Strange Flowers Cultivating new music for gamelan on British soil Ginevra House PhD University of York Music January 2014 ii Abstract This thesis explores new music created for gamelan in Britain, focusing primarily upon works for Javanese gamelan. It explores the historical conditions and human motivations which have made composition for gamelan such a distinctive part of the UK scene, and explores the range of works created through a series of taxonomical spectra. It considers how composers writing for gamelan in the UK situate themselves amongst the transcultural influences they are at play with in their composition. This is explored through a variety of lenses: looking at how composers use, avoid or mix musical structures associated with gamelan and those from other systems; whether or not they draw upon creative processes and methods of transmission associated with traditional gamelan music; and what happens when gamelan instruments are combined with those from other systems or with electronically-generated sound. It also explores narratives of authenticity and hybridity, and the interrelationship between British gamelan composition and the wider cultural scene. It questions the extent to which the British gamelan scene is distinct from other international gamelan communities, and the extent to which it is not, suggesting that the appearance of difference is in fact more of an inflection, coloured by local conditions, history and individuals, but nevertheless an expression of the same contemporary trans- state cosmopolitan flows (Turino 2003) that characterise gamelan cultures around the world. iii List of Contents List of accompanying materials …………………………………………………... ix Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………. x Author’s declaration ………………………………………………………………. xii Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 1 Genesis of this study and personal background ……………... 4 Scope of the study …………………………………………… 6 Notes on use of language ……………………………………. 10 Chapter 1 Background and Theoretical Frameworks Central Javanese Gamelan: instruments and music …………. 15 From Java to Britain: A history of hybridity ………………... 25 Methodology: taxonomies and spectra ……………………… 35 Chapter 2 Karawitan and other idioms Code-switching and code-mixing …………………………… 39 Code-mixing in gamelan composition ………………………. 42 Conclusions ………………………………………………….. 65 Case Study A Alec Roth: Full Fathom Five …………………………………… 68 Case Study B Neil Sorrell: Missa Gongso ……………………………………... 75 Case Study C Daniel March: Pieces of Five and Three ……………………….. 81 Chapter 3 Creative Process ……………………………………………….. 93 Creative process in context ………………………………….. 94 Theoretical approaches ……………………………………… 102 Why write collaborative gamelan works? …………………… 105 When is a composer not a composer? ………………………. 114 Process-oriented and outcome-oriented approaches ………… 118 Case Study D Collaboration in the works of Clive Wilkinson ………………… 122 Case Study E Mags Smith, Barnaby Brown and Gamelan Naga Mas: Iron Pipes …………………………………………………………….. 129 Chapter 4 Transmission …………………………………………………… 140 Notation systems …………………………………………….. 145 Transmission methods ………………………………………. 147 Conclusions to Chapters 3 and 4: creative process, 163 transmission and the bigger picture ………………………... Case Study F John Jacobs: Fair Roses ………………………………………… 168 Case Study G Andy Channing: Pig in the Kraton ……………………………... 176 Case Study H Ginevra House: Waterlily ……………………………………….. 181 Chapter 5 Combinations Gamelan and non-gamelan instruments – tuning ……………. 189 Gamelan and electronics …………………………………….. 209 Conclusions ………………………………………………….. 217 Case Study I A tale of three pianos …………………………………………… 219 Case Study J Robert Campion: My Mother’s House …………………………. 234 Case Study K Symon Clarke: Three Exits …………………………………… 240 iv Case Study L Nye Parry: Fuzzy Logic ………………………………………..... 248 Case Study M Charles Matthews: The Augmented Gamelan ………………….. 253 Chapter 6 Beyond Identity, Beyond Britishness …………………………. 258 Discourses on identity ……………………………………….. 263 Discourses on authenticity and hybridity ……………………. 273 Discourses on Britishness (and other ‘-nesses’) …………….. 278 Case Study N Lokananta: Gamelan of the Gods ………………………………. 289 Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………... 293 Appendix 1 Gamelan Sekar Petak pitch analysis …………………………….... 296 Appendix 2 List of recordings ………………………………………………........ 298 Appendix 3 List of Scores ………………………………………………………... 300 Glossary …………………………………………………………………………… 301 List of references …………………………………………………………………. 304 v List of Figures Figure 1.1: Colotomic strokes in three bentuk………………………………………….. 18 Figure 1.2: Subdivisions of the beat according to irama ……………………………… 20 Figure 1.3: Four beats of kepatihan showing one full beat, two half-beats, four quarter- beats and eight eighth-beats ………………………………………………………… 24 Figure 2.1: Karawitan/ non-karawitan spectrum ……………………………………… 43 Figure A.1: Full Fathom Five, setting of first six lines of text ………………………... 71 Figure A.2: Full Fathom Five, last three lines of text …………………………………. 73 Figure A.3: Full Fathom Fiv,e dirge-like figure ……………………………………….. 73 Figure A.4: Full Fathom Five first gongan ……………………………………………. 74 Figure B.1: Excerpt from gamelan notation for ‘Kyrie’ ……………………………….. 77 Figure C.1: Slendro, pelog and equal temperament relative pitch relations with Gamelan Sekar Petak gender (slendro and pelog barang), central tessitura only …………….. 83 Figure C.2: Pieces of Five and Three, section 1, bars 1-9 ……………………………... 85 Figure C.3: Graphic representation of descending chords in Section 1, bars 1-9………. 85 Figure C.4: Section 1 …………………………………………………………………... 86 Figure C.5: Section 2, gender parts, bars 19-20 ……………………………………….. 87 Figure C.6: Bars 19-20 gender parts represented graphically …………………………. 87 Figure. C.7: Section 2, first phrase …………………………………………………….. 88 Figure C.8: Modal structure of Section 2 ……………………………………………… 89 Figure 3.1: Mapping interaction between composer(s) and peformer(s) ……………… 103 Figure 3.2: Directive/collaborative spectrum ………………………………………….. 103 Figure D.1: Excerpt of performance outline for English Garden ……………………... 124 Figure D.2: One of four ‘Strophe 3’s from English Garden …………………………… 125 Figure D.3: Excerpts from text instructions for kenong ……………………………….. 125 Figure D.4: Spindrift score …………………………………………………………….. 126 Figure E.1: Iron Pipes - Introduction ………………………………………………….. 133 Figure E.2: Iron Pipes - Slow jig; Transition; Lancariron …………………………….. 134 Figure E.3: Iron Pipes - Fast jig ……………………………………………………….. 136 Figure E.4: Iron Pipes - Gangsaran ……………………………………………………. 137 Figure 4.1: Notation spectrum………………………………………………………….. 143 Figure 4.2: Slendro and pelog mapping in Guide to the Gamelan …………………….. 148 Figure 4.3: The Magic Mirror, introductory notes …………………………………….. 149 Figure 4.4: Pitch matching in Gending introductory notes ……………………………. 149 vi Figure 4.5: Excerpts from Ensemble Gending’s notation guide to pelog ……………… 150 Figure 4.6: Pieces of Five and Three, Section 2 ……………………………………….. 152 Figure 4.7: One gatra of kepatihan showing one full beat, two half-beats, four quarter- beats and eight eighth-beats ………………………………………………………… 152 Figure 4.8: normal kepatihan example ………………………………………………… 153 Figure 4.9: Moran’s adapted kepatihan ………………………………………………... 153 Figure 4.10: Excerpt from Bonang Quartet No. 2 …………………………………….. 153 Figure 4.11: Notating a rhythmic ratio using dotted lines and tuplet brackets together... 153 Figure 4.12: Gamelan notation for the ‘Gloria’ from Missa Gongso ………………….. 157 Figure F.1: balungan garap for first gatra in irama tanggung (near the start of the recording) …………………………………………………………………………… 172 Figure F.2 – scattering of notes in irama wilet (from around 2m45s in recording) …… 173 Figure F.3: balungan line in irama lancar (from 8m47s) …………………………….. 173 Figure H.1: Waterlily – Section A (‘Fire’) …………………………………………….. 183 Figure H.2: modal structure of Waterlily ………………………………………………. 184 Figure H.3: ‘blue’ and ‘gold’ areas in Waterlily’s melody ……………………………. 184 Figure H.4: Waterlily – Section B (‘Water’) …………………………………………... 187 Figure H.5: balungan and garapan for Waterlily Section B …………………………... 188 Figure 5.1: Spectrum of how tuning systems are mixed ………………………………. 191 Figure 5.2: Overtone series produced by striking piano note A1 ……………………… 193 Figure 5.3: Gamelan Sekar Petak overtone series on various instruments a) in frequency b) as ratios ……………………………………………………………………………… 194 Figure 5.4: Intervallic relationships in Si Betty’s slendro, based on overtones to a fundamental of 4.8379Hz …………………………………………………………… 196 Figure 5.5: Spectrum of interaction between electronic and live components ………… 210 Figure 5.6: Multiple levels of tripartite discourse in Lokananta foyer installation ……. 211 Figure 5.7: Augmented Gamelan performing at The Albert, London, 1 June 2013 …... 216 Figure I.1: Intervallic relationships in Si Betty’s slendro, based on overtones to a 4.8379Hz fundamental …………………………………………………………………………. 220 Figure I.2: Si Betty performing Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan, 1st movement, end of piano cadenza going into tutti (~1m 26s on recording R-I.1) ………………. 222 Figure I.2: Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan, Postlude to 1st movement …... 223 vii Figure I.3: Gamelan Si Betty ………………………………………………………….. 224 Figure I.4: …a long way of seeing… piano part, bars 1 – 23 ………………………….. 227 Figure I.5: …A long way of seeing, piano part, bars 30 - 33 ………….…………… 228 Figure I.6: Concerto for Prepared Piano and Gamelan, 2nd mvt, bar 17 - 27 ……... 230 Figure I.7: Concerto for Prepared Piano and Gamelan, 3rd