Author Question: Discuss the tuning and scale system of traditional Javanese music, including how the Javanese system ... (Read 223 times)

j.rubin · **on:** Jul 25, 2018

Discuss the tuning and scale system of traditional Javanese music, including how the Javanese system differs from the Western scale system.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Compare and contrast Balinese and Javanese gamelan styles.

What will be an ideal response?

Edwyer · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 25, 2018

Answer to Question 1

In the Western system, the octave is divided into twelve equal half steps. The Western scale system uses a tempered scale which makes every half-step sound exactly the same musical distance apart. The Western scale is also standardized so that the A above middle C is always exactly 440 c.p.s. All musicians in the Western music-culture have to tune their instruments to this fixed standard in order to play in tune with each other in various musical ensembles.
In traditional Javanese gamelan ensembles, the instruments are all carefully tuned to each other within a particular ensemble, but are not necessarily in tune with instruments from other gamelan ensembles.
The octave in the Javanese scale system is either divided equally into five tones (slndro) or divided into a seven-toned scale of unequal intervals (plog). Neither of these scale systems matches the tones of the Western scale system.

Answer to Question 2

Both Bali and Java use similar gamelan instruments based on same scale system (plog and slndro) and similar gong punctuation.
Both areas use gamelan music for ritual celebrations (not in private residences in Bali, however).
Balinese gamelan music tends to have less standardized gamelan instrumentation, to be strictly instrumental, to be characterized by abrupt changes in tempo and loudness (episodic formal structure), to demonstrate a dazzling technical mastery by the musicians, and have a more exciting, dynamic and exuberant sound than Javanese gamelan music.