Many forms of Western art music are influenced by gamelan orchestras. There is a long tradition of composers writing music evoking the non-western world through exotic and oriental techniques. Exoticism, by one definition, is "the charm of the unfamiliar” (Oshinsky, 2004). Both occur when rhythms, melodies, or instrumentation are designed to evoke the atmosphere of far-off lands or ancient times (Segalen, 2002). Exoticism occurred amongst the period when composers began looking towards Asian influences on impressionism. Author, David Kettle states, “so began an enduring love affair between Western classical music and the Indonesian percussion orchestra, with composers entranced by its refined, rippling, resonant music. Some have transplanted gamelan’s bell and gong-like sounds into their pieces; others have been inspired to emulate its unusual textures; and a few have gone further, writing music that actually involves gamelan instruments themselves” (Kettle, 2013).
Colin McPhee, a Canadian ethnomusicologist, moved to Bali in 1931 after being inspired by Indonesia’s rich music culture (Kettle, 2013). In the time he spent there, he transcribed many pieces into compositions for Western instruments, such as ‘Tabuh-Tabuhan’, an orchestral toccata. In some cases, this piece is seen as a direct transcription of traditional Balinese music. After this, McPhee played an important role in spreading gamelan music to other cultures (Kettle, 2013). Lou Harrison and Benjamin Britten also express similar gamelan influences. In particular, Benjamin Britten’s works reached further than solely the music spectrum. Britten’s compositions featured in the 1957 ballet The Prince of the Pagodas, where a recreated Balinese gamelan created the soundtrack for the performance. John Cage, an aleatoric composer, also began creating gamelan influenced pieces through his creation of the prepared piano. The prepared piano is the idea of placing household items on a piano to give the notes a percussive sound, much like a gamelan orchestra. Cage describes this when he states, “the sound of the prepared piano is a melody which employs sounds having widely different timbres” (Pritchett, 2007). An example of this is in his composition, ‘Sonata X for Prepared Piano’. Not only does gamelan influence western music, it is also influenced by it. Author, Henry Spiller, points out that “the notions of ‘high culture’ and ‘fine art’ are Western ideas that have insinuated themselves into gamelan music” (Spiller, 2004). To begin with, Western influences have brought changes to the processes and values that govern gamelan music. Slowly, gamelan has absorbed the Western influence of music notation and fixed compositions. Previously, most gamelan music was learnt through oral tradition, however after the arrival of the Dutch colonisers, Indonesian music began to be notated through Kepatihan. In modern gamelan music, there is a growing emphasis on a fixed melody rather than the traditional gamelan simultaneous melodies (Spiller, 2008). Additionally, in relation to instrumentation; south-east Asian drums, gongs and chimes have evolved over time due to influence of other cultures. |
Neoclassical composer, Francis Poulenc, was first introduced to gamelan at the Exposition Coloniale de Paris, in 1931 (Kettle, 2013). Poulenc was inspired by the sounds and textures of the Balinese orchestra. He used similar textures in his Concerto for Two Pianos of 1932, where he blends gamelan techniques with neoclassicism as well as modernist styles [shown from 5:37 minutes]. Claude Debussy, an impressionist, encountered a similar experience to Poulenc, when he first heard a gamelan orchestra at the Paris Exposition of 1889 (Sorrell, 2000). “The gamelan Debussy heard was in the slendro scale and was played by Central Balinese musicians” (Sorrell, 2000). After this encounter, the use of the whole tone scale begins to appear in many of his compositions. Examples of heterophonic texture are used on occasions also, such as in ‘Pagodes’ from Estampes. This piece includes heterophonic texture within the whole tone scale, and the use of a oriental-sounding five-note mode. Debussy’s main inspiration was from the layered textures of gamelan, rather than a specific technique itself. This is evident in many of his compositions where a variety of instruments or parts play different material at varying speeds.
In more recent times, Western composers such as Phillip Glass, Steve Reich and Andrew Shultz have all written directly for gamelan orchestras (Sorrell, 2000). In 1973 and 1974 Steve Reich undertook two periods of study into Balinese gamelan (Kettle, 2013). This led him to composing ‘Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ of 1973’. This piece includes interlocking melodic lines of Balinese music, aligning with minimalist repetitive counterparts. Finally, Hungarian composer, Gyorgy Ligeti composed a piano etude titled ‘Galamb Borong’ which was also heavily influenced by gamelan, as shown through simply the title itself. This piece is harmonically and rhythmically complex, with a contrast of minimalist and gamelan characteristics. It must also be recognised that gamelan influences electronic and ‘techno’ music also, such as British electronic musician ‘Four-Tet’ in his composition ‘Angel Echoes’. |
Western tourism in the 20th and 21st century has also allowed a new focus to gamelan performance music. A variety of performances aimed at the tourist market have become staples of Balinese arts, providing Bali with a larger global village. Spiller states, “In this sense, tourism is the new god-king of the Balinese theatre-state because it becomes both the cause and the effect of continued artistic activities” (Spiller, 2008). Finally, it must be noted that people from different cultural areas of Indonesia and from different levels of society are coming together to collaborate and perform Indonesian music; therefore, the nature of traditional gamelan with regards to structure and composition, is evolving, and will continue to evolve into the future.