Different Temporalities: The Time of Balinese Gamelan

Abstract

On my first research trip to Bali, Indonesia, I brought along a reasonably expensive digital metronome with the wrongheaded idea that it would somehow aid my learning gamelan music. In a completely uncharacteristic mistake, Singapore Airlines lost my luggage containing the metronome. More than once, my Balinese teachers suggested (only half-kiddingly) that the goddess of music, Saraswati, had probably had a hand in this. Many Balinese teachers have commented that their greatest pedagogical challenge is in helping their foreign students develop a sense of the fluid, flexible nature of Balinese musical time. The differences between Balinese and Euro-American musical time and their representations have partially blinded theorists to its shape, function, and significance. In his magnum opus Music in Bali (1966), Colin McPhee describes a performance that particularly delighted him: With no rhythmic support of any kind, the players must follow the leading gangsa, partly by watching, partly by ear. They must all feel in the same way the flexible, rubato nature of the passage. The charm of this episode, as played by the gamelan at Jagaraga in 1938, was irresistible. It lay partly in the melody itself, sounding thinly chiming octaves and stressed at intervals by the vibrant tones of the jublags and jegogans. But perhaps most enchanting of all was the lovely pliancy of the passage, and the perfect accord of all the players. (McPhee 1966:350)

Interlocking Rhythm Between Gendang Ibu and Gendang Anak In Gendang Silat Kedah

“…Interlocking rhythms have been used in many musical traditions, such as Balinese gamelan, Afro-Cuban, and African music. As we can see, it also can be applied to our traditional music to create interesting rhythmic patterns (Snow & Brissett 1986;McGraw, 2008). Two musical instruments play rhythmic patterns in gendang silat Kedah: gendang ibu and gendang anak.…”

“…Next, the small face of the gendang anak is called 'cak'. The type of skin used is usually made from female goatskin because it has a thin kind of skin and will produce a tense sound (McGraw, 2008). The more prominent face is called "ting", and the skin is made from cow skin.…”

Quantitative analysis of temporal structure in Cuban guaguancó drumming

“…Quantized to fit within the rough-grained resolution of Western notation, and trapped between repeat signs, the rich variations of many African-diasporic, Southeast Asian, and Native American musics (for instance) dissolve into thin air. Many scholars – especially Diaz (2017), Gerischer (2006), McGraw (2008), Monson (1999), and Tenzer (2006) – have been concerned with recognizing, representing and analyzing these overlooked forms of variation. The present article is a contribution to this discourse.…”