Pictures from Google Image Search

Javanese music

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Javanese music one of the richest and most distinctive of Asian musical cultures. It was and is of enormous importance in religious, political, and entertainment functions. It possesses two separate tonal systems— pélog and sléndro or salendro. Pélog contains seven tones, only five of which are used in a given composition. The intervals of pélog are unequal, and the smaller ones approximate the semitone of Western music. Sléndro is a division of the octave into five roughly equal intervals. It was believed by the Javanese to be the older system, but contemporary musicologists find evidence that sléndro was derived from pélog. Sléndro is associated with that which is masculine, and pélog with that which is feminine. The Javanese gamelan, an orchestra of tuned percussion instruments, primarily of bronze, usually accompanies a performance, particularly the Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet plays). It flourishes today in Bali, where it was introduced in the 15th cent. by Hindus escaping from the Muslim invasion of Java. Balinese gamelan is distinct from Javanese in that it is played much faster and is brighter tonally. The term gamelan includes percussion orchestras of varying function, style, size, and composition. The set of instruments known collectively as gamelan increases in value with age and with the concomitant stabilization of its individual sound. Gamelan instruments include gongs, drums, xylophones (gambang kayu), bamboo flutes (suling), and string instruments (rebab). A complete double set, or sapangkon, half tuned to pélog and half to sléndro, may number as many as 80 separate instruments. They are played two ways: according to a subtle, flowing, quiet manner associated with singing and gentle dancing, and according to a powerful, louder manner associated with heroic dance. A fixed melody is the basis for complex vocal and instrumental improvisation. The archaic gamelan, no longer heard widely in Java, is best studied in Balinese music .

Bibliography: See J. Kunst, Music in Java (2 vol., 1949); D. A. Lentz, The Gamelan Music of Java and Bali (1965); S. Walton, Mode in Javanese Music (1986).

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Javanese music." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 6 Jul. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Javanese music." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (July 6, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Javanese.html

"Javanese music." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved July 06, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Javanese.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

Antiques.(John Adams on emulation)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: The Magazine Antiques; 5/1/2002; ; 480 words ; ...resemble, but to excel, is so natural a movement of the human heart, that, wherever men are to be found, and in whatever manner associated or connected, we see its effects.... Emulation really seems to produce genius. John Adams, Discourses on Davila, 1790-1791... Read more
How to connect with jurors.(Review)
Magazine article from: Trial; 4/1/1999; ; 700+ words ; ...them. The case concerned a charge of drug peddling. The defendant, a short man in his mid-30s, was attired in the flashy manner associated with drug dealers. He also did not look at us, but stared at the prosecutor with a menacing air. During voir dire questioning... Read more
Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith.(Book Review)
Magazine article from: Sociology of Religion; 12/22/2005; ; 664 words ; ...their motivation and authority, sometimes even their charisma from within their personal spirituality, practiced in the manner associated with the black churches to which they belong. Although this is a volume funded by the George Fund Foundation for African... Read more
New York neoclassical furniture. (Current and Coming).
Magazine article from: The Magazine Antiques; 8/1/2003; ; 584 words ; ...been made in Salem, Massachusetts. A stool with curule legs on view in the exhibition is decorated with leaves carved in a manner associated with other pieces of furniture made there. The catalogue accompanying the show may be purchased from Yale University Press... Read more

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

Balinese music
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...of the pre-Islamic music of Java. It was taken to Bali by Hindu Javanese in the 15th cent. and...the tonal systems of Javanese music , of which pelog is...was invented by the Javanese who brought the music to Bali. It gives no... Read more
music
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...nations and peoples, including African music ; Arabian music ; Balinese music ; Chinese music ; Greek music ; Hindu music ; Japanese music ; Javanese music ; and Jewish liturgical music . The technical aspects of music, such as theory, notation... Read more
Ung, Chinary
Book article from: Contemporary Musicians ...States in 1964 to study clarinet at the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to receive a doctorate in music at Columbia University, where he established himself as...traditions. Ung reemerged in the 1980s with a new focus on music that melded the sounds of East and West and explored the music of ... Read more
scale
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...the chromatic scale as auxiliary or ornamental tones. Music that employs them freely is said to be highly chromatic, while music that employs them sparingly is said to be diatonic. The...scales remained the basic organizing structure of Western music until the system was challenged by the dodecaphonic ... Read more
Leeuw, Ton de
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music ...Winds , 29 wind instr. (1963); Spatial Music I-IV , Litany of our Time (1965–8); Syntaxis (1968); Gending , Javanese gamelan (1975); Résonances (1985...1951); The Four Seasons , hp. (1964); Music , ob. (1969); Reversed Night , fl. (1971...1972); Canzone , brass (1974); Modal Music ... Read more

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including: