Pélog
Pélog is the Javanese name for a 7-point scale that is used alongside Slendro in Indonesian music (especially in gamelan music).
The sound system
In contrast to the twelve-tone equally tempered scale Well-Tempered Mood with equally large intervals , the intervals of the Slendro are of different sizes. The measurements from Surakarta , published in 1972, gave 171, 136, 295, 138, 99, 162, 244 cents (100 cents are a tempered semitone and 200 cents are a tempered whole tone ). Current measurements, for example on the Gamelan instrument set from Surakarta in the Überseemuseum Bremen , have shown that the interval sequence is 143, 149, 274, 109, 126, 174, 225 cents. The mood of gamelan instruments fluctuates from workshop to workshop or in Bali , for example between Surakarta and Yogyakarta , but is the same within a workshop and among all instruments of a gamelan orchestra.
Mood content
In concrete music, mostly only a selection of 5 from the 7 tones is used, so that there are different (main) modes that can be enriched by further auxiliary modes by exchanging tones. In Java, Pélog is considered a feminine, sad key . In Bali, pelog is seen as alien, difficult, or out of date.
literature
- McPhee, Colin (1949): The five-tone Gamelan Music of Bali. In: Musical Quarterly Vol. 35, No. 2. Oxford University Press. Oxford, pp. 250-281.
- Surjodiningrat, Wasisto & Sudarjana, PJ & Susanto, Adhi (1972): Tone Measurements of Outstanding Javanese Gamelan in Jogjakarta and Surakarta. Yogakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press.
- Lindsay, Jennifer (1979): Javanese Gamelan. New York / Melbourne .: Oxford University Press.
- Hood, Mantle (1980): The Evolution of Javanese Gamelan. 3 volumes. Wilhelmshaven: Edition Heinrichshofen.
- Oesch, Hans (1987): Extra-European Music (/ Part 2). (= New Handbook of Musicology, Volume 9). Laaber: Laaber.
- Stroh, Wolfgang Martin (2018): The Bremen Gamelan and its mood.