Music in Central Java Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

by Brinner, Benjamin

• ISBN13: 9780195147377
• ISBN10: 0195147375
• Format: Paperback w/CD
• Copyright: 2007-03-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Music in Central Java is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around theworld. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visitwww.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study. Music in Central Java offers a vivid introduction to the region's musical and cultural landscape, showing how three themes--flexibility, appropriateness, and interconnectedness--characterize Javanese musical practices and traditions. Drawing on his extensive fieldwork, author Benjamin Brinnertakes an in-depth look at gamelan music--a traditional musical ensemble tradition that typically features metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs--providing readers with a sense of what it means to be a musician performing gamelan. Building from fundamental Javanese concepts of time and melody,the book covers gamelan's instruments, musical idioms, and central interactions and also surveys contrasting performance contexts. It examines both the theatrical and musical aspects of the vibrant tradition of shadow-puppet plays (Wayang kulit) and offers a broad survey of other music found inCentral Java. In addition, Music in Central Java provides an engaging portrait of a leading Javenese musician, traces musical responses to radical social, political, and cultural changes over the past century, and considers Javanese music in relation to Indonesia and the rest of the world. Enhanced by eyewitness accounts of performances, interviews with key performers, vivid illustrations, and hands-on listening activities, this book is a captivating introduction to the music of Central Java. It is packaged with a 78-minute audio CD containing examples of the music discussed inthe book.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

CD Track List

First Hearings

Introduction

What Is a Gamelan?

Gamelan Performance Contexts in Solo: Life Cycles and Musical Cycles

Cyclicity and Coincidence

Music in the Everyday

Patronage and Sociopolitical Change

Social Status, Language, and Interaction

Gamelan at the Radio Station

Similarities and Differences

Categories and Cross-Cultural (Mis)Communication

Conclusion: Three Themes

Flexibility of Frameworks and Processes

Appropriateness

Interconnectedness

A Sense of Time

Making and Marking Musical Time: Gongs and Drums

Cyclicity and Colotomic Function

Drumming

Lancaran Drum Patterns

Gongs, Drums, and the Flexibility of Time

Gamelan, Tuning, and Instrumental Melody

Gamelan Tunings

Tuning Systems: Slendro and Pelog

Gamelan Instruments

Instrumental Melody

Melody and Elaboration

Balungan, Peking, and Bonang

"Landrang Asmaradana"

Songs, Singers, and Gamelan

Social Aspects of Singing

Poetry, Song, and Gamelan

Conclusion

Melodic Elaboration and Training in the Arts

Rebab, Gender, and Other Elaborating Instruments

Cengkok, Variation, and the Transmission of Musical Knowledge

Shadows and Tales

Wayang in Pangkah Village

Javanese Shadow Plays

The Stories and the Telling: The Main Elements

Physical Setup

Plots and Plot Sources

Characters and Character Types

Language and Voice

Movement Patterns

Dramatic Structure: Schemata of Various Sizes

Conclusion

Music for Motion and Emotion--Wayang Kulit

"Brajadenta Balela"

Wayang Repertoire

Music for Expressing Emotion: Sulukan

Music for Accompanying Motion: Gendhing Lampah

Music for Setting a Scene: Gendhing

Return to "Brajadenta Balela"

Flexibility and Appropriateness

Conventions and Innovations

Java and Beyond

Pak Cokro

Interconnectedness: Theater, Dance, and Music

Educational Institutions

Regionalism and the Dominance of Solonese Style

Java and the Rest of Indonesia

Java and the World

Conclusion

Glossary

References

Resources

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.