Udan Mas
Encyclopedia
Udan Mas is a composition for gamelan
which is popular in Central Java, especially Yogyakarta. It is a bubaran, which is an ending piece played while the audience departs. In Western concert performances, it is often played as an encore
. It is often one of the pieces students learn early in their studies.
The piece can be played in a wide variety of pathet
, including pélog
pathet barang and nem, and sléndro
pathet sanga and nem. It can also be played as either a lancaran
or a ladrang
, with related balungan
.
The recording of the piece on Javanese Court Gamelan
, possibly the most famous, is in pélog pathet barang and has a lancaran structure.
Mantle Hood
offers an analysis of the ladrang in The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of Patet in Javanese Music. He adduces it in his theory of the importance of cadence
contours in its variation in different pathet.
Hujan Mas, which also means "Golden Rain" in modern Indonesian
is a well known 20th century composition for Balinese Gamelan in the kebyar style.
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
which is popular in Central Java, especially Yogyakarta. It is a bubaran, which is an ending piece played while the audience departs. In Western concert performances, it is often played as an encore
Encore (concert)
An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
. It is often one of the pieces students learn early in their studies.
The piece can be played in a wide variety of pathet
Pathet
The pathet is an organizing concept in gamelan music. It is difficult to explain, but is similar to the melody types, that is, for example, modes, ragas, or maqamat, of other musics....
, including pélog
Pelog
Pelog is one of the two essential scales of gamelan music native to Bali and Java, in Indonesia. The other scale commonly used is called slendro. Pelog has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for five of the pitches...
pathet barang and nem, and sléndro
Slendro
Slendro is a pentatonic scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music, the other being pélog.-Tuning:...
pathet sanga and nem. It can also be played as either a lancaran
Lancaran
The lancaran is one of the gendhing structures used in Javanese gamelan music. It is the shortest of the gendhing structures that are not from the wayang repertoire. Gangsaran and bubaran are related structures that share the same colotomic structure.Groupings of four are most common at all levels...
or a ladrang
Ladrang
The ladrang is one of the gendhing structures used in Javanese gamelan music.The basic colotomic structure is a cycle of 32 beats in the following order:...
, with related balungan
Balungan
The balungan is sometimes called the "core melody" of a Javanese gamelan composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is heterophonic: the balungan is then the melody which is being elaborated....
.
The recording of the piece on Javanese Court Gamelan
Javanese Court Gamelan
Note: the first cover is of the first CD issue of the album, released during the 1990s.Javanese Court Gamelan is a recording of the gamelan of the Paku Alaman court in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. It was recorded by ethnomusicologist Robert E. Brown. It was issued on compact disc on April 17, 1991...
, possibly the most famous, is in pélog pathet barang and has a lancaran structure.
Mantle Hood
Mantle Hood
Mantle Hood was an American ethnomusicologist. Among other areas, he specialized in studying gamelan music from Indonesia. Hood pioneered, in the 1950s and 1960s, a new approach to the study of music, and the creation at UCLA of the first American university program devoted to ethnomusicology...
offers an analysis of the ladrang in The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of Patet in Javanese Music. He adduces it in his theory of the importance of cadence
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
contours in its variation in different pathet.
Hujan Mas, which also means "Golden Rain" in modern Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
is a well known 20th century composition for Balinese Gamelan in the kebyar style.
External links
- Transcription of balunganBalunganThe balungan is sometimes called the "core melody" of a Javanese gamelan composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is heterophonic: the balungan is then the melody which is being elaborated....
and bonangBonangThe bonang is a musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is a collection of small gongs placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame , either one or two rows wide. All of the kettles have a central boss, but around it the lower-pitched ones have a flattened head, while the higher...
parts - Recordings of Pura Pakualaman gamelan and University of Wisconsin–MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin–MadisonThe University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
gamelan