HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Slendro ( jv, ꦱ꧀ꦭꦺꦤ꧀ꦢꦿꦺꦴ, ban, slendro, translit=Sléndro) ( su, salendro, translit=Saléndro) is one of the essential tuning systems used in
gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
instruments that have
pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...
scale. Based on Javanese mythology, the Slendro Gamelan tuning system is older than the ''
pélog Pelog ( su, ᮕᮦᮜᮧᮌ᮪, translit=Pélog /pelog/, jv, ꦥꦺꦭꦺꦴꦒ꧀, ban, ᬧᬾᬮᭀᬕ᭄, translit=Pélog /pelok/) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that has heptatonic scale. The other, ...
'' tuning system.


Etymology

Slendro is a Javanese term for one of the scales in
gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
. It is derived either from "
Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...
", the name of the ruling family in the eighth and ninth centuries when Borobudur was built, or from its earlier being given by the god Sang Hyang Hendra.


History

The origin of the ''slendro'' scale is unknown. However the name ''slendro'' is derived from
Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...
, the ancient dynasty of
Mataram Kingdom The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese Hindu–Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established by King Sanjaya, the kingdom was rul ...
in Central Java, and also
Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
. The ''slendro'' scale is thought to be brought to Srivijaya by Mahayana Buddhists from Gandhara of India, via Nalanda and Srivijaya from there to Java and Bali. It is similar to scales used in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n and
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
music as well as other areas of Asia and they all may have a common origin. A ''salendro'' scale is also found in the neighboring musical ensemble of
Kulintang Kulintang ( id, kolintang, ms, kulintangan) is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. As part of ...
. This is very difficult if not impossible to determine. Even within Indonesia, it is difficult to determine the evolution of scales. For example, scales used in
Banyuwangi Banyuwangi, previously known as Banjoewangi, is the administrative capital of Banyuwangi Regency at the far eastern end of the island of Java, Indonesia. It had a population of 106,000 at the 2010 Census and 117,558 at the 2020 Census. The town ...
, at the eastern tip of Java, are very similar to scales used in Jembrana, a short distance away on Bali. There is probably no way to document which region influenced the other, or if they both evolved together.


Tuning

From one region of Indonesia to another the ''slendro'' scale often varies widely. The amount of variation also varies from region to region. For example, ''slendro'' in
Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in th ...
varies much less from gamelan to gamelan than it does in
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and N ...
, where ensembles from the same village may be tuned very differently. The five pitches of the Javanese version are roughly equally spaced within the octave. As in ''pelog'', although the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next, the intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within the same ''gamelan''. It is common in Balinese gamelan that instruments are played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart so as to produce interference beating which are ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. It is thought that this contributes to the very "busy" and "shimmering" sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain ''gamelan'', these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state. For the instruments that do not need fixed pitches (such as
suling The suling or seruling ( Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument of the Sundanese people in western Java, Indonesia. It is used in the Degung ensemble. Bamboo ring flute can also be found in Southeast Asian, especially in Brunei, Indonesia, Mal ...
and
rebab The ''rebab'' ( ar, ربابة, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via I ...
) and the voice, other pitches are sometimes inserted into the scale. The Sundanese musicologist/teacher
Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata (often written as ''Kusumadinata, Kusumahdinata, Kusumah Dinata'' or ''Anggakusumadinata''), known as Pak Machjar or Pak Mahyar, was a Sundanese music composer and an Indonesian musicologist, specializing in pe ...
identified 17 vocal pitches used in ''slendro''.
Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata (often written as ''Kusumadinata, Kusumahdinata, Kusumah Dinata'' or ''Anggakusumadinata''), known as Pak Machjar or Pak Mahyar, was a Sundanese music composer and an Indonesian musicologist, specializing in pe ...
. ''Ringkěsan Pangawikan Riněnggaswara''. Jakarta: Noordhoff-Kollff, c. 1950, page 17. Cited in Hood, Mantle (1977). ''The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of Pathet in Javanese Music'', . New York: Da Capo.
These
microtonal Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of tw ...
adjustments bear some similarity to Indian ''
śruti ''Shruti'' ( sa, श्रुति, , ) in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism. Manusmriti states: ''Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ'' ...
''.


Note names

In Java, the notes of the ''slendro'' scale can be designated in different ways; one common way is the use of numbers often called by their names in Javanese, especially in a shortened form. An older set uses names derived from parts of the body. Notice that both systems have the same designations for 5 and 6. There is no 4; possibly this is because it appears as an unusual tone in pelog and is not used when modulating between the systems. The name ''barang'' is also sometimes used for 1 in ''slendro'' (it is the usual name for 7 in pelog); the octave is then designated as ''barang alit''. In Bali, the scale starts on the note named ding, and then continue going up the scale to dong, deng, dung and dang.


Connotations

For experienced participants in gamelan music, the ''pelog'' and ''slendro'' scales each have a particular feeling, related to the rituals and circumstances in which the scale is used. For example, in
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and N ...
, ''slendro'' is felt to have a sad sound because it is used as the tuning of
gamelan angklung The ( Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument from the Sundanese people in Indonesia made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, similar ...
, the traditional ensemble for cremation ceremonies. The connotation also depends on the ''
pathet Pathet ( jv, ꦥꦛꦼꦠ꧀, translit=Pathet, also patet) is an organizing concept in central Javanese gamelan music in Indonesia. It is a system of tonal hierarchies in which some notes are emphasized more than others. The word means '"to d ...
'' (roughly, the mode) used. There are three ''slendro pathet'' used in Javanese ''gamelan'', ''nem'', ''sanga'', and ''manyura''. That is the order in which they appear in a ''
wayang , also known as ( jv, ꦮꦪꦁ, translit=wayang), is a traditional form of puppet theatre play originating from the Indonesian island of Java. refers to the entire dramatic show. Sometimes the leather puppet itself is referred to as . Perfor ...
'' performance, which historically used only ''slendro pathet''. Consequently, they have the implications of where they appear in the evening.


See also

*
Gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
*
Pathet Pathet ( jv, ꦥꦛꦼꦠ꧀, translit=Pathet, also patet) is an organizing concept in central Javanese gamelan music in Indonesia. It is a system of tonal hierarchies in which some notes are emphasized more than others. The word means '"to d ...
*
Cengkok Céngkok ( jv, ꦕꦺꦁꦏꦺꦴꦏ꧀, translit=Céngkok) (old orthography: ''tjengkok'') are patterns played by the elaborating instruments used in Indonesian Javanese gamelan. They are melodic formula that lead to a '' sèlèh'',Brinner, Ben ...
*
Pelog Pelog ( su, ᮕᮦᮜᮧᮌ᮪, translit=Pélog /pelog/, jv, ꦥꦺꦭꦺꦴꦒ꧀, ban, ᬧᬾᬮᭀᬕ᭄, translit=Pélog /pelok/) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that has heptatonic scale. The other ...
*
Music of Indonesia As it is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, the music of Indonesia ( id, Musik Indonesia) itself is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region have its own culture and art, and as a r ...
*
Music of Java The Music of Java embraces a wide variety of styles, both traditional and contemporary, reflecting the diversity of the island and its lengthy history. Apart from traditional forms that maintain connections to musical styles many centuries old, ...


References


Further reading

*Hewitt, Michael. ''Musical Scales of the World''. The Note Tree. 2013. . {{Musical tuning Gamelan theory Musical tuning Musical scales Anhemitonic scales