Grade 8 Music: Indonesian Music

INDONESIA

INDONESIA

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia comprising approximately 17, 500 islands. With over 238 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country and is the fourth biggest nation in the world.

INDONESIA

Through interaction with other cultures such as Indian, Arabic, Chinese and European, a wide range of musical styles has been developed. Today, the contemporary music of Indonesia is popular not only in the region but also in the neighboring countries.

INDONESIA

There are two basic kinds of Indonesian music scale:•Slendro – pentatonic scale•Pelog – heptatonic scale

SLENDRO

•Slendro (called Salendro by the Sundanese) is the older of the two most common scales used in Indonesian Gamelan scale.

PELOGPelog is one of the two essential

scales of Gamelan. In Javanese the term is said to be a variant of the word “pelag” meaning fine or beautiful. Pelog has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for five of the pitches. Even in ensembles that have all seven notes, many pieces only use a subset of five notes.

INDONESIA

Both vocal and instrumental music in Indonesia use slendro or pelog.

INDONESIA

•Polyphonic Stratification kind of melody is a result of hocket/interlock.•Irama – is an Indonesian term for tempo.

GAMELAN

GAMELAN

The gamelan or gamelan orchestra is the most popular form of music in Indonesia. It  is a generic term for traditional musical ensembles of Java and Bali which comprises predominantly of percussive instruments.

GAMELAN

Instruments used in gamelan:•Metallophones• Kendang and Gongs• Bamboo Flutes (Suling)• Bonang

METALLOPHONES

A metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet.

METALLOPHONES

Mallet

KENDANG AND GONGS

Kendang is a two-headed drum used by peoples from Maritime Southeast Asia. Kendang is one of the primary instruments used in the Gamelan ensembles of Java and Bali.

KENDANG

KENDANG AND GONGSGongs are broadly of three types.

'Suspended gongs are more or less flat, circular discs of metal suspended vertically by means of a cord passed through holes near to the top rim. Bossed gongs have a raised centre boss and are often suspended and played horizontally. Bowl gongs are bowl-shaped, and rest on cushions and belong more to bells than gongs. Gongs are made mainly from bronze or brass but there are many other alloys in use.

KENDANG AND GONGS

Indonesian gongs are percussion instruments that have a unique, bowl-like appearance, and a round knob in the center. They're commonly used in traditional gamelan music ensembles.

GONGS

BAMBOO FLUTES (SULING)

  Suling or Seruling is an Indonesian bamboo ring flute. It is used in gamelan ensembles. Depending on the regional genre, a suling can be tuned into different scales. Sulings are made mainly of "tamiang" bamboo, a long, thin-walled bamboo tube. The mouthpiece of the suling is circled with a thin band made of rattan near a small hole.

BAMBOO FLUTES

BONANG

The bonang is a musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is a collection of small gongs (sometimes called "kettles" or "pots") placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame (rancak), either one or two rows wide. All of the kettles have a central boss, but around it the lower-pitched ones have a flattened head, while the higher ones have an arched one. They are typically hit with padded sticks (tabuh).

BONANG

INDONESIA

•Pesindhen – is a female soloist singer who sings with a gamelan.•Gerong – refers to the unison male chorus that sings with the gamelan.