Electroacoustic Composition from Gamelan

>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:...
>
>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).
>
This is at least the third definition I've heard of these terms. According
to one of the sources in Becker/Feinstein Karawitan (1984) (was it
Martopangrawit?), embat laras ati refers to a tuning in which the steps
between pitches 2 and 3 and 3 and 5 are relatively wide. Embat nyundari
(another form of the word sundari) is said to refer to tunings in which
those steps are relatively narrow. However, the data collected by
Surjodiningrat et al, who measured some 76 gamelan, do not show the clear
distinction in step sizes that this terminology implies.

On the other hand, a Javanese tuner told me that these terms refer not to
step sizes, but to the absolute pitch of the tuning -- embat laras ati
being relatively low and embat nyundari being relatively high.
Becker/Feinstein mention this in their glossary as well.

This is the first I've heard of the terms being used to refer to the type
of octave detunings. The data that I've collated, though unfortunately
limited, shows a combination of stretched and compressed octaves in every
sample. The compressed octaves tend to be those below the middle octave and
the stretched ones above the middle octave.

I will admit, as Kenneth points out, that subjective impressions are not
always so clear cut, but tuners use the gender barung as their reference,
and beats between fundamentals relative to that instrument are usually very
clear.

Anyway, if anyone wants to see a graphic representation of the octave
detunings from the available data, I have put some graphs up on my web
page. They clearly show the detuning, both from stretching and compression.
Just go to the address of my home, below, and follow the link called
"Gamelan Tuning Info."

Bill

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^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
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