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Estevan -> RE: Playing another Instrument (Apr. 9 2010 19:33:00)
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Sorry Estevan,
I was just joking with you.
Now you're joking, right? [;)]
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I was actually going to add...
"Sheesh...with all the trouble trying to take a guitar as hand luggage on a plane...
can you imagine taking THAT kit on board? "
Yeah you'd never be able to get more than one of those pots in your carry-on. It's quite a job moving all that gear. The instruments were housed at the Indonesian Consulate, but we occasionally had gigs elsewhere, which meant loading the whole lot into a big van. Although gamelan instruments are definitely not designed for travelling, it happens that they do dismantle nicely just because of the way they're constructed - bronze bars and pots sitting on (or hanging from) wooden frames.
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Do they fill those little pots with tea to get the right tuning?
You'd have to turn them upside down to do that, and there may be some avant-garde pieces that do it (a water-gong is a very nice instrument) but we only played "old school" Javanese music.
The tuning (which of course is done when the instruments are made, since they are cast in bronze then hammered and filed) is interesting because each complete set of instruments (gamelan or 'orchestra') is in tune with itself, but not in tune with other gamelans. There is no standardized tuning, and so each gamelan represents a particular unique interpretation of the scales, with slightly different intervals. In this way each gamelan has a characteristic colour or sonic personality. Then there is the whole phenomenon of inharmonic overtones which is a source of fascination to acousticians and audio engineers.
Then there is a nice cultural aspect. Whereas some people look upon a musical instrument as a mere tool (and don't believe that guitars change with age and playing) in Javanese tradition musical instruments are considered to be living beings imbued with spirit, and are accordingly respected. It's customary to make offerings to the instruments, and we had a little old Javanese lady in the band who would place a bowl of flowers by the gong before every rehearsal. Maybe not 'scientific' in some places, but it's part of Javanese science (ngèlmu), and beautiful.
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