar to that of 'mbat
Larasati. I haven't heard much mention of this type of "compressed" tuning
in Karawitan, the stetched or spiral tuning seems to be more common. (Our
gamelans in Vancouver use 'mbat Larasati) Does anyone know 'mbat Sundari
is commonly used?

________________________________________________________
Kenneth Newby, Vibrant Arts! newby@sfu.ca

921 East 10th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V5T 2B3

604 872-2864
________________________________________________________


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