Listening Blog #3

Title: Balinese Gamelan Music

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRS13e5R8GI

Culture: This is a rehearsal of a Balinese gamelan band.  Gamelan music is a staple of Bali, and is historically used for religious ceremonies and dancing.

Instrumentation: Gamelan, hand percussion, gongs, cymbals, flute-like aerophones, chordophones

In this piece, we can clearly hear one of the defining factors of Gamelan music, the ostinato.  Normally in Gamelan music, the ostinato is played over and over, while others play a changing melodic line over it.  The leader determines when the changes in tempo and section happen.  We can also hear another defining characteristic of gamelan music, the lack of a real tonal center.  Each gamelan has its own tuning, so no instrument will be the same as another.  There are a number of string and woodwind instruments, who sit behind the gamelan players and help to create the melodic sections of the Gamelan music.

In comparing this to other musical cultures, I noticed some similarity.  In our percussion methods class, we did some work with world percussion.  I observed that just like in the Gamelan music, we studied other types of world music with the same general form, for example, the Brazilian batucada.  Just like in Balinese Gamelan, there is an ostinato or repeating pattern happening below, while the leader or a soloist creates interest by adding a "melodic-functioning" line.  The leader also determines the changes in style and the sections of music, by playing a certain pattern to indicate the changes.  The other members are responsible for knowing these cueing patterns and what ostinato goes with each.  Seeing all of the similarities was interesting to me..although there are different instruments and cultural significance for both of these genres, many of the building blocks are the same.  From Brazil to Bali, there still is some overlying form that many cultures follow in their music.