Music in Bali

Description

Music in Bali 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 the world. 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. Visit www.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 Bali introduces the ensemble tradition of Balinese music, reflecting cooperative aspects of the island's social organization. Drawing on many years of study with Balinese performers in the United States and extensive fieldwork in Bali, author Lisa Gold presents contemporary Balinese performance within its cultural and historical context, linking Bali's rich past to its current role in modern, globalized society. She illustrates how new compositions borrow material from earlier traditions while also allowing for individual expression and innovation in vibrant present-day culture. By describing various performances--from a temple ceremony, to a shadow puppet performance, to a masked dance drama--Music in Bali surveys a wide range of performance contexts, from the highly sacred to the secular. It looks at the interconnected layers of the Balinese musical tradition, showing how the island's music, dance, theater, and ritual are intertwined.
Music in Bali is enhanced by eyewitness accounts of local performances, interviews with key performers, and vivid illustrations. Packaged with a 70-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book, it features guided listening and hands-on activities that encourage readers to engage actively and critically with the music.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
CD Track List
1. The Balinese Ceremonial Soundscape: Simultaneity of Soundings
Place, Time, and Circumstance
The Act of Offering
Odalan (Temple Ceremonies) and Ramé (Full, Boisterous, Active)
Spatial Orientation
Cycles of Time
Large-Scale Time: Stories and History
Cultural Tourism
Thinking in Threes: Historical Periods, Degrees of Sacredness, and Spatial Orientation of the Performing Arts
The All-Encompassing Adat (Tradition)
In the Sacred Space of the Inner Courtyard (Jeroan): Old-Period Genres as Offerings
In the Ceremonial Space of the Middle Courtyard (Jaba Tengah): Middle-Period Genres
The More Secular Space of the Outer Courtyard (Jaba): New Creations and Entertainment
Conclusion
2. Instruments: Materials, Tuning, and Timbre
The Power of Bronze
Tuning and Timbre
The Waves of Paired Tuning: A Gamelan's Breath of Life
Tuning Systems, Scales, and Notation
Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Explosive Twentieth-Century Style
Instrument Families in Gamelan Music
The Gongs
Cycles of Time in Music: Gongs that Mark Colotomic Meters
Keyed Instruments (Metallophones)
Gender-Type Metallophones
The Low Metallophone Instruments
The Gangsa Family
Gong-Chimes
Reyong
Trompong
Other Layers of Melody
Drums: Aural Conductor of the Ensemble
Cymbals (Ceng-Ceng)
Conclusion
3. Interlocking and Layering: Musical Roles in the Ensemble
The Musical Community of a Gamelan Sekaha
The Stratified Texture of Gamelan: Simultaneous Melodies
The Pokok (Basic Melody)
Communal Elaboration: Interlocking Parts (Kotekan)
Gangsa Kotekan: Polos and Sangsih
Single-Note Kotekan
Syncopated Patterning Kotekan
Expansion and Contraction of a Kotekan Pattern
Reyong Figuration: Melodic Interlocking and Percussive Accentuation
Comparison of Reyong and Trompong
Leadership, Cueing, and Ensemble Interaction
Gaya (Charismatic Gesture)
Conclusion: Putting the Layers Together
4. The World of Stories: Integration of Music, Dance, and Drama in Traditional Balinese Theater
Playing the Past in the Present
Genres in the Old Category: Sacred Ensembles
Genres in the Middle Category: The Hindu Javanese Legacy
Genres in the New Category: Drawing from Middle and Old and Breaking Free
The Idea of Completeness: Revisiting Ramé
Assumptions and Conventions in Traditional Balinese Theater
The Concept of a "Story:" Orality and Literacy in Performance
The Panji Cycle
Levels of Abstraction and Accessibility
The Role of Interpreters
Genres of Theater
Wayang Kilut (Shadow Puppet Theater)
The Dalang
The Progression of a Performance
Taksu: Divine Inspiration and "Shifting Focal Points"
Conclusion
5. Characterization, Movement, and Gong Structures That Enliven Balinese Theater
Aesthetics and Character Types: Halus (Refined) and Keras (Strong)
Male, Female, and Androgynous Dance Styles
Topeng (Masked Dance Drama)
The Characters
Progression of a Topeng Play
Free Choreography
Legong
Free versus Fixed Choreography
Elements of Dance and Music in Topeng and Legong
Vocabulary of Movements
Agem
Angsel: Dance and Music Articulation
Colotomic Meters, Delineating Theatrical Situation and Mood
Batel
Omang
Bapang
Gabor Longgor
Gilak
Gamelan Balaganjur
Listening to Two Topeng Pieces
Kecak
Conclusion
6. Large-Scale Form in Gong Kebyar and Its Antecedents
"Classical" Tripartite Form
Three Contrasting Movements
Gineman: Metrically Free Preludes
Listening to an Entire Piece: The Tripartite Form in "Sinom Ladrang"
Innovations in Form and Texture in Kebyar Kreasi Baru (New Creations)
Form in Kebyar: Cyclicity and Linearity
New Textures
Kebyar Passages: A Display of Gaya
Kebyar-style Gineman: Gegenderan
"Jaya Semara" ("Victorious Divine Love/Love Deity")
Transformation of Form and Other Innovations
Gong Kebyar Competitions at the Bali Arts Festival
Kreasi Baru Trends at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century
Kontemporer
Conclusion: Traditional Arts in a Rapidly Changing World
Arts Workshop/Studio Collectives (Sanggar)
7. Conclusion: Three Themes Revisited at a Cremation Ceremony
Glossary
References
Resources
Index