BALINESE MUSIC COMPARED TO THE
COMPOSER: BELA BARTOK
By: Samantha Tagle
Population: 3,151,000
Highest Elevation in Bali is Mount Agung which is 3,000 meters above sea
level.
Bali is a very fertile for agricultural crop region because of its rainfall.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCES
Landmass: 5, 532 km(2)
Natural Resources: Rice, Coffee, Wood
ETHNICITIES
Balinese: 89%
Javanese: 7%
Baliaga:1%
Madurese: 1%
Balinese and Indonesian are the main languages that are spoken in Bali, while
English is a common third language.
REGION
Balinese Hinduism 93. 18%
Islam 4.79%
Christianity 1.38%
Buddhism 0.64%
CULTURE
Bali is famous for their different forms of art which include
paintings, sculptures, woodcarvings, handcrafts, and
performing arts.
A series of ceremonies and rituals called Manusa yadnya is
performed for each stage of life.
Death and cremation is usually the biggest ceremony. The
cremation ceremonies are colorful, exciting and loud. They
require a lot of preparation which can take years after the
death. In the mean time the body is temporarily burried.
TRADITIONAL BALINESE MUSIC
Gamelan: Name of a Balinese orchestra and a type of instrument.
Completely percussion
Idiom: Folk/ Dance
Music used for religious rituals
GAMELAN ORCHESTRA
15-20 players- no conductor
Heterophony- layers of main melody played at the same
time
Complicated web of sound
Four groups called Keteg
Gongs of different sizes mark cycles of music-Gongan
Lower pitch- longer note values
Melodic line called Balungan
Solo instruments played very fast
http://youtu.be/BmlAZxha8Pw
INSTRUMENTS
Gamelan
Gongs
Wood xylophones
Cymbals
Flutes
Drums
Bamboo Flutes
GONGS
Gong Wadon: The largest Balinese
Gong (Bass)
Gong Lanang: Slight higher pitch
than the Wadon
Kempur: Mid points in the metric
cycle
Klintong: High pitched played with a
hard mallet for a piercing song
BAMBOO XYLOPHONES
Gambang: a pair of two xylophones
played with double mallets
Gamelan Joged Bumbang: 10 bar
xylophone with bars suspended in a
wooden frame- played with rubber
headed mallets
FLUTES
Suling Bali: End Blown bamboo flute
which plays the scales
Played with a circular breathing
technique
BELA BARTOK
March 25, 1881- September 26,1945
Greatest Hungarian composer
Grew up in the Greater Hungary of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Spent early years of childhood away
from other children because he had
smallpox. This is when he spent
most of his time listening to his
mom play
BELA BARTOK CONTINUED
Lived in poverty
Became sick with leukemia
The ASCAP (American Society for Composer, Authors, and Publishers)
helped Bartok get better treatment
Died on September 26, 1945 in a New york hospital with his wife and son
holding each hand
STUDIES
Taught himself composition by reading scores
Interested in other folk tradition music
Went to Pozsony Acadamy and after he graduated he started his career as a
concert pianist.
Studied folk music of many different coutries
Wanted to analyze major portions of the world's folk music
INFLUENCES
As a teenager, Bartok wrote chamber music in the style of Brahms under the
influence of composer Erno Dohnanyi.
Influenced by Richard Strauss's perfomance of Also Sprach Zarathrustra
Bartok then combined his passion for Strauss with his Hungarian nationalism
and produced Kossuth, his first major work.
Influenced by folk music from around the world
PROMINENT WORKS
Became a music instructor at the Budapest Academy in 1907
Did this for over 25 years
Performed in 630 concerts in 22 countries
Composed Concerto for Orchestra which Bartok's most popular piece
MUSIC STYLE
motoristic rhythms- irregular meters and off beat accents
-textures- homophonic
harmony is result of contrapuntal movement- out of character of the
melodies
polymodality
The music if Bali inspired Bela Bartok's No. 109 piece "From the Island of
Bali"
Octatonic- combining 2 four note units
chromatic
polymodality- combining if different modes using same tonic
C# -ding/ dIng D - dong/dOng E - deng/dEng G#- dung/dUng A dang/dAng
http://youtu.be/_BKKl25hWnE
ANALYSIS
Binary Form
Begins soft then progresses to faster tempo
6/8 time then transitions to 4/4
Both hands move up octave then back down with sforzando
Sustained base with contrapunal movements
Octatonic Scales
Diminished fifth- atonal sound of Balinese music
Alternating hands- complex nature
WORKS CITED
http://www.musicatschool.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk
http://www.helloindonesia.com
http://www.cia.gov
http://www.thebalitoday.com
http://www.idsirtii.or.id
www.indo.com
www.youtube.com
http://uua.org/uuhs/duup/articles/belabartok