Download AOS 2 Gamelan

AOS 2 Gamelan
* Gamelan Music is from Indonesia, especially the two
islands of Java and Bali.
* Gamelan is played at celebrations, religious events
and entertainments such as shadow puppet plays and
dance performances.
* Gamelan performances are very important in village life
for bringing people together and expressing their feelings in
a culture which is not always possible to do so publicly.
* The Gamelan is thought to be magical and spiritual –
players treat their instruments with total respect and would
never step over them as they believe they are tied to heaven
and stepping over the instruments could break these ties.
* Gamelan music is handed down from generation to
generation with children learning, watching and copying
from their father’s and elders. This is called the oral
tradition where music isn’t written down.
* The word Gamelan means ‘to hit with a hammer’.
* The Gamelan is made up mainly of percussion
instruments.
* There are typically between 4 and 40 instruments
consisting of gongs, metallophones and drums,
sometimes a kind of bowed fiddle called a rebab and often
a singer.
* Generally, higher pitch instruments play more intricate
parts and lower pitch instruments play simpler parts with
fewer notes.
* Gamelan music is made up of set patterns that each
player has to learn.
* Sometimes a player or singer will have the chance to
ornament or decorate a melody, but they are expected to
follow quite strict rules.
* Gamelan music uses two types of scale. The pelog scale
made up of seven notes and the slendro scale made up of
five notes (pentatonic scale).
* The main melody is based on one of these two types of
scale and is called the Balungen. This melody is repeated
over and over again to make a cyclic melody and is often
performed by the sarons.
* Other instruments such as the bonangs. Gongs mark out
the beginning of each rhythmic cycle. Drummers cue the
performers like an orchestral conductor, keeping the players
in time.
* Gamelan music has a heterophonic texture – where
each layer of sound is a variation of the main melodic
pattern.
These variations might be subtle, such as the addition of
ornaments, or more dramatic, such as playing the melody at
a different speed or in a different key.
Listening example:
Gamelan Galura Bendrong
Gamelan Gong Kebyar