The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

Polyphonic Aspects of Balinese Gamelan Music
Since this music is not so clearly rhythmically stratified the principle of intercalation is not operative. <strong>The</strong>
left and right hands are distinguished by register – each covers roughly one octave – and use similar rhythms,
though the left hand uses some longer durations. This gives the impression of counterpoint since the parts are
roughly balanced in complexity, yet different. This is also due to the fact that the phrasing is irregular. <strong>The</strong>
left hand groups comprise 13+9+11 pulsations do not coincide with those in the right hand. <strong>The</strong> perception
of balance is also due to the fact that the slendro scale is used, with its smoother, roughly equivalent interval
classes. Though I have not inquired into the cultural reasons for this, Balinese clearly have more tolerance for
non-unison or octave simultaneities in slendro music. Analysis of the first half of the example shows mainly
convergence where the left and right hands align, with some rhythmic displacement between the parts. In the
second half there is a truer independence with ample divergence, and including a seven-times-repeated threetone
ostinato in the right hand that breaks completely with the contour and content of the left.
Example 3b originates with the gender wayang repertoire, but this version has been transposed to the
pélog scale and played on a standard larger gamelan (ex. 3b; audio ex. 3b). Unlike example 3a, the music is
clearly stratified, but the layers are not as rigidly isochronous as in examples 1 and 2. <strong>The</strong> fluid pokok has a
profile similar to the left hand parts in example 3a. <strong>The</strong>re is a majority of divergence between the layers as
seen throughout the transcription. It is due to several factors. At the beginning, a repeating motive alternating
between two tones in the lower stratum occurs seven times, and functions as a bordun. Against this the upper
part roams freely. Afterward, both the pokok and Kotekan assume distinctive and extended melodic shapes
that often move in contrary motion – quite unlike the formulaic motives used in figures 1 and 2. Despite the
stratification this allows the impression of counterpoint seen in example 3a to persist.
Before considering some very recent Balinese music, look at example 4. It is anomalous in this collection
but reflects a fairly common texture in Balinese gamelan – that of a bamboo flute improvising in unmeasured
time against a set measured melodic structure performed by the metal-keyed instruments. Because of the
non-systematic flute part, we could classify this as an example of heterophony. But the musicians of the
village where this was recorded – Perean, in west-central Bali – take aesthetic delight in clashing tunings
and tonalities. Many other Balinese villages do the same. Thus the flute and the metallophones and even the
gongs are thoroughly independent in that dimension as well as in rhythm. Since they have no shared basis a
single melodic line, a designation such as non-systematic counterpoint might more accurately describe cases
like this one (ex. 4; audio ex. 4).
Examples 5a and b were composed in 2000 and 2005, respectively, by the well-known Balinese composer
Dewa Ketut Alit (ex. 5a, b; audio ex. 5a, b). Example 5a is from his Geregel, composed for the gamelan
semaradana. Semaradana has a seven-tone scale but here Alit uses only four of the seven, distributing
completely independent melodies to four different registral layers of instruments. In this cycle of 20 pulsations,
there is only one simultaneous pitch convergence for all four layers (at the 10 th pulsation) and one at which
three out of four converge (the beginning). Despite the prominence of divergence and the variety of durations
used within each part, the registral, motivic and durational individualism of the layers with relation to one
another all reinforce stratification. Yet this is clearly not intercalation, rather stratified counterpoint.
Example 5b, from Alit’s Caru Wara for gamelan gong kebyar, superposes three periodic rhythms but
aligns them in a macroperiod. <strong>The</strong> lowest line shows a small muted gong playing an ostinato rhythm of 11
pulsations (2+2+2+2+3). <strong>The</strong> lower melody line is an ostinato lasting 22 (7+7+8 pulsations [subdivided as 223;
223; 224]), and the upper line a through-composed counterpoint which groups 44 pulsations as (8+7+13+16).
Although the rhythmic layering here is especially complex and the relationship between the melodic lines
shows no pitch convergence at all, 1:2:4 grouping proportions between the layers is maintained. This is
perhaps the sole salient rhythmic connection to the traditional examples seen earlier. <strong>The</strong> macroperiod of 44
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