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MGamelan(mgam)theoryisaWesternapproachtoBalineseGamelan.Mgamaims atstandardizingperformanceandmusicalinterpretationofcontemporaryBalinese Gamelan.Itspurposeistoaddresssuchissuesaspitchconversion,transliterationinto westernmusicalnotation,instrumentationsubstitution,digitalandelectronicmusic integration,andcorecompositionalprocesses.MGamelanisnotanethnomusical study,norathesisongamelanmusic.Itisapersonalandpartialviewpointbasedon inventionandexistingmaterialonthesubject(literature,studies,performances, scores,etc.) Scope:TheonlytypeorgenreofBalinesecomposition(Ghending)fromwhichmgamis derivedisknownasGamelan Angklung orPentakAungklungcompositionItis commonlycitedasaninstrument,asanensembleasacompositionalapproach Theissueoftuning(m)(pitch/intervalsbetweennotes).Aswithmosttraditional music,Balinesegamelanisinterdependentofthetypesofinstrumenteachensemble isused.Wewillusethe4noteKANTILENorANKGLUNGfromtheregionofUbudas ourinstrumentofreference(seepicture). Pitchandintervals Asshownbelowinpitchtofrequencygraph,Gnatural(+3cents)istheclosestsound wehavetotheWesternScale,followedbyD(20cents). Thusinordertoplayorperformwithotherinstruments,atleastoneofthesetwo notesisrequiredforsimultaneousplayingbypitchedinstruments. AllinstrumentsjoiningintomgamhaveatleastaGnaturalor/andaDnaturalinany octave.Disprototypicalingamelan,thuswouldbethepreferredchoiceofthetonal centerifsoneeded.*Thisbriefexplanationwillnotbasicaspectsofnotation,but
includesreferencestoMIDIandSoundengineeringprinciples.

2 Mgamelanisbasedona4notepentatonicscale.Perfectlypitched, itwouldbeasfollows:

IntervalRelation G4(+3cents)to A4(+30cents)to B4(8cents)to

Figure1PitchtoFrequency GraphD4(20cents)toB4 NOTE:Inordertoformtheperfectpentatonicscale:weare missingone(implied)note:(E/mi) AllMgamisbasedonthesequenceofthese4notestransposedonanyoctave,andatanyintervalinrelationonlytotheinstrumentsavailableatperformance time.Whatisconsideredisthepropertuningaccordingtobasicmgamnotesequence.Itisimportanttonotethatethnomusicalconventiontranslatesthe pentatonicscaledifferently.Ourownanalysis(above)isscientificallydifferent,andwillbethegroundsfor theMgamelanmethod. Thetypicalnotionsassociatedwithtraditionalpopmusicandtribal/traditionalmusic(includinggamelan)is thatisprimarilyrepetitive,rhythmicandiscircular,thatis,hasnolinearity(development).Theparadigmis circularity/repetition.Westernclassicalmusicsparadigmis:linearity/progression.Theseclassifications arearbitraryandwrong. Gamelan:ContextualComposition&Reversecounterpoint: TheWesternmusiccompositionalprocessistheinverseofBalinesetraditionalmusic.Classicaltraditional createsmusicfrommelodies.Frommelodiclinesarebuiltinterrelationshipbetweenvoices.Thissystem allowsforflourishingandaccompanimentelementsintovertical/hierarchicallines(chordsandprogression)tosustainandenhancetheflowofvoices(leading). Classicalmusicfurthermoredividesalltheaboveintosupportunitspunctuationvaluesthataredefinedasrhythms.Basselementsusuallyprovidethe foundationalvoicetypicallythemostrhythmicallyaccentedelement.Itisadeductiveprocessofdivisions.

Coresponding (moreorless)totheWestern scale: FABDnatural.

3 Gamelanorderisachievedbythecreationoflinkedmelodicelements.Theresultoflayersuponlayersofinterlockingrhythmicfiguresderivedfromsmaller rhythmicunits.Theyaddtoeachother.Notdivide.Moreovertheconcernisnotaboutrelationshipbetweensecondarymelodiesbutbetweenmusical intervalswithineachpattern.Itsaninductiveprocessofadditions.Inshort:Whilewebuildstartingfrommelodydownwardstorhythms,Gamelandoesthe opposite:itcreatesamelodyfromthebottomup,fromtherhythmicunitsuptothemelody. FormalelementsofMgamelan: BASICS:AnMgamisdividedinCycles.Eachcycleisequivalenttoauniquemusicalevent.Itispunctuatedbyalargegongorsimilarpercussivebreak.(Some instancesofrunningsoundpadsorsilencearealsopossibilities). Gamelanmusiciscyclical*innature.Theminimumcycleconsistsofasystemthatistwooramultiple/powerof2typicallyeight. *Westernclassicaltraditionmightoftenbereferredaslinear.*Thisdoesnotmeanmgamisnotbuiltonprogressions. EachmajorcycleisclearlydelimitedbyaPUNCTUATIONcalledCotolomic.Themelodicfigureistypicallyderivedfromastackoflayerednotes(strata)following arhythmicprogression.

KeyWordstofurtherdefine:Melodie,Cycles,strata,kotekan,accents,detune,ligature,melodie,layers,loop,circle,linear, nonlinear,Flute&Mallettechniques&notationsymbols.TERMINOLOGY

STYLE ELEMENTS
Colotomicstructure:Indicatemajorcyclepunctuation,butcanbeinsertedbeforecycles.Thesecyclesaredeterminedbythelogicofthe

composition.Anychangeinamajorstructuralelement(whichcanassmallorasshortasmotivicchangeifperceivedasapauseornew direction)justifiestheuseofthecolotomicbreak(usingmostoftenusingalargeGongsuchastheWadon).Theuseofsilenceordiminuendo (fadeout)isanothermusicalelementusedascolotomics. Rhythmic:Constantandrepetitivethroughcycles(andacross)orlayers Punctuation:Musicalstructuresformingacycleshouldbethoughtinrhythmicaccentuationsofmultiplesof2(2).Accentsareon2/4 Internals(structure):OrnamentationFigurationinterpunctionConnectors(seeexample)TERMINOLOGY CYCLIC:Predeterminedrepeatednumberofbeats(tala):Exampleofarhythmiccolotomicstructure:acycleof16beats(keteg)inthefollowingorder:TWTN

TPTNTPTNTPTGwhereTindicatesthestrikeoftheketuk,Pthekempul,Nthekenong,andGthesimultaneousstrokeofthegongandkenong.TheWindicates thewela,thepausewherethekempulisomitted.Thus,thegongplaysonce,thekenongdividesthatintofourparts,thekempuldivideseachofthoseintwo, andtheketukdivideseachofthosefurtherintwo.Notethatexceptforthekenongplayingonthegong,theinstrumentsdonotplaywhenthenextoneplays. (Rememberthatthegatrasofgamelanmusichavethestrongbeat(seleh)attheend,notatthebeginningasinWesternmusic.Thusthemoreimportant structuralinstrumentscoincidewiththestressedbeats.)Colotomicstructuresoccuronevenlargerscalesinmostgamelanpiecesaswell.Forexample,atypical lancaranhasfourgongs,attheendofwhichthelargergongagengisplayed.Groupingsoffouraremostcommonatalllevelsofstructure,althoughthereare numerousexceptionsatlargerlevels.Thecolotomicstructureofapieceisthelengthofthecycleandhowtheinterpunctuatinginstrumentsplayduringthat

4 cycle,buttheyarealsomusicalformswhichareassociatedwithspecificstructuralpatternsonalargerscalethanthecolotomiccycle,andguidelinesforwhat tempiandiramamaybeused.TERMINOLOGY

Connection:Onemainotherinstrumentconnectinguppermelodiccreatesnewmelodicsuchas3.56connectstothe3rdnoteandthe5th Ligatures:indicatecreationofmelodiesortransitions.Exampleofaccentson32.68becomingmelodic

Theselfimposedfiguration(arbitrarilydecided)creatingconnectorandinterpunctionleadingtonewmelodyhereis32.68.32.68indicate2layers (staves)32and68,and4notes.32arethenotestobeusedfromthetopstaffandnotes68fromthelower.Startingfrommeasure3,wecount3 notesthen2notesandhaveouruppertwonotesthenwerepeattheprocessfor6and8atstratum2.These4notesarethenrepeated/augmented ordiminished.

Melodic:derivedfrompatterns/layersandpunctuations Loop/LoopMatrix/SequencedLoopelements
LOOPCOMPOSITION:definingloopcompositioninonesentencecouldbethatloopselementsare:concernedwithpropertiesthatarepreservedunder continuousdeformationsofobjects,suchasdeformationsthatinvolvestretching,butnotearingorgluing.Itemergedthroughthedevelopmentofconceptsfrom

5 geometryandsettheory,suchasspace,dimension,andtransformation.ThisisthemathematicaldefinitionofTopology.Thisisalsoastructuralmusical property.Butwemustmoreclearlyindicatehowtraditionalmathematicaltopologycanbeseriouslyappliedtosymbolicmusic. Constructionbyloopingelements: LOOPconstructionbyNote/Notes/Sequence/Track LoopTypeI: Alignsimilarsequencesbyrepeatsofdifferentbeats/notes LoopTypeII: Alignsimilarsequenceswithdifferentsounds(ORCHESTRATION)andoffset LoopTypeIII: Aligndifferentsequencesfromdifferentcycles LoopTypeIV: Aligndifferentsequencesfromdifferentcycleswithnewsoundsandlongmixedtrack AlsoAddFX(echo/flange/delay/reverb/) Exampleofaloopmatrixbuiltfromshortmusicalsample(Intro GamelanShort)inAcidPRO 8tracks/samesample.Longsampleisrun4time/eachoffsetfrom eachother(11121314)whilesquares(710)representsacopyofata leastone1/16elementfromtheoriginalshortmusicalsample,either arrangedsidebysideoroverlappingit.Thesystemistenclosedand repeatsasa Thisaugmentsorformsaligatureforthecomposition.

UsingprefabricatedLoopsoftware(FruityLoops) (3tracksdifferentsamples/2loops) Aligndifferentsequencesfromdifferentcycles

6 ExampleofReinstrumentationMIDIfile(shortmotiffrombegofGrandhigh)withsampledGamelanTimbale Sequenceloopmatrix

ExampleScoregeneratedbySequenceloopmatrix

Progressionandmorphingtypesbyexample

AbovesectionbecomesNewscorebasedonmidexprotofloopmatrix SelectionfromAunglung(CycleIII)>becomesnewpart(grandmotifI) GrandMotif

LoopMatrixsequenceisbecomesnewscorebasedonmidexprotofloopmatrix Matrixworksasloopgenerator,sequencer,samplerandDAW 1) Useofthefoursoundsamplefromtheoriginalgamelaninstrument 2) Useofimportedmidifiles 3) Useofimportedsoundfiles(wav) 4) Useofeffects