Re: gamelan pitches

vern-
i know that there are some gamelan samples on the
Field Museum's "Sounds from the Vault" site (bonang,
etc), though these are taken from the museum's
instrument set inherited from the 1894 Columbian
Exposition, and are West Javanese, so not typical of
some of the more standard tunings.

For quick and dirty use, Slendro is said to be similar
to 5TET, and Pelog to 7TET, though 7TET is closer to
the Thai tuning system. More properly, Pelog is
thought to be closer to a seven pitch set derived from
9TET, with the two additional pitches represented more
in the vocal and rebab elaborative parts. There is a
site by scholar Martin Braun that has extensive
analysis of Pelog ensembles, though I'll have to dig
up the URL if you're interested. This is all in
reference more specifically to Central Javanese style.
Other regions (Balinese, etc) have other, related
systems.

In truth, as I'm sure you know, each ensemble is tuned
audibly differently. The group I play with owns two
sets who's fundamental tunings are probably over a
half-tone off. More importantly to your inquiry,
though, the relative tunings within ensembles differ
radically, which is a function of the needs of Pathet.
Pathet is roughly the equivalent of "mode" in western
music, though with other implications as well. This
is important because, given the example of Slendro,
two different pathets like Manyura and Sanga will
require that spaces between your pitches either expand
or contract. So the space between the 6 and 1 pitches
will be larger or smaller. For this reason certain
gamelans of fixed pitch instruments are said to favor
one pathet over others. There is a discussion of this
in the New Grove 2nd ed (maybe the first, too) that
appears, I believe, under "mode", and may be worth
taking a look at. Western analysis of gamelan tuning
tends to be a somewhat explosive topic, as some
analysts tend to over-simplify what is a very
aesthetically complex process. But also endlessly
fascinating for experts and novices like me.

Kind regards,
Nathaniel Braddock

> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 07:01:10 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "P.i.x.l.F.u.x.a" <pixlfuxa@yahoo.com>
> Subject: intro
>
>
> hi,
>
> being brand new to the group, i'd like to ask if
> someone has got fine recordings of single gamelan
> notes of the various gamelan intruments to share.
>
> i am also interested in infos about gamelan tuning
> and spectral analysis.
>
> apart from that i like stuff driven by the elements
> (wind & weather), like aeolian harps.
>
> thanks for reading
>
>
> vern-
>
>

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>

Hello Nathan and Vern!
The idea that gamelan tunings are 7 et or 5 et is simplistic as when exposed to such things the indonesians reject them in the end. It seems the best measurements of Gamelan tunings is Kunst and Mc Phee
both which i have put on line at my world scale depository
http://www.anaphoria.com/depos.html

http://www.anaphoria.com/kunst.PDF
since Kunst didn't really measure the octave many now disregard it as being untrustworthy

http://www.anaphoria.com/mcphee.PDF

>
> Subject: Re: gamelan pitches
> From: Nathaniel Braddock <nbraddo@yahoo.com>
> vern-
> i know that there are some gamelan samples on the
> Field Museum's "Sounds from the Vault" site (bonang,
> etc), though these are taken from the museum's
> instrument set inherited from the 1894 Columbian
> Exposition, and are West Javanese, so not typical of
> some of the more standard tunings.
>
> For quick and dirty use, Slendro is said to be similar
> to 5TET, and Pelog to 7TET, though 7TET is closer to
> the Thai tuning system. More properly, Pelog is
> thought to be closer to a seven pitch set derived from
> 9TET, with the two additional pitches represented more
> in the vocal and rebab elaborative parts. There is a
> site by scholar Martin Braun that has extensive
> analysis of Pelog ensembles, though I'll have to dig
> up the URL if you're interested. This is all in
> reference more specifically to Central Javanese style.
> Other regions (Balinese, etc) have other, related
> systems.
>
> In truth, as I'm sure you know, each ensemble is tuned
> audibly differently. The group I play with owns two
> sets who's fundamental tunings are probably over a
> half-tone off. More importantly to your inquiry,
> though, the relative tunings within ensembles differ
> radically, which is a function of the needs of Pathet.
> Pathet is roughly the equivalent of "mode" in western
> music, though with other implications as well. This
> is important because, given the example of Slendro,
> two different pathets like Manyura and Sanga will
> require that spaces between your pitches either expand
> or contract. So the space between the 6 and 1 pitches
> will be larger or smaller. For this reason certain
> gamelans of fixed pitch instruments are said to favor
> one pathet over others. There is a discussion of this
> in the New Grove 2nd ed (maybe the first, too) that
> appears, I believe, under "mode", and may be worth
> taking a look at. Western analysis of gamelan tuning
> tends to be a somewhat explosive topic, as some
> analysts tend to over-simplify what is a very
> aesthetically complex process. But also endlessly
> fascinating for experts and novices like me.
>
> Kind regards,
> Nathaniel Braddock
>
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 07:01:10 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: "P.i.x.l.F.u.x.a" <pixlfuxa@yahoo.com>
> > Subject: intro
> >
> >
> > hi,
> >
> > being brand new to the group, i'd like to ask if
> > someone has got fine recordings of single gamelan
> > notes of the various gamelan intruments to share.
> >
> > i am also interested in infos about gamelan tuning
> > and spectral analysis.
> >
> > apart from that i like stuff driven by the elements
> > (wind & weather), like aeolian harps.
> >
> > thanks for reading
> >
> >
> > vern-
> >
> >
>
>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
Wed. 8-9 KXLU 88.9 fm

nathaniel,

thanks alot for your comprehensive reply!
i found the field museum site, relevant part e.g. at:
http://www.fmnh.org/sounds/vi/bonasw.html
and i also found an email address of martin braun,
whom i'm going to contact right after this.
in general i am more interested in the spectral
composition of the various gamelan instruments
than in the tuning varieties (if i may admit so
here...).
i am vaguely familiar with pelog and slendro, but
my opinion is that tuning details is exacltly _not_
what matters most to the indonesian musicians.
the analytical view seems more of a european origin
tradition to me.

but then again - i can be totally wrong...

thanks again for your valuable hints

vern-

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kraig,

thanks for the URLs which i am just going to explore!

as a matter of fact, the main reason why i am looking
for these things is that after having equipped my garden
with a longstring aeolian miracle, i am now going to use
various sound samples and have them being played (or rather:
triggered) by the elements.
and i am going beyond the ordinary 12-staged scale, anyway,
so that's why i'm here.

great to find such interesting hints which are just to the point!

nice sounds all the time

vern-

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