Durham E-Theses The concept of pathet in Central Javanese gamelan music. Hastanto, S. How to cite: Hastanto, S. (1985) The concept of pathet in Central Javanese gamelan music., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1214/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Abstract THE CONCEPT OF PATHET IN CENTRAL JAVANESE GAMELAN MUSIC Pathet, one of the most important elements of Central Javanese amelan music making, is a kind of 'musical quality' which is often related to the concept of mode in Western music. There are two kinds of tuning system operative in gamelan music, namely slendro and pelog. The Javanese distinguish three pathet in each system: pathet manyura, pathet sanga and pathet nem in slendro, and pathet lima, pathet nem and pathet barang in pelog. Some attempts at explaining the concept of pathet have been made by both Western and Indonesian theorists and indeed their theories have succeeded in identifying some characteristics of each pathet. The characteristics thus identified, however, are often too general or too specific and consequently are unable to predict the pathet of a given melody reliably. In exploring the concept of pathet, the present study gathers the materials of musical phenomena which are agreed by native musicians as being strong or even invariable in terms of impressions of pathet and constructs them into a theory. It introduces a method of analysis for Javanese gamelan music based on the structure of melodic sentences, phrases, and figures, taking into account contour, content, and context. The impressions of pathet are felt when a melody is being performed and in fact an impression of a particular pathet is established in the musicians' and listeners' minds by three interdependent aspects: contours, content and contexts of the melody constituents - melodic figures, phrases and sentences. Through the interlocking of these three aspects the process of establishment, further growth, consolidation and change of pa- thet in the musicians' minds and their performances are de- scribed. THE CONCEPT OF PATHET IN CENTRAL JAVANESE GAMELAN MUSIC The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Submitted for the degree of Ph. D. at University of Durham by SRI HASTANTO September 1985 ýý 1; TR.1336 In memory of my dearest guru, Gendhon Humardani, who taught me every aspect of this life, and for my children who will bring the music to the next generation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Eric Taylor, Chairman of the Department of Music, Durham University, for his kind help in many ways, academic, linguistic and personal. I am grateful to Dr. Robert Provine, my supervisor, for his encouragement and patience in supervising this work, until rough ideas became a thesis. To Bapak Martopangrawit and all empu karawitan in Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia (ASKI) in Surakarta, I offer my thanks for their great help in providing rare examples. I want to thank all my colleagues in ASKI Surakarta who helped me in various survey projects, and my wife Suhartini, who provided me with materials: writings, recordings and photo- graphs sent from Java to England. My study in the United Kingdom was made possible by a British Council scholarship. I am grateful to the British Council staff in Jakarta, London, Edinburgh and Newcastle, who took care of me and gave every necessary assistance. PREFACE Javanese Of the several studies of pathet in music which Indonesian have been made by a number of scholars, both and devoted to the Western, only one is a full-length book wholly subject: Mantle Hood's The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of Patet in Javanese Music (1954). Some are short articles, such as Judith Becker's "Some Thoughts about Pathet" (1977), and The Vincent McDermott and Sumarsam's "Central Javanese Music: Other Patet of Laras Slendro and the Gender Barung" (1975). discussions of this matter appear as chapters or smaller sec- Jaap tions in more general works on Javanese music, such as Kunst's Music in Java (most recent edition 1973), Becker's Traditional Music in Modern Java (1972) and Martin Hatch's Lagu, Laras, Layang: Rethinking Melody in Javanese Music (1980). Before reaching their main discussion, the above-mentioned writers always include an historical, social or anthropological background to Javanese music. The information thus made avail- able seems to me quite adequate, so that it is not necessary to repeat it in this present study, which concentrates on pathet. Another reason for not including such information here is that I am not a trained historian, sociologist or anthropolo- gist, but a Javanese musician. Consequently I prefer to include some necessary information about practical aspects of Javanese music-making which are germane to the subject of pathet. In other words, this present study discusses the concept of pathet from a musical and musician's point of view. - As a Javanese musician, I know my music: I play it and I can feel it. But to analyse pathet, which is the most compli- cated aspect of the music, remains a very difficult task. One of my intentions here is to show what Javanese feel about their I believe own music, which - because of the different cultural habits background and - is somewhat different from what outsi- ders think about it. During the rapid changing of social and cultural patterns in Indonesia in which some things may be lost, I want to do something which may help to preserve knowledge about traditional Javanese music. NOTES TO THE READER Spelling (1) With some exceptions, Indonesian and Javanese words are spelled according to the new orthography for the Indonesian language adopted by the Indonesian government in 1972. The following chart shows the differences between the new and the old spellings. new spelling old spelling English equivalent c tj chalk i di iuice y j you , (2) Javanese consonants and are spelled as follows: n sounding like th in thus is spelled d as in dados RM sounding like d in domestic is spelled dh as in gendhing AM sounding like t in teacher is spelled t as in tambang R('7 no equivalent sound in English is spelled th as in kethuk (3) Titles of books, articles and other publications, and also personal names are spelled as they appear in the originals. Terminology within quotations from earlier writings are similar- ly spelled as they appear in the originals. Terminology There is often no precise equivalent in English for the technical terms used in Javanese gamelan music. Some scholars have attempted to translate them ( apthet, for example, becoming 'mode' and kempyung becoming 'f if th'), but this can lead to - vii - confusion and misunderstanding. For this reason, difficult terms are left untranslated in the present study. Those who are unfamiliar with the Javanese terms used are encouraged to refer to the index which is located at the end. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNONLEDGEMMS NOTES TO THE READER PREFACE CHAPTER I JAVANESE GAMSI.,AN MUSIC: OUTLINES AND DEFINITIONS Instruments, Voices, and their Functions Scale (Laras) Systems Gendhing and their Contexts Gendhing Groups Irama NOTES TO CHAPTER I CHAPTER II ANALYTICAL TOOLS Javanese Notation Systems Balungan gendhing Gendhing Form Balungan Gendhing as Basic Material for the Study of Pathet NOTES TO CHAPTER II CHAPTER III EARLIER THEORIES OF PATHET From Kunst to Walton NOTES TO CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV PATHET IN LARAS SLENDRO Thinthingan Senggrengan Pathetan Wantah Srepegan ix Summary and First Example Analytical Methods Pathet Manyura Pathet Sanga Pathet Nem Exceptions Conclusion CHAPTER V PATIIh1 IN LARAS PE[.IOG Pelog Pathet in Practice Cengkok in Laras Pelog The Traditional Classification and Theories of Pathet in Laras Pelog versus the Actual Practice of the Music Slendro Gendhing in Laras Pelog Pelog Pathet Barang Pathet Analysis in Pelog Barang Pelog Bem Pelog Pathet lima and Pelog Pathet Nem Pajhet Analysis Pelog Pathet Manyura Mixtures of the Three Pathet in Pelog Bem Conclusion NOTES TO CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Works Consulted Sources of Gendhing Notation Consulted INDEX CHAPTER I JAVANESE GAMELAN MUSIC: OUTLINES AND DEFINITIONS By gamelan I mean the use of the term in current Javanese musical life, and I will not argue its meaning from either a linguistic or a historical point of view. Gamelan has the sense of a physical thing in Java: it refers to a collection of instruments, not to the music which they play. The Javanese have a separate term for the latter: krawitan or karawitan. Popular music studies in the West do not always seem to be aware of this distinction as they often use the word 'gamelan' indis- criminately in both senses. However, it would be merely pedan- tic in the present thesis to insist on strict Javanese usage when anglicized expressions are available, such as 'gamelan ensemble' and 'gamelan music', which are unambiguous and meet all practical needs.