Gamelan music

Gamelan is a national band that is popular among Indonesian people, and the music it plays is also called gamelan. The gamelan band and its music were formed around the 15th century and have a history of 500 years. It is deeply rooted in the soil of Indonesia and has a deep foundation among the people. According to statistics in the 1920s, there were 20,000 gamelan bands on the island of Java alone. Indonesian music is influenced by Chinese and Indian music.

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The gamelan band has many types of musical instruments, which can be roughly divided into: percussion instruments that play melody: "bonan", "charon", "gen" "del", "gan bang" and the percussion instruments that control the rhythm: "gendang", "gang" and "kenong". And other orchestral instruments: "Su Ling", "Labab", "Gezhabi", etc.

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Gamelan music mostly uses two pentatonic scales with and without semitones, but its temperament (i.e. the distance between notes) Different from the 12-equal temperament, it is a bit closer to the 5-equal temperament, so I was not very used to it when I first heard it. When playing gamelan, you also need to follow a mode called patet, which is similar to Indian raga. Different patets are used to express different emotions. There are also a small number of singers in the gamelan band. Gamelan is a kind of polyphonic music composed of a variety of musical instruments and human voices. It is neither unison nor European harmony or counterpoint. Its musical texture is complex and intertwined, and its performance also has a certain degree of improvisation, that is, improvisation is performed on the basis of the core melody. There are about 4,000 core melodies in gamelan music, and 1,000 are commonly used today. Gamelan music is very rich and it is an artistic treasure of Indonesia. The timbres are very diverse: crisp bamboo plates and loud metal plates, loud trebles and deep basses, deep drums and soft flutes, majestic gongs and slender female voices singing in unison... These form a sharp contrast, Enables people to depict a variety of tones and changes in the audio palette. In addition, the gamelan band also has great changes in intensity when playing. Some people think that the gamelan band is no less than a modern orchestra in terms of the range of volume changes. Sometimes, music comes suddenly like a storm, shaking the earth, but often it turns into a gentle caress in an instant, delicate and gentle, and very peaceful. Gamelan music in Indonesia can be found all over the country, and it has a wide range of uses. It is often used to accompany dances, dramas, and shadow puppet shows, and is played alone during intermissions. In the past, it was often used in various religious ceremonies, when greeting distinguished guests, and during cremations. Play. There are also different styles of gamelan in various places. The most representative one is the Balinese gamelan music that believes in Hinduism. It is full of life, lively and cheerful. Due to the influence of the court, Javanese gamelan music appears elegant and quiet.

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In 1889, at the French World Exposition, Indonesian gamelan music was refreshing. The French Impressionist composer Debussy was deeply impressed by it. Draw inspiration and create new creations. Dutch ethnomusicologist Kunst and contemporary American ethnomusicologist Hood both conducted thorough and in-depth research on gamelan and wrote monographs. Gamelan music has now become one of the most important types of folk music in the world. Hood in the United States also introduced gamelan music into the classrooms of American university music departments, allowing students to personally participate in playing the music of another culture and further understand and master this style perceptually. It is said that there are now 120 gamelan music groups in various universities in the United States. Other countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, also have gamelan bands. In Asia, Japan has the most gamelan bands, with about 18 groups. In short, there is no doubt that the most familiar oriental music in contemporary countries around the world is Indonesian gamelan.