Musical example 8: theme of “Sekar Sungsang”
Chapter 4: Compositional structures and techniques
4.1 A unique ensemble?
Although gender wayang shares certain characteristics with other Balinese gamelan forms, in many ways it stands apart. Influences from other ensembles are perceptible but the basic structures of pieces are, in many ways, unlike those of other types of Balinese gamelan.
It is regarded as the quintessential slendro-tuned ensemble, although it shares this tuning with four- and five-note angklung ensembles and bamboo joged instruments. Although commonly linked with other “ancient” Balinese
ensembles, such as selonding, gambang and luang, it is not obviously related to this group in tuning, as these three share seven-note pelog modal systems (see Tenzer 2000:147-53). The repertoire is also not obviously linked: many
selonding and luang pieces seem to be derived from gambang and, ultimately from kidung songs. The formal structure of pieces, too, is different: these three linked pelog ensembles, like many other gamelan forms, are based on a clearly differentiated, extended nuclear melody with interlocking elaboration, whereas, in gender, the relationship between melody and elaboration is often ambiguous.
The possible historical connection with selonding was also raised in chapter 2.55 The ensembles share the fact that their keys are suspended over rather than resting on resonators. Selonding, too, are played with a mallet in each hand, although these are much larger and squarer than gender mallets. Gunawan says that selonding pieces, too, sometimes feature an irregular metric structure (tape 2000:6b).
Gunawan compares a type of three-note interlocking pattern, gucek, in selonding with similar patterns in gender wayang. He says that in the 1960s, selonding pieces were very klasik, with no reo/ig-style interlocking (i.e. kotekan). Instead, they used gucek, which involves interweaving polos and sangsih parts as in the gender piece, “Sekar Sungsang”. Gunawan also explains that, due to the intricate layout of the instruments of the archaic gambang ensemble, it is almost impossible to add reo/?g-style interlocking; it must remain within its classical style, “but gong and gender are different - they can be created” (tape 2001:1a).
Gender wayang also stands apart from the other clear grouping of related ensembles derived from the courtly gambuh, which includes semar pegulingan and pelegongan (see Tenzer 2000:147-53). These, along with gong gede and kebyar, feature regular, four-square nuclear melodies with gong punctuation, whereas gender pieces are quite often more metrically free. However, the Sukawati version of “Tabuh Gari”, seems to be related in its melodic contour to semar pegulingan versions of the same piece. The pelog- tuned pair of gender that play in gamelan pelegongan simply elaborate the pokok melody, mainly in octaves.
Links with the repertory of the gamelan angklung are also limited: the main similarities are in the use of slendro tuning and in the irregular structure of some melodies (see McPhee 1966:240). McPhee suggests that many angklung pieces are, in fact, drawn from the gender wayang repertory (ibid.:246, note 6). Some left-hand melodic passages in gender are also similar to angklung in their exploitation of the possibilities of limited melodic range: partly for physical reasons, these left-hand melodies often involve permutations of three or four notes. Despite the fact that gender wayang technique is similar in some ways
55 The link with selonding is strengthened by Gold’s observation that “when gender are played on the cremation tower, the act of playing is referred to as maselonding ... and in some Bali Aga (pre-Hindu Balinese) villages today gender is referred to as selonding" (1992:246).
with that of certain xylophones, there do not seem to be direct connections with the tingklik (bamboo xylophone) and joged repertory (xylophone ensemble, see Tenzer 1991:89-91). Gender wayang textures are far more varied than their uniform pattern of left-hand melody with right-hand accompaniment.
We have seen that some of the ostinato-based pangkat pieces show strong similarities with the processional gamelan beleganjur. Links with gamelan gong gede are mainly found in terminology, such as the term
pengawak for a piece’s main section and peniba for a variation section. Kebyar has influenced gender wayang, particularly in Sukawati and Denpasar,
especially in the introductory gineman sections. However, even this is not clear- cut: one of the major influences on kebyar’s fluidity, right from the early years, has itself been gender wayang. Influences have travelled back and forth between the genres. Gold describes how pieces are transferred to other
gamelan types from gender wayang, and the reverse process, in which stylistic elements (but rarely whole pieces) are introduced into gender from ensembles such as gong kebyar, gambang and angklung. She notes that “In the western part of North Bali a composition called ‘Angklung’, evoking sadness in imitation of the angklung orchestra, is played on the gender during wayang instead of travelling music" and how Loceng has brought kebyar elements into many of the introductions (gineman) to pieces (ibid.:249). Gunawan also adapted several angklung pieces for gender.
Another related tradition is Javanese gender, which, like gender wayang, is essential in accompanying wayang, though as part of a larger gamelan. Javanese gender formerly had ten keys like the Balinese (Lentz 1965:37, Kunst 1968:77). One similarity is the two-handed technique, although, in Java, the player’s right-hand mallet is held differently to allow the thumb to help with damping. Unlike the Javanese gambang, which plays almost entirely in octaves, Javanese gender barung, like gender wayang, features many different intervals: the two hands move contrapuntally. Important goal notes, seleh, are marked by octaves or “slendro fifths” but, in between these, many passing intervals are allowed. In Java, only one gender barung is used in an ensemble, and sometimes one gender panerus, an octave higher, which plays less
contrapuntally complex patterns twice as fast as the barung. Hence, Javanese music does not feature interlocking parts between gender, although interlocking
may occur between other instruments, such as saron or bonang. Javanese gender patterns have evolved in a more stylised fashion than gender wayang: various set melodic patterns, cengkok, which may be varied in performance, fit with the nuclear melodies, balungan, of pieces, which contribute to pieces’ individuality. The cengkok patterns are partly determined by the mode (pathet) of the piece. Although, Balinese gender pieces are also constructed in a modular way (see Gray 1991), the pieces have more individual characteristics. Another similarity with Javanese gender is in song accompaniment: in Java, the dalang’s songs, sulukan, are accompanied by gender in a metrically free style, similar to the slow style of Balinese tetandakan, such as “Mesem”, which also follow the dalang’s vocal melody.
4.2 Pokok
In other types of gamelan, in particular gong gede, pokok (“trunk”) refers to the core melody played slowly on saron metallophones, which is elaborated by other instruments, rather like the balungan of Central Javanese gamelan. In kebyar, it is usually played by the one-octave calung metallophones, while other metallophones may play an elaboration at twice the speed, called neliti (Tenzer 2000:452-3). Although gender left-hand melodies (when these can be clearly distinguished from figuration) are occasionally referred to as, or compared with, jegogan (the largest metallophone in kebyar), I have only rarely heard the word
pokok used for them. Instead, in gender wayang, pokok is most often used to refer to a basic, unadorned version of the whole piece, including all melody and elaborating strata. This version is sometimes taught first but, in many cases, it is more of an implicit concept lying behind the more usually played version of the piece. I questioned several players about how one could know the pokok without being taught it directly; their comments about pokok can also be found throughout chapter 6, as it is a concept that underlies many of the variation categories discussed there.
Buda, here, tries to explain left-hand melody parts in terms of pokok, comparing them with other gamelan but, straight away, points out that the issue is more complex and also refers to a pokok of the kotekan. He also describes how, in slow-style pieces, the pokok is formed of both left- and right-hand parts:
B: Like in gong kebyar, the left hand [in gender wayang] is the ugal, like the jublag .... This holds the m elody-you can’t depart from this .... Me: But in pieces like "Mesem” or “Rundah” the pokok is in both hands? B: Yes, the pokok in “Mesem" and “Rundah" is a rather complicated pokok lagu (basis of the melody), because there’s no jajar pageh (firm row). There’s no certain melody to follow ... the left-hand melody and right-hand melody become one. They directly become the pokok lagu. (Buda, tape 2002:17b)
Loceng, who says he was taught the pokok of pieces before gradually elaborating them, compares it to a road or route (B and I:jalan):
L: That is the road (jalan) called the pokok. We look for the road first; which way does the road go? To Denpasar, which way should we go? If you already know the road [you think] where can we visit on it? For instance, visiting a certain banjar on the road to Denpasar, here’s a village and another village, so we start here, we meet here and, later, arriving home, we try to be listened to. If it’s good, use it. If not, don’t. (Loceng, tape 2002:17b)
Here, he seems to be saying that one can take slightly different routes through the pokok and, if they work, these can be re-used. Besides pokok and jalan, another commonly used word for “basic shape”, both in music and storytelling, is patokan (I: rule, form). Musical example 9 shows the first phrase of what Loceng played after I asked whether he remembered what he was taught as the pokok of “Mesem”. After playing this he played a more elaborate (usual)
version, shown on the stave below (tape 2000:4).
Musical example 9:pokokof “Mesem” (above) and usual version (below),
polos only
Buda demonstrates how a piece’s pokok forms the basis for variation, using a piece from the “Pemungkah”, “Katak Ngongkek”:
B: [plays part of "Katak Ngongkek”] That’s the pokok. Now if we play what’s developed, perhaps what I play and what is played by, for instance, Pak Loceng is not the same. Usually I play ... like this [as before] if the situation is not good. If the mood is good, perhaps [I go] to the east, a new improvisation [plays the same passage in a more elaborate way] like that. Its pokok is [plays short passage] but you can look up here [plays higher note]. If that’s the polos, then the sangsih arrives here [plays lower note]. (Buda, tape 2002:22a)
This leads towards the subject of improvisation, which will be explored in depth in chapter 6. Note that Buda says it depends on a favourable situation or mood.
Loceng explains how the pokok remains throughout the kinds of compositional changes he and Ketut Balik made around the 1950s:
L: Every decade there’s a change ... not a change, an addition. The pokok is still there - it’s not changed, it’s added to. Addition means someone who’s a child in ten years becomes an adult, in another ten years becomes a grandparent. (Loceng, tape 2000:2b)
Mudita in Tenganan says he was not taught the pokok of pieces first but learnt a more elaborate version directly (tape 2002:1a). This mirrors my own
experience. Mudita explained that decorating the pokok is similar to decoration in painting and in vocal music:
M: For instance, mayasin gending (decorating the piece) - its purpose is, with pukulan
tiga (three-note interlocking pattern), lanang and wadon [sangsih and polos], to be given
decorations so that it sounds good, to be given \pukulan] empat (four-note pattern). That’s decoration, if you’re making a picture, that’s allowed. For instance, if [a puppet] is small we keep the decorations small, if we’re making decorations on wayang puppets. If we’re making bigger puppets, then we can put decorations in a b it ... I think Balinese culture is like the melody of a tembang (song). There are those who add artistry, there are those who add decoration. Me: So, it’s continuously decorated but not lost? M: Its shape is not lost. (Mudita, tape 2002:3a)
Gunawan remembers that pieces were simpler earlier and remembers Ranu, for instance, adding to the pukulan of “Sekar Sungsang”. Like other players, he insists that the pokok of the piece must not be lost:
G: The kotekan can be added to or taken away from. People have their own way of creating - however it is usually. Or it can be made slow or fast like a pangkat. We choose which one we like. We can choose, like a dancer. What do young people like? Humour. What do old people like? Philosophy. It’s the same with creating garapan (“workings", versions of a piece). We can analyse what the people listening will like. (Gunawan, tape 2001:1a)
Players’ comments show that the concept of pokok in gender wayang is much subtler than a simple nuclear melody. They seem to be looking at it from several different angles and describing a kind of motivating or generating force behind the piece and, at the same time a kind of route-map of the piece, which can be used to create variations. To me, what they are describing is strongly
reminiscent of the inner melody in Thai and Javanese music discussed in the previous chapter.
4.3 Transposition
We have seen how pangkat pieces are usually based on a left-hand ostinato figure with right-hand kotekan. After a few repetitions, a bridge passage or transition leads to the same material played one note higher or lower. Another
bridge passage returns to the beginning or to a variation. Several petegak pieces, including the popular “Sekar Sungsang”, are also based on this form, while in the freer bateI pieces, the transposition may take place to several different pitch levels. Transposition of large sections occurs even in some slow- style pieces, such as the Sukawati “Candi Rebah”, whose entire theme is transposed up two pitches.
Although a certain amount of melodic transposition does occur in other gamelan melodies, nowhere is it used as frequently and systematically as this.56 I suggested to Buda that this common gender wayang form of transposing whole sections of a piece up and down a tone was perhaps different from other gamelan. He drew my attention, though, to the fact that these also have bridge passages (penyalit, pengalihan, penyaitan):
B: Gong kebyar also has penyalit from one composition to another composition. What connects it is called penyalit. In gender wayang, this is called pengalihan, from the word
alih. Me: In Karangasem, they call this penyaitan. B: The context is the same. Penyaitan
means it is sewn up to the first [part] like using a thread. Here, pengalihan, from ngalih, means to look for. From one note, looking for another note. Pengalihan in gong kebyar and in gender wayang have a different form. In gong kebyar, the pengalihan can stand alone to connect one tune to another. In gender wayang, pengalihan one and
pengalihan two become one [perhaps, connect repetitions at different note levels?]. But
they are small because, in a gender wayang piece, a long pengalihan would give it another character. So, the gender wayang pengalihan are very small, to join one tune to the following one. (Buda, tape 2002:19a)
Here, Buda is describing how the bridge passages linking transposed sections in gender wayang are kept short, in contrast to kebyar compositions, in which links between sections may be longer.
Nettl notes that transposition is a common compositional device cross- culturally, but claims that it is less common in polyphonic and instrumental music (1958:61). He states that, in “folk and primitive” music, there is no sense of hierarchy in this transition as there would be in Western music (ibid.:56-7). However, Vonck sees primary and secondary pitch levels operating in these pangkat pieces (see chapter 2 of this study). She describes how, in North Bali, the higher level is called cenik (small) and the lower, gede (large): manis (sweet) pieces start with the higher level and keras (coarse) pieces with the lower (Vonck 1997:156). McPhee points out that, because the intervals of the gender scale are not, in fact, equal, a new tonal character as well as a change
56 It is interesting, though, that the various five-note pelog modes in seven-note Balinese ensembles are derived by transposition, for instance using the keys: 1 2 3 5 6, then 2 3 4 6 7 and so on (see McPhee 1966:283).
in pitch level is effected by such transposition: "Such a treatment has the result of giving (to us) a very satisfactory form, in which the pattern repeats, but by the nature of the change in pitch and interval relation, becomes a further variation” (McPhee 1936:23).
Occasionally, the right-hand parts may need to be altered when
transposing up to the new pitch level, due to the instrument’s limited range. In such cases, the part will adapt by seeking equivalent or complementary notes that fit with the other part. Occasionally, to make the right-hand parts flow satisfyingly, the transposition may be inexact. For instance, in the second part of “Pangkat Grebeg”, the left-hand ostinato is transposed up one note, while the right-hand kotekan shifts up two notes, as this works more naturally from the transition (see musical example 10).
Musical example 10: from part 2 of “Grebeg”
4 — -Jh & ---- ■L—^-a ■ - r - V 4 A 4 1 4 w '} t? r w r *■ r y
Smaller-scale melodic transposition also occurs, for instance a right-hand kotekan pattern may transpose within a section based on a single left-hand pitch level. Musical example 11 shows two phrases from “Partha Wijaya”, polos only. In the second phrase, the right hand has moved up a note, while the left hand remains on the same pitch level.
Musical example 11: two phrases from “Partha Wijaya”