Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning Re: salendro: nothing equal about it!

This is from the gamelan list. I thought it might be of interest here as well:

>X-Sender: atimar@mail.interlog.com (Unverified)
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:28:32 -0500
>Reply-To: Andrew Timar <atimar@INTERLOG.COM>
>Sender: Indonesian performing arts <GAMELAN@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU>
>From: Andrew Timar <atimar@INTERLOG.COM>
>Subject: Re: salendro: nothing equal about it!
>To: GAMELAN@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU
>X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by orion.ac.hmc.edu id
>WAA15024
>
>Jody wrote 11/21/99:
>>Perhaps the idea of 5 equal intervals in Javanese slendro is mostly
>>theoretical. One can certainly find written sources that define slendro
>>as five tone equal temperament (i.e. Martopangrawit), but if you look at
>>tuning charts of actual gamelan (Suryodiningrat et. al. for example), you
>>will see that this is not usually the case in practice....
>>
>>What other research has been done on the theory and practice of Javanese
>>tunings, or of gamelan tunings in general?
>>jody
>
>
>Perhaps Laras Slendro can be defined as having [5] intervals more equal
>than those [7] in laras Pelog. The Slendro scale can be defined as an
>anhemitonic [no semitones] and Pelog as a hemitonic [some semitones]
>scale! Maybe, it's just that simple,...although there have been a number
>of more intricate theories over the years...and when you actually build
>and tune a gamelan, a more fine-tuned theory can be helpful.
>
>There's a useful review of the development of the scale/tuning theories of
>Pa Machyar [Kusumadinata] - a Sundanese colleague of Kunst's - in Andrew
>Weintraub's 1997 dissertation on Wayang Golek, "Constructing the
>Popular...". Pa M. began in the 1920's with an equal-interval Salendro
>[240 cents ea./5 tone] model. He later developed and realised in a gamelan
>of his own design an unequal-interval 5 pitch Salendro model, which
>encompasses 17-equal tones/octave grouped into the following pitches:
>
> [5] -3tones- [4] -3t- [3] -4t- [2] -3t- [1] -4t- [5]...
>
>or consider it in descending order as the Sundanese often do:
>
> [1] -3t- [2] -4t- [3] -3t- [4] -3t- [5] -4t- [1] .
>
>*Note that I use the Sundanese notation.
>
>There are 17 tones mainly, I believe in order to accommodate other
>Sundanese scales. If ea. of the 17 intervals = 70.6 cents, then the
>octave has 1200cents [the 'usual' number]. There are 2 types of salendro
>intervals proposed here:
>3tone [x70.6 = c.212 cents] & 4tone [x70.6 = c.282 cents]; in other words,
>a large interval & a smaller one.
>
>A. Weintraub describes a working Wayang Golek gamelan "multilaras" called
>'Ki Barong', designed and tuned in 1970 by Pa Sapa'at Suwanda, Bandung.
>This gamelan has a Salendro scale which is based on a template of 10
>variously-sized intervals/octave. Each Slendro pitch is comprised of 2
>such intervals,
>[giving 5 Salendro pitches]:
>
> [5]-227cents-[4] -233- [3] -255- [2] -224- [1] -261- [5] .
>
>Notice that these intervals maintain Pa Machyar's bigger intervals between
>pitches 1&5 and 2&3, - the other 3 intervals have smaller intervals. This
>Salendro schema allows for the 'wedging-in' of various pelog and
>pelog-related scales, not shown here This 'wedging-in' process may
>account for some variation in the salendro interval sizes. Refer to the
>original figures in Chapter 4 in A. W.'s dissertation for the full,
>complex picture.
>
>What other slendro/salendro models do you know of?
>
>
>degung-boy learning to love salendro,
>Andrew Timar
>
>Evergreen Club;
>Gamelan Studio, York University
>Toronto, Canada
>

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Re: salendro: nothing equal about it!

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