Gamelan Gong Kebyar

The Balinese gamelan, with its shimmering tones, breathless pace, and compelling musical language, has long captivated musicians, composers, artists, and travelers. Here, Michael Tenzer offers a comprehensive and durable study of this sophisticated musical tradition, focusing on the preeminent twentieth-century genre, gamelan gong kebyar. Combining the tools of the anthropologist, composer, music theorist, and performer, Tenzer moves fluidly between ethnography and technical discussions of musical composition and structure. In an approach as intricate as one might expect in studies of Western classical music, Tenzer's rigorous application of music theory and analysis to a non-Western orchestral genre is wholly original. Illustrated throughout, the book also includes nearly 100 pages of musical transcription (in Western notation) that correlate with 55 separate tracks compiled on two accompanying compact discs. The most ambitious work on gamelan since Colin McPhee's classic Music in Bali, this book will interest musicians of all kinds and anyone interested in the art and culture of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Bali.

The Balinese gamelan, with its shimmering tones, breathless pace, and compelling musical language, has long captivated musicians, composers, artists, and travelers. Here, Michael Tenzer offers a comprehensive and durable study of this sophisticated musical tradition, focusing on the preeminent twentieth-century genre, gamelan gong kebyar. Combining the tools of the anthropologist, composer, music theorist, and performer, Tenzer moves fluidly between ethnography and technical discussions of musical composition and structure. In an approach as intricate as one might expect in studies of Western classical music, Tenzer's rigorous application of music theory and analysis to a non-Western orchestral genre is wholly original. Illustrated throughout, the book also includes nearly 100 pages of musical transcription (in Western notation) that correlate with 55 separate tracks compiled on two accompanying compact discs. The most ambitious work on gamelan since Colin McPhee's classic Music in Bali, this book will interest musicians of all kinds and anyone interested in the art and culture of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Bali.

With extensive photographs and downloadable audio this guide to Balinese music showcases the history, culture and art of the gamelan ceremony. Bali has develop and nourished an astonishing variety of musical ensembles—called gamelan—comprising dozens of instruments mainly made of bronze or bamboo, and organized into groups with as many as 30 to 40 players. In Balinese Gamelan Music, Michael Tenzer, a noted Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, presents an introduction to many types of Balinese gamelan ensembles, each with its own established tradition, repertoire and context. The instruments and basic principles underlying the music are introduced, providing listeners with the means to better appreciate the music—and its importance not only in Bali but around the world. The gamelan music of Bali is a centuries-old kaleidoscope of sound and rhythm that is recognized today as one of the world's most sophisticated musical traditions. Despite rapid changes in contemporary village life, hundreds of groups still perform regularly around this tiny island—from isolated mountain hamlets to the bustling precincts of Denpasar, Kuta and Ubud. The primary function of gamelan music in Bali is to accompany religious rituals. Each village typically maintains several different gamelan sets, using each one for a different set of occasions. Music is memorized, and rehearsed in village meeting halls, temples, or private homes. When a gamelan group accompanies a Balinese dance performance, the close coordination between the dancers' movements and the music is established through a complex system of interactive cues and responses. Performance standards are extremely high and even with Bali's rapid modernization in recent years, the gamelan tradition remains vital and largely undiminished by outside musical influences.

This book combines ethnography, philosophy, and musical analysis for an in-depth look into the social context and musical praxis of gamelan gong gede, the largest gamelan orchestra of bronze gongs and percussion on the island of Bali. The Hindu-Balinese notion of three human qualities called triguna serves as an interpretive framework for categorizing the musical repertoire, according to both widespread religious knowledge and more esoteric wisdom. (Series: KlangKulturStudien/SoundCultureStudies - Vol. 2)

Balinese Gamelan.

This is an open access book.Related to the big theme of the SDGs reinforcement at our previous conference, we try to invite all academics and researchers around the world to participate in the 4th Borobudur International Symposium 2022 (4thBIS 2022). As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on all the 17 SDGs have demonstrated how what began as a health catastrophe swiftly transformed into a human, socioeconomic and environmental crisis. The 4th BIS brought up “The Innovation Chain: A Contribution to Society and Industry” as the main theme to respond this condition. This conference is expected to support the UN Agenda. Additionally, this conference will also provide avenues for participants to exchange ideas and network with each other as well as domain experts from their fields. Overall, this event is aimed at professionals across all spheres of technology and engineering including the experienced, inexperienced, and students as well. The conference will be held virtually on Wednesday, December 21st, 2022 in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.

In recent years, girls' and mixed-gender ensembles have challenged the tradition of male-dominated gamelan performance. The change heralds a fundamental shift in how Balinese think about gender roles and the gender behavior taught in children's music education. It also makes visible a national reorganization of the arts taking place within debates over issues like women's rights and cultural preservation. Sonja Lynn Downing draws on over a decade of immersive ethnographic work to analyze the ways Balinese musical practices have influenced the processes behind these dramatic changes. As Downing shows, girls and young women assert their agency within the gamelan learning process to challenge entrenched notions of performance and gender. One dramatic result is the creation of new combinations of femininity, musicality, and Balinese identity that resist messages about gendered behavior from the Indonesian nation-state and beyond. Such experimentation expands the accepted gender aesthetics of gamelan performance but also sparks new understanding of the role children can and do play in ongoing debates about identity and power.