Abstract
The music of any people not knowing the use of musical—at any rate, melody-producing—instruments, is, of course, purely vocal, and it appears that, in such cases, we cannot speak of “scales” in the ordinary sense of the word, let alone of tonal systems. Singing alone, uninfluenced by musical instruments, possesses no definitely fixed intervals; it knows only of higher or lower, the chief thing being the movement upwards or downwards, and not so much the absolute size of the intervals produced. As Lachmann quite rightly remarks somewhere, the same may be said of dancing; there, too, stress is laid only on the direction and the order of sequence of the steps, whereas their length is relatively unimportant.
An erratum to this chapter is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7130-6_6/10.1007/978-94-017-7130-6_6
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References
The ancient Eastern Javanese gamelans sounded either the bem-scale (called pélog pengasih) or the barang-scale (pélog miring or laras slering). Owing to the fact, however, that gamelans with exclusively the latter form of tuning are so few in number, the combination of both tunings—the complete instrumental pélog scale— is also called, after its rarest component, pélog miring. The regency of Pemalang (North Central Java) also knows these combined scales under the name of miring in those cases where the tone pélog is missing from the sequence (which then has only six tones). In case the pélog tone is present, however, the scale is simply denoted as pélog, as elsewhere in Central Java.
Vide, for pégon—which here, as in some other cases, signifies “strange, different”—the article of the same name by Rouffaer in the Encyclopaedic van Ne-derlandsch Oost-Indië, 2nd ed., vol. III, p. 271 et seq. For pégon as a term probably used in the Principalities for the purely equidistant sléndro, vide 198, p. 79, Note 4.
In regard to this “Pakem Wirama” vide also Pigeaud (297).
I.e. the Chronicles of the Kings in the Purwa period, (viz. the period treated in the Mahābhārata.)
R. Ng. Rangga Warsita (d. 1873)—“the last of the pujongga’s” (official chroniclers and maintainers of the adat in the Solonese kraton, at the same time poets and linguists)—also mentions here the instruments which are supposed to have formed part of these first orchestras, adding each time a modern Javanese “translation”. We cannot trace the source from which he gathered the translation of these ancient Javanese names of instruments; these names, however, are also to be found in other writings. As far as can be judged with our present knowledge of the matter, the translation is not correct in every case. For the sake of completeness we give below the ancient Javanese names in question, together with the signification as given by Rangga Warsita, and as they are stated in the introduction to the large Jogya kraton genḍing collection: Out of the above translation that of genḍing (now = gamelan-composition, but formerly = gamelan (vide 194, p, 9. note 4)) by rebab (N.B. a comparatively modern (Persian-Arab?) component of the Javanese orchestras) appears somewhat apocryphal. Kala (vide 194, p. 50 et seq.) may evidently stand for kenḍang in some cases (at any rate for some kind of drum or other); but songka should probably not be translated by gong, but by shell-trumpet (Skrt. çangka). True, Roorda, in his dictionary, also translates songka by “a kind of gong” (actually mentioning that the word is derived from Skrt. çangka!), but in addition he nevertheless gives, for the combination kalasongka, the translation bazuin (trombone, straight trumpet) (cf. 194, p. 34). The translation pamatut = ketuk may be correct. Taken literally, it means an instrument indicating that something is quite in order. This ‘something’ might very well be, in this case, the time measure, the subdivision of the melodic phrases, in which case it would be quite a suitable appellation for the ketuk, since (vide pp. 163 and 298) it divides up the kenongan into properly proportioned pieces. Sahuran is not known to Roorda as the name of an instrument; but sahur means “to answer verbally”, and hence the word is also used to indicate sounds which, coming from different directions, as it were answer each other. The translation of gubar by war-cymbal, bende, without beating-knob, is certainly correct (cf. 194, p. 83), as is that of bahiri, which to this day, under the name of bèri is still in vogue as indicating a small sort of gong (vide p. 150), (but denoting in India Proper in ancient times, a species of drum (194, p. 79 et seq.)). Puksur and gurnang, translated respectively by terbang and suspended broad, edged gong, are, both, according to Roorda, species of gongs or war-cymbals. Gurnang is also supposed by him to mean “thundering noise”. According to Dr. Purbacharaka, however, gurnang is not a musical instrument at all, but an adjective formed from the first three syllables of the phrase ghurṇa ng mrḍangga, i.e. “noisy were the drums”. The words ṭong-ṭong and grit are again conjoined by Roorda, and translated by “heavy bells”. Besides this, grit also means, according to him, the noise of weapons, rattling, or crackling. Dr. Purbacharaka, however, translates grit by squeaking, as of cartwheels. Thus, geritan, in the Atjèh language, still stands for a “squeaking wagon”, i.e. a cart drawn by oxen and camouflaged with fresh green leaves and branches, in which hunters are hidden; when such a vehicle rides through the forest, squeaking and cracking on its way, the deer are moved by curiosity to come towards the sound and are then shot by the hunters from their hiding place. The translation of ṭong-ṭong by bronze slit-drum is, of course, correct. Finally, no particular kind of gong can possibly be meant by maguru gangs a. Neither is the translation given by Roorda of the term gong maguru gangsa = the gong follows the gamelan, i.e. the subordinate complies with the wishes of his superior, correct—so Dr. Purbacharaka informed me—for the expression originally was—as became evident to him (Dr. P.) from an ancient Javanese locus—maguruh gangsa, meaning “the gamelan sounded noisily”, or “the noisy gamelan”. Elsewhere in the Jogya kraton genḍing-collection the instrumental names grantang and salundi are to be found. They have there been rendered by the words gambang and kempul respectively. The first of these two translations is correct, providing one thinks of this gambang as a set of floating, suspended keys, more or less in the form of a chalung (vide p. 364 et seq.). For grantang = garantang = garantung is a frequentative form of gantung, which means to suspend. As a matter of fact, to this day this word means in the Batak districts, a kind of gambang with floating keys. In South-East Borneo, however, it occurs as the name of a gong (310, p. 153a; 311, p. 175), also, of course, suspended. In ancient Javanese literature this instrumental name occurs repeatedly, for example in the Bhārata Yuddha (II
Sumanasāntaka (LII 2), Bhomakävya (XCVI 16), Sutasoma (VII 1), and in an inscription (OJO CXVIII), dated about 1040. Cf. 194, p. 82 and 86/7. Salundi, however, is not a kempul, but a metallophone with floating suspended keys, in other words, a species of gendèr (vide p. 172), either with or without sound tubes. The musical instrument salunding (occasionally called salunding wesi) is found, in ancient Javanese and Balinese literature: in the Vṛtta Sañcaya (p. 53), the Bhārata Yuddha (L 5) and the Ghatotkacāçraya (VII 5), as well as in five Balinese charters, the three oldest of which date from 1181 (194, p. 90 et seq.; 196, p. 351/2).—For the instrumental names mentioned by Rangga Warsita, we also refer to 43, p. 16, note 6c. In the Pakem Sastramiruda (169, p. 40/1), P. Kusumadilaga gives quite different significations for some of the Hindu-Javanese instrumental names enumerated above; thus, he translates genḍing by kemanak; kola bykenong;songka by keṭuk; pamatut by kendang, and sahuran by gong. He further mentions an instrument which, as far as I am aware, is not mentioned by Rangga Warsita, i.e. the chaluri, which he translates by suling. This translation, too, is incorrect (vide p. 182 et seq.).
This is, to this day, the name adopted by the principal gongsmith in the Jogya kraton. Vide also the names of gamelan smiths on p. 138 et seq.
According to P. Kusumadilaga (169, p. 43), the gamelan sekati did not make its appearance until Çaka 1477 — A.D. 1555, at the instigation of the Wali’s of Demak.
It is not known with certainty what this relationship actually amounted to. Cf. Prof. N. J. Krom, De Sumatraansche periode der Javaansche geschiedenis (Inaugural lecture), Leyden 1919; id., Hindoe-Javaansche Geschiedenis, 2nd ed. (1931), p. 141 et seq.; id., Çriwijaya and the Çailéndra’s (in Dr. F. W. Stapel, “Geschiedenis van Nederlandsch-Indië” (1930), Vol. I, Chap. II. The Hindoe-Javaansche tijd. p. 69 et seq. (93 et seq.)); Dr. W. F. Stutterheim, A Javanese period in Sumatran History (1929); Georges Coedès, Le Royaume de Çrivijaya (B.E.F.E.O. XVIII, Sixth section), 1918; id., On the Origin of the Sailéndras of Indonesia (“Journal of the Greater India Society” I no. 2, p. 61 et seq.), 1934; R. C. Majumdar, M.A., Ph.D., The struggle between the Sailéndra’s and the Chola’s (ibid., p. 71 et seq.), 1934; J. L. Moens, Çriwijaya, Yāva en Kaṭāha (T.B.G., p. 317 et seq.), 1937; V. Obdeyn, Gegevens ter identificeering van oude Sumatraansche toponiemen (T.A.G., 2nd. series, Vol. LXI, p. 40 et seq.), 1944; F. H. van Naerssen, The Çailéndra Interregnum (“India Antiqua”, p. 249 et seq). Leyden 1947; J. Norden, Inleiding tot de Oude Geschiedenis van den Indischen Archipel (1948), p. 37–65.
In addition to the arguments (192, p. 166 et seq.) and counter-arguments (40, p. 224 et seq.) we may also point to the curious fact that, in Sumedang (W. Java), the lagu pélog Rènggong Sumedang, and, similarly, in Indramayu (Res. of Cheribon) the lagu pélog Sanga, change their names to lagu Jalèndra when transposed to sléndro. In these cases, therefore, it would appear that the final a has maintained itself in a kindred form, which a, however, in the name of the tone system itself has turned into o (the Sundanese and Western Javanese, too, speak of salèndro en nyalèndro). Dr. Stutterheim has further called attention to the fact that the signification of the name Giri Nata (the divinity supposed to have endowed the Javanese with sléndro) and that of Çailéndra are identical, i.e. Lord of the Mountains. He also mentions (375, p. 113) two more data transmitted to him by Prof. Berg of Leyden, and which support the notion that Çailéndra and sléndro are identical: (a) that it is not at all surprising that in a word of three syllables like Çailéndra, the vowel ai (or é) of the first syllable should have disappeared, and (b) that there are more examples in the Javanese language of the transition from the final a to a pure o: thus, the word gandharvva, which is also both Sanskrit and ancient Javanese, has been turned in modern Javanese into gendruvo. Dr. Purbacharaka, however, although not positively excluding the possibility of the transition of Çailéndra into sléndro, does not consider the last-named example as sufficient evidence in this respect. For, in gandharv(v)a the transition from the final a to o may be ascribed, linguistically speaking in quite a natural way, to the presence of the (double) v (which v at the same time had the effect of automatically turning the a preceding it into u). Gandharv(v)a should not, therefore, be put into the same class with a word like Çailéndra, in which there is no letter w to exercise its sound modifying influence. Dr. Purbacharaka, however, calls attention to another word that may serve as an argument in support of the possibility of the transition in question, namely the word baka (Sanskrit for heron) which has its equivalent in the modern Javanese word bango. (The transition from k to ng is in this connexion unimportant). Cf. also: Malay kuda (horse), Toba-Batak hoda, Menangkabau kudo. Similarly, Sanskrit and ancient Javanese ghanṭa (bell), Bal. and Jav. genta, Menangk. ganto.
There exist in West-Java various Central- and Eastern-Javanese settlements, chiefly in the districts of Bekasi, Krawang, Chiasem and South-Tasikmalaya, South-Galuh and East-Sukapura)—a result of Sultan Ageng’s war policy. Cf. Dr. F. de Haan, Priangan, Vol. I pp. 10*, 17*, 18*, 20*, 24*, Vol II pp. 38–41; Vol. III pp. 20, 21, 61–63, 70, 153, 154. The Javanese colonisation of Banten, however, dates from as early as 1520, i.e. quite a century before Sultan Ageng. (Cf. Prof. Husein Jayadiningrat, Critische beschouwing van de Sadjarah Banten (1913), pp. 75,80,88, 111, 193.
It is less easy to explain the prevalence of sléndro singing in Indramayu, which, instrutnentally, is one of the purest pélog territories if not the purest. True, its population consists for by far the greater part (95%) of Javanese; if this were the cause of the hegemony of vocal sléndro, how is the practically complete hegemony of pélog in the orchestral field to be explained? Partly, perhaps, by the fact—to which R. M. A. Kusumadinata called my attention—that the majority of the native officials in this district hail from the Sunda-districts (one of the exceptions was the former Regent, a Javanese). There is another circumstance which may have contributed to this state of things, i.e. that the Central-Javanese emigrants, who must gradually have filled the sparsely populated Western Javanese lowlands, hailed from sléndro districts, and therefore practiced sléndro singing, but that they, as is usually the case with emigrants, did not belong to the possessing classes, and therefore did not bring any gamelans with them. The same might perhaps apply to Krawang, where instrumental pélog and sléndro are represented about equally, whilst vocal music—as in Indramayu— is chiefly sléndro; with this difference, however, that the Javanese settlements in this fertile sawah-district, arrived at a higher level of well being, and were able gradually to acquire a fairly large number of sléndro orchestras. The fact that, in Krawang, Sundanese (at least Western-Javanese) and Central-Javanese influences clashed with each other is quite evident from the compromise they made in the matter of the wayang; this regency is the land of the wayang golèk purwa par excellence, a typically Western Javanese kind of stage puppets with a typically Central Javanese repertoire.
Two gamelans with sléndro—or, at least, sléndro-like—tuning were in 1930 seen by Walter Spies, i.e. a gamelan Gong at Mengwi and a gamelan Pelègongan (== Semar Pegulingan) in Kapal, whilst I myself discovered a gamelan Angklung with a sléndro scale at Sangsit in North-Bali (193, p. 479, Table III, No. 1).
In his letter addressed to the Governor-General and dated 18th Dec., 1933 (of which letter the Department of Education and Religion sent me an extract at the time).
The theory was expounded in various stages of its development, now concisely, now in greater detail, by its author in “Anthropos” 1919/’20 (p. 569 et seq.) and in Vol. VIII of Geiger and Scheel’s Handbuch der Physik (1927), and further by Robert Lachmann in his Musik des Orients (1929); by Curt Sachs in his Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft (1930); by Fritz Bose in the „Atlantisbuch der Musik“ (1934), p. 960 et seq.; by Marius Schneider in his article Ethnologische Musikforschung (in Preuss, “Lehrbuch der Völkerkunde”, p. 135 et seq.), 1937; by Georg Schünemann in the “Archiv für Musikforschung” Vol. I fasc. 3 and 4), 1936; by Heinrich Husmann in his article Marimba und Sansa der Sambesikultur (in the “Zeitschrift für Ethnologie”, Vol. 68, p. 197 et seq.), 1936, and by the present writer in De Toonkunst van Bali, Vol. II (1925), in the article De l’origine des échelles musicales javano-balinaises (in the “Journal of the Siam Society” Vol. XXIII, 1929), p. 111 et seq., in De Toonkunst van Java Vol. I, p. 19 et seq. (1934), in A musicological argument for cultural relationship between Indonesia—probably the isle of Java—and Central Africa (in the “Proceedings of the Musical Association”, Session LXII) (1936) and in the brochure Around Von Hornbostel’s theory of the cycle of blown fifths (1948).
Cf. Maurice Courant, Essai historique sur la musique classique des Chinois (in Lavignac, Encyclopédie de la Musique, Vol. I, p. 77 et seq. (91)), 1912.
E. M. von Hornbostel, Ueber einige Panpfeifen aus Nordwestbrasilien (in Koch-Grünberg, Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern, Bd. II (Berlin 1910), p. 378 et seq.).
To enable the reader to form some idea of the sounds represented by the vibration figures given below, we here give the values of the tones of the European tempered scale from high to low: The tones of the next lower octave have, respectively, half the number of vibrations of the corresponding tones of the octave started from, and those of the next higher octave, double this number.
With respect to this use of panpipes in pairs, von Hornbostel wrote to me (in the course of a letter dated 12th May 1935) as follows: “Paare von Bläsern: Reliefs aus den Han-Gräbern; Alt-Peru, Vasenbilder (die beiden Panpfeifen durch eine Schnur verbunden), plastische Totenfiguren auf einer Vase; Tukánò-Indianer am Rio Negro; Aymara; Cuna (Panama). Für die yang-yin-Verteilung ist auch die Form der Panpfeifen oft bezeichnend, die deutlich auf zusammengebundene (ursprüngliche) Paare weist: China (alt), (jünger auch Europa), Oberbirma (Shan) und Salomonen: (also alle drei überhaupt möglichen Arten des aneinanderbindens kommen vor). Diese verbundenen Paare sind vielleicht noch starkere Beweise als die getrennten Paare, wenn man bedenkt, dass es so viele andere gepaarte Instrumente gibt (die aber vielleicht ihrerseits mit der yang-yin-Teilung zusammenhängen, wie die Posaunen in Tibet, die grossen Zere-monialflöten in Neu-Guinea und in Brasilien, usw.). Die grossen Flöten am Sepik werden, wie der hiesige Ethnologe Bateson mir mitteilt—er hat ein wunderschönes Paar mitgebracht—umschichtig geblasen: sie sind in der Stimmung um etwa einen Ganzton auseinander und man überbläst sie bis zum 7. und 8. Teilton. Das spricht sehr für eine ähnliche Praxis auf den Panpfeifen, und bei den „verteilten Panpfeifen“ von Oberbirma, Ost-, Zentral- und Süd-Afrika ist es ja heute noch so.”
This applies to the seven-toned form of scale. In the case of the five-toned form (vide p. 49) it was naturally sufficient to interchange only two of the tones, thereby obtaining the blown fifth by combining the intervals 156, 156, and 366.
The Roman figures represent the tones (of the cycle of blown fifths and of the gamelan-scales respectively); the Arabic ones, vibrationfigures, when placed either under or above, and Cents, when placed between the tone-figures or when printed in italics. This applies to all scale-measurements reproduced in the present work.
As a matter of fact this does not apply to music only. In this connexion R. Puradireja and M. Suryadiraja, in their “Bijdrage tot de kennis der Soenda-neesche taal” (“Handelingen van het Eerste Congres voor Taal-, land- en volken-kunde van Java, Solo 1919”, p. 400 et seq. (405)), offer, for example, the following observations: that a word finishing on (a syllable with) the vowel % indicates that which is small and more or less round; (a syllable with) the vowel è indicates that which is thin and flat; (a syllable with) the vowel a indicates that which is of ordinary size and shape; (a syllabe with) the vowel o indicates that which is larger, globular and also that which is hollow; (a syllable with) the vowel u indicates that which is largest of all and that which is piled up; (a syllable with) the vowel e indicates that which happens suddenly, and (a syllable with) the vowel eu indicates that which happens gradually].
Literally: the (complete) gamelan (with bonangs, demungs and large) gong.
seḍeng; vide p. 186.
As von Hornbostel remarked to me in one of his letters, it is not altogether impossible that the Javanese instrumental name ketnanak (vide p. 180) hails from the S.E. Asiatic continent; for, in Annam a wooden bell with a handle may be found, which, in Buddhistic ritual, is beaten alternately with small clocks made of metal and equally provided with a handle, which latter are also known to exist in China. The wooden clock is called cai-mo-na-chua (cai = objective prefix; mo = wood; na = house; and chua = pagoda). Further is nac — bell. For wooden bell, therefore, the Annam name ought to be cai-mo-nac. This name, whose composition would naturally not have been understood by the Javanese, might have been transferred from the wooden to a metal idiophone, which is quite a common thing. One of the Dyak words for mouth organ, keluri (which instument as is well-known, hails from the northern part of Further India (Laos) or Southern China, would probably have been, in the original Chinese version: ke-liu-li (ke = prefix; liu = row, sequence, and li = shawm), meaning, therefore, a range of shawms, which is a perfectly correct description of the instrument in question. Hatong, the Sundanese word for bamboo Pan-pipe, might have been derived from the Chinese hsiao Vung (hsiao — panpipe; t’ung = bamboo).
Dr. Purbacharaka mentions the fact that lingkung is not only a Chinese, but also a purely Javanese word, meaning to bend, or bending round. It might just be possible, therefore, that pélog — pa-ilog = bending (cf. ancient Javanese ilug, which —vide Rämäyana XXV 115 —should be translated by “to bend to and fro”, “to sway”), is synonymous with lingkung, and that both (as is the case with the term miring) stand for a form of “bent”, i.e. deviating, scale.
Sorog also means key: this, however, is, in Java, a more or less modern notion. How were doors shut in ancient time? Undoubtedly by means of a closing-bar (slarak, Mal.: palang pintu) or wooden bolt (slorog), both of which are objects which have to be shifted in order to open the door. Cf. also sorogan (or lorogan) = drawer, and jorog = to shove, to push.
One can find their arguments, together with my objections against them, in my brochure “Around Von Hornbostel’s theory of the cycle of blown fifths”, published by the Royal Institute for the Indies in 1948 (235).
J. Combarieu, La musique et la magie; id., Histoire de la musique, Vol. I, the first two chapters.
Maurice Courant, Essai historique sur la musique classique des Chinois (in Lavignac, Encyclopédie de la musique, Vol. I, p. 80.) — This is the cause—apart from the fact that the correct diameter was not always strictly adhered to—of the fluctuations in the length of the huang chong in the course of the centuries. Though admittedly remaining roundabout 230 mm, it generally varied by a few millimetres either more or less (cf. table in 131, p. 307).
For the scale, vide Appendix 60, scale No. 13.
For the scale, vide p. 258.
Literally, wilah means a key, or a slab of wood. The same term, therefore, is used for interval (of one step) and for the tonal points, which limit an interval—in the same way as is the case, in India proper, with the term sruti, which word, properly speaking, ought only to mean “interval”, (which, for that matter, it usually does).
As against the principal tones, which are called sora lelugu.
From manis (sweet, harmonious).
From sumbang (out of tune, abnormal).
Sènggol means—according to Coolsma’s Dictionary of the Sundanese language— “the modulation of the voice, trills, turns, etc., with which the singer ornaments the tune (one might call them the “twiddlybits”)” nyimpang (from simpang) = to step aside, to evade, to deviate.
When they loose this secondary character it will be seen that modulation has, in effect, taken place, and that they can no longer be regarded as auxiliary tones of the initial scale, but have become principal tones of another one. (Cf. p. 91 sub A).
The term surupan—whose literal signification is supposed to be: that which is pushed into something, hence: key—has also several other musico-technical meanings, e.g. that of key-note, tuning-tone, central tone (vide p. 101). It also stands for the more general concept tuning (= Jav.: lavas, from nglaras, to tune). For clarity’s sake, however, we shall here use this term only to indicate the concept tone-gender.
i.e. in (the real, original) pe’log.
These vocal tones, therefore, are not, like the other seven tones of the scale, derived from the hypothetical cycle of blown fifths. For, if they were respectively identical with the two fifths bordering upon the circle-arc used, they would not halve the large intervals in question, but split them up into an interval of 156 and one of 54 C.
It is just possible that we have here to do with an approach to half-fourths pélog (primitive pélog), whose tones, as we saw above (p. 28) yield the following sequence of intervals: I 102 II 156 III 264 IV 156 V 102 VI 156 VII 264 I′ J) Biasa — normal, i.e. in accordance with the tones of the (modified) primitive scale.
i.e. the tonality in whose scales one of the original principal tones (the singgul (I)) has been replaced by the alternative tone sorog (VII).
i.e. the tonality in whose scales (in addition to the sorog for the singgul) the “ vocal” tone panangis has also taken the place of the original principal tone kenong (V).
i.e. the tonality whose scale-pitch (cf. scale No. 2 with scale No. 4 of Appendix 54) is related to that of the nyorog-tonality as one which starts one step higher (Sund.: handap = low, i.e. European high).
i.e. the tonality in whose scales one of the original principal tones—the panelu (III)—has been replaced by the alternating tone liwung (IV).
The concept “patet”, which, especially in the wayang music of the Principalities, plays such an important part, will be discussed in greater detail further on (p. 71 et seq.).
Strophe 8 at the end.
miring = slanting, deviating (also: lying on one side, sideways).
Vide above, table on p. 54.
Vide below, p. 386 et seq.
Any modification of some of their tones by slight raising or lowering, such as we had occasion to mention before, would naturally deprive these tone-genders of their own peculiar character and make them identical with surupan mèlog.
biasa = normal.
lempang = straight.
lanchar = single.
cheurik = to weep.
wisaya — poison, magic influence, guna-guna.
rangu = hesitant, uncertain.
In patet barang (Jav.: P. nem), therefore, of the singgul (Jav.: barang) and the panelu (Jav.: dada).
In paṭet barang (Jav.: P. nem), therefore, of the kenong (Jav.: lima).
S. degung is often confounded with the most generally used pélog scale (the jawar scale of S. mèlog), in which case the bem (galimer) sléndro (i.e. step II) is regarded as singgul pélog (step I): S. Degung: II 120 III 240 IV 360 V 120 I 360 II′ Mèlog jawar: I 120 II 150 III 390 V 120 VI 420 I′ Cf. also the degung-scales reproduced on p. 388. This also explains why one of the two kachapi-scales, which, according to the best nayaga’s belongs to S. degung, bears the name of mèlog.
Naturally, in sléndro jawar—which may be considered, functionally, as being composed of equal tone-steps—there is no room for the notion “poko” whose signification is that of starting-point of the scale or, better, the “scale-melody”.
Some nayaga’s do not speak of lowering the first and third, or the first, third and fourth step, but of raising the second, fourth and fifth, or the second and fifth, which, as may easily be understood, leads to the same result, given an equidistant tonal sequence, when the raising or lowering in question amounts to half a sléndro interval (120 C).
Cf. also, in Appendices 24 and 56, the several ways in which the tones ḍaḍa and lima have been reproduced, which is to be attributed to this.
Cf. below, p. 327.
These will be described further on (p. 387 et seq.).
Therefore with gulu functioning as poko and dasar.
An excellent reproduction of the Solonese (Mangku Nagara) version of Durma is given on the Columbia record G. J. 63 (fragment VIII of the lakon Ménakjingga léna). In this reproduction, moreover, the barang itself may be heard as well as, and often immediately following upon, the intermediate tone under the barang. (This intermediate tone, for that matter, is not always sung at exactly the same pitch.)
Therefore with ḍadḍ functioning as poko, and nem as dasar.
Therefore with ḍaḍa functioning as poko and dasar.
Cf. Od. A 278028a (Janturan Sinom logondang).
Éling-éling = Memento; kasmaran — (to be) in love.
Cf. above, p. 63, note 3.
In this connexion we remind the reader of the name of the intermediary sléndro-tone which Sundanese theory has intercalated between the fifth and the first step, i.e. sorog samaran(g). It is just possible that the last letter of this name was added through contamination with the name of the town Samarang.
Cf. f.i. Col. G.J. 63 (fragment VIII of the lakon Ménakjingga léna).
It appears that there are only very rare exceptions to these rules in Sundanese music. An example of such an exception is the lagu Bayubud, which, although in paṭet barang (Jav.: P. nem), finishes all the same on singgul (Jav.: gulu), or kenong (Jav.: lima). Cf. Od. A 39588a.
They therefore differ only in absolute pitch, which, in practice, differs by one step (theoretically, two fifths, therefore one octave + one tone). Vide below, p. 84.
“Ingkang dipun wastani patet punika grambyanganing gongsa ingkang mawi pugeran, saha anélakaken lenggahing genḍing-genḍing. Déné ingkang kaungelaken amung gender, rebab, gambang tuwin suling.”
Cf., about the gong—and other colotomic instruments—in vocal suluk music, p. 323.
According to a communication from Radèn Kodrat, however, this musician determines the paet according to the kenong (which usually gives the tone lima), The first kenong-beat is, to him, the startingpoint or tonal point of reference, from which he determines—knowing as he does the “skeleton-tones” of each patet— in which patet shall be played.
I am using here—and also occasionally further on—when discussing the Central Javanese tonal systems, some of the Sundanese terms (such as dasar, jawar, liwung, nyorog, panangis, pamiring) because the equivalent Javanese terms are lacking or, at any rate, have not come to my knowledge.
We should definitely not conclude from this analogy that dasar and tonic are identical conceptions! Cf., in regard to this, p. 85 note 2.
It is a curious thing that, in contradistinction to European folkmusic, which usually finishes on the tonic, and, therefore, with complete relief, most Javanese and Sundanese compositions—as we said before (p. 70/1)—finish on a tone at a distance of either one or two fifths from the central tone. It appears, therefore, that a harmonic tension (more or less comparable to a finish on the dominant) is preferred to a complete relief.
i.e. the pélog scale at the beginning (of the wayang performance); cf. also the genḍing Krawitan, with which practically every wayang kulit performance commences (vide below, p. 339).
pengasih = that with which love is awakened; instrument of love.
The conspicuous position of the pélog-tone, which has such a peculiar sound —usually a secondary or alternative tone—in the bem-scales, is taken, in the barang-scales, by the tone bem. This may be observed quite clearly in, for example, the genḍing (ladrangan) Bima kurda. (A very good rendering of this may be heard on the records Odeon A 39561b and A 278187b.) Our Appendix 3b gives its nuclear theme without the embellishments. The tone bem in represented by c#.
Also to Javanese ears. Javanese popular etymology accordingly connects the word pélog with pélo = deviating, prominent. The other six tones of the pélog-scale are thought to be jejeg, i.e. suitable, proper, correct, true, straight; the pélog-tone, on the contrary, is considered to be miring, i.e. on one side, deviating, out of harmony. (Pélo further means: to talk defectively, babytalk).
There are, however, supposed to be certain “ex-structural”, “ethical” differences (vide p. 338).
With dada as finishing tone: the genḍings Lagu, Damarkèli, Galagotang and a few others; with barang as such (but in only one of its phrases): the ladrangan Rajamanggala (as appears from their notation in the Jogya-kraton-collection).
Cf. p. 338, note 5.
This is the talu of the wayang orchestra (v.H.L.).
Then the voice vibrates, as it were, between the eyebrows (v.H.L.).
For simplicity’s sake we shall occasionally use the name “gong-tones” when referring to such phrase-ending tones.
In the pélog-patets of the Principalities, on the contrary, to only a very small extent. There is, indeed, a conspicuous difference in this respect with the Sundanese pélog-compositions, which almost without exception, adhere in practice to the theoretical gong-tones. I hardly think it necessary to record in extenso the negative result of the investigation concerning the Central-Javanese pélog-compositions. I shall merely give the following survey, drawn from 194 genḍing pélog: It may be deduced from this that, in all three patets, the tone lima is the most prominent “gong-tone”; that gulu occurs about equally often in all three patets; that the nem—although, as finishing tone, far from rare also in P. 5—yet is found to occur more frequently in that capacity in P. 6 and P. barang, whereas, iin the other hand, dada is more of a favourite in P. 5. Further, it is evident that, in the patets 5 and 6 (pélog bem), the tone barang, in P. barang the tone bem, and in all three patets the tone pélog are barred from the function of finishing tone.
In order to make the comparison as true as possible in this table I have not ncluded genḍings which modulate to another patet. (Cf. p. 98 et seq.).
The version given by Ki Hajar Déwantara (75, p. 120) differs from the one given here; its finishing tones being: 166133662316.
In Ki Hajar Déwantara’s version (75, p. 122): 2 1 2 5 6 1 5.
In Ki Hajar Déwantara’s version (75, p. 122): 1 6 1 3 5 6 3.
In his “Leidraad” (76), K. H. Déwantara gives yet another representation of this matter (p. 7/8): “paṭet nem = jolly as a child (high scale); patet manyura, or medium scale = bright and hopeful; patet sanga, or low scale = in a cheerful mood.” I believe this interpretation to be incorrect.
The same relation exists between the suluks tlutur in P. 9 and those in P. manyura.
What would seem to be, in a case such as that of the lagons P. 9 and P. manyura, just mentioned, to be a transposition of a single step (which, in practice, it actually is) is naturally, theoretically, a transposition, back to the same octave, covering two fifths.
This applies especially to compositions in P. sanga, in which the tone gulu usually—in a manner to me inexplicable—keeps in the background, whereas the two principal gong-tones (lima and barang) come, proportionally, still more to the fore than the similarly-placed tones in the other patets. There exist, however, “normally” functioning genḍings P. 9, e.g. the ladrangan Éling-éling. It is, however, a curious fact that it is precisely these that are looked upon more or less as exceptions by the players. All the same, a composition of the structure of Éling-éling might very well be representative of the original patet-form that has now come to be at a discount. This case does not stand alone: the ancient sléndro-scales—now nearly extinct— with either one smaller interval or with alternating smaller and larger intervals (vide above, p. 31 et seq.) are now called sléndro miring, or deviating sléndro, although this name, in fairness, ought rather to be applied to the modern equidistant sléndro-scale.
One should be careful, however, when trying to discover the patet (via the dasar) of any sléndro-melody, not to interprète the latter according to the European tonal system. For, the sléndro-scale, as played iin the gamelan, is practically equidistant. The Western ear, however, hears it—with the aid of certain imperfections in the equidistance of the scale—as consisting of three steps of a whole tone and two of a minor third, which latter, however, do not on any occasion occur in immediate succession. In general, therefore, the European musician has the choice between five different possibilities of transcription and interpretation, viz. (barang = D): out of which five possibilities he will naturally prefer one, for each particular case, to the other four. (Cf. the sléndro scales reproduced on Table 62). Now the European ear, owing to its tendency to “scale-correction”, feels these five scales to be as many tonalities (although all scales derived from the equidistant sléndro tone-sequence—sléndro jawar—belong to the same, or, if you will, to no one particular tonality). It interpretes, in the absolute pitch given, However, as has been explained above, the tone functioning as dasar is: It follows from this that, in sléndro, it is possible for the dasar to coincide with the tone which is heard as tonic, but that this is more often not the case. For, only if one regards the scale of a certain gamelan as being built up like the scales la, 2b or 3c, do the dasar and the tonic coincide in P. 6; in P. 9 this happens only if one takes that special scale to have the structure of the scales 3a, 4b or 5c, and, in P. manyura, if one hears it as being rendered in the scales 4a, 5b or 1c. In all other cases the dasar and the supposed tonic are not identical. It, is therefore, safer not to seek the dasar by referring to the tonality-principle, at least in sléndro. Nay, one might even say that, the more completely one can inwardly shake off the tonal method of hearing, the better the true feeling for the dasar can develop. In regard to pélog the matter is somewhat different. Pélog-compositions employ a scale which, as we stated before (p. 74), is heard—i.e. “corrected”—by the European ear as follows: Pieces in the first-named scale may be heard as being in B major—if not continuously, at any rate most of the time. One may therefore say that—Bfy being here regarded as identical with nem—in patet nem the supposed tonic usually coincides with the dasar, since the latter is also the nem. In patet lima, however, which has the gulu as dasar, the supposed tonic and the dasar never coincide. What applies to the whole of the sléndro-system, therefore, also applies to pélog bem (i.e. patet 5 and 6 together): the European ear does not find in it any reliable guide for the determination of the patet. In the case of patet barang, however, the matter is different. Compositions in this patet are commonly heard by the Westerner as being in F major (or a minor). Although it is possible that there are other scales (with other dasars, and actually, therefore, belonging to other patets) sailing under the flag of patet barang (with dada as dasar)—it being “therefore advisable not to speak of patet barang, but, instead, of pélog barang (cf. 200, p. 346)—the same (supposed) tonality remains for all these scales. As regards pélog barang, therefore, the European ear does find a reliable point of reference in the tonality heard.
It was on these grounds that, in 1925, I made bold to make the following statement (193, p. 411): “------they (i.e. Javanese tone-sequences) altogether lack anything resembling a tonic or amsa, in other words, a melodic centre; apart from the two sorogan, peméro’s, in the heptatonic scales, both pélog and sléndro constitute a community of tones having absolutely equal rights; both of them are, so to speak, democratic scale-types”. I have since learned—more especially from what R.M.A. Kusumadinata taught me—that this way of representing the matter was incorrect.
There is an—at any rate verbal—analogy to this in Western musical theory: although the tonic should undoubtedly be regarded as the most important tone in the scale, it is the fifth step that is called the dominant. The conception dominant is rendered by R. M. A. Kusumadinata by the term patokaning laras.
In pélog the situation is another, as we have seen above on p. 74 et seq.
Usually, however, the genḍing Randu kentir is beaten in pélog paṭet nem.
Usually beaten in patet lima.
In the Sunda districts patet sanga is, indeed, identical with patet panelu (Jav. ḍaḍa).
It might just be possible that this is in some way related to the above-mentioned (p. 85, note 1) “modesty” on the part of the tone (gulu) theoretically functioning as dasar.
For further detail regarding this, vide Brandts Buys (52, p. 234/5).
Change in the tone-gender (Sund.: pindah surupan) is also known; European musical theory, however, does not bring this under the heading “modulation”.
There is one exception to this, to be referred to anon.
In the Principalities, the theoretical “pillar”- (i.e. gong-)tones in pélog are, in actual playing practice, adhered to only very imperfectly to-day, as may gathered from the schematic representation on p. 78, note 3. In sléndro, on the other hand, as we saw on p. 80, the theory is applied much more strictly in practice (except in patet nem, where the gong-tone lima has been superseded, as such, by the dasar of the main scale: nem). In the Sunda districts which represent, generally speaking, an older phase of development, the „pillar”-tones are adhered to much more rigorously even today.
For the meaning of terms, with which the reader may not be quite familiar, we refer to the Index in Vol. II of this work.
Beka B 15007 II.
Odeon A 204324b.
Odeon A 39561b.
i.e., therefore, from scale No. 2 to scale No. 3 of the Table on p. 54.
In these cases, however, the relation between the dasar-classes is neither a modal, nor a tonal one, but rather as that between (kindred) genders. Indeed, the liwuhg-scale played upon the ordinary gamelan pélog is actually a pure miring-scale (cf. also 173, p. 342). Vide, too, 197, p. 399 et seq., where, for this very reason, the term “relation sui generis” is used.
In Solo, the genḍling Bondet is simply classified under patet 9.
Prihatin = to be anxious, in serious mood.
The genḍing Krawitan, too, occasionally modulates from sléndro P. 6 to P. 9.
In Solo, too, the ladrangan Éling-éling often follows the genḍing Génjong, in which case, however, it is normally in P. 9.
Apart from this transition the trained European ear imagines hearing still other transpositions in this gentjing. A few times, during the P. 5-period, one has the impression that the tonal centre changes its place; thus, some wilet sounded to me, at the start, unmistakably as if they were in P. barang; the players and singers, however, so they told me, had not left P. 5. It is possible that this should be attributed to the phenomenon that came up for discussion just now on p. 97, viz. the brief deviation to an auxiliary scale under maintainance of the patet (our modulation-form A). At another moment the pitch of the—continuously beaten—kemanaks appeared to have got lowered by a semitone, which impression could be given only if one felt the tonality of the melody as having been raised by a semitone. It will probably have to remain an impossibility to investigate these phenomena more closely, since the Beḍaya ketawang is so sacred that it is only very rarely performed in public, i.e. exclusively on the commemorationday of the Susuhunan’s accession to the throne (cf. p. 280), and will probably never be allowed to be recorded on a phonogram.
I hesitated for a long time before employing this western representation for Javanese scales. On the one hand, the consideration that as in evident from the placing of the tones lima (= 5) and nem (= 6) in the various tone-sequences, the enumeration of the tones starting from the lowest tone—in the European sense— would, after all, not appear totally strange and unacceptable to the Javanese musician (vide also 75, p. 10), and, on the other hand, the fact that the numbering from high to low (starting, for instance, from the dasar) would create the utmost confusion in the minds of European readers, whilst this would, moreover, render any comparison with scales published elsewhere and comments thereon, if not utterly impossible, at any rate very objectionable, caused me in the end to give preference to an enumeration of the tones from low to high.
Although, as we said before, the order of sequence lima-nern and that of penunggul-gulu-ḍaḍa (= head-neck-chest)—one naturally starts with the head— points to à period in which the scale is regarded as running from low to high.
According to Suryaputra (357, biz. 318/9) the signification of gembyang is: the harmonic relationship between two persons. Hence the fact that the term gembyang came into vogue, at first (according to this author) for harmonic intervals in general, and later on more particularly for the interval which is characterized by the highest degree of harmonic fusion, i.e. the octave. (The dictionaries of Jansz, Gericke-Roorda and Pigeaud do not contain the word. The first named does mention, however, a homonyme with the signification of abundance (as said of a fruit tree)).
Cf. p. 39, note.
salah = agreement; gumun = astonishment, astounding, striking, out-of-the-way (cf. also p. 176).
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Kunst, J. (1949). Tone- and Scale-Systems. In: Music in Java. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7130-6_2
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