Focus: Gamelan Music of Indonesia

Gamelan: The Traditional Sounds of Indonesia is an introduction to the familiar music from Southeast Asia's largest country-both as sound and cultural phenomenon. An archipelago of 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a melting pot of Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Portuguese, Dutch, and British influences. Despite this diversity, it has forged a national culture, one in which music plays a significant role. Gamelan music, in particular, teaches us much about Indonesian values and modern-day life. Gamelan provides an introduction to present-day Javanese, Balinese, Cirebonese, and Sundanese gamelan (gong chime orchestra) music through ethnic, social, cultural, and global perspectives. Deemphasizing potentially intimidating technical discussions of scales and models, this unique work focuses on the approaches to composing and playing gamelan music and how they relate to cultural and personal values. This book is designed for courses specifically on Southeast Asian music and the gamelan tradition in Java and Bali. It provides a detailed overview of musical traditions in the region with attention to the salient aspects of the music's cultural context. The book includes maps, pedagogy and an audio CD with musical examples.