Performer: street musicians in Bali
Instrumentation: idiophones, flutes, reeded aerophones, jaw harps, metallophones
Culture or Origin: Balinese culture.
Connection: I chose to pick some Balinese gamelan music because I am reading the cultural context guide for Bali and I find it very interesting. In Javanese, gamelan translates to 'musical ensemble'. During a class discussion a few weeks back we talked about different cultures tuning systems and how some preferred to have 'beats'. I find this extremely fascinating because in our Western Classical culture we strive so hard to eliminate this. During rehearsals this past week we worked a lot on tuning between the upper woodwind players in symphony band. I couldn't help but really listen to the beats and the musical purpose that they have in other cultures. They were interesting to listen to and recognize briefly before they were gone.
I bring this up because many people would consider this music as headache provoking. Our other Balinese CD track: Kotekan norot has similar elements to the one above. I think it would be an interesting experiment in the classroom to have students try and play as out of tune as possible in an ensemble setting to get them really aware of the beats. They can experiment with the width of the waves. I find my self playing with beats when practicing with the tuning CD. It's very interesting and a great learning experience. In order to play 'in tune' in the Western Classical sense, I think its important to understand beats and how to make them slow and fast and the differences between beats when different timbres and tone colors are added.
The experiment idea sounds very interesting, I just might start (intentionally) playing out of tune in Symphony Band...In all seriousness, I personally despise hearing beats and it's a sign that things are not correct or in tune. We've associated a=440 or what ever the pitch may end up being as the measuring stick of good sound. I feel that we only get headaches from hearing beats because we've been trained to react that way and fix it. Listening to this song I hear the beats as some ethereal musical entity all their own, another musician left unseen. When done intentionally I think they can add a great deal to any sound.
ReplyDeleteOthers have posted this video and it is a favorite of mine because of the "behind the scenes" look at a gamelan. This music is usually shared in such an organized presentation that it is hard to imagine what a practice session might look like...now we know!
ReplyDelete