Gamelan Tunings

[Fred S. Sturm]

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    If you can't come up with definite instructions for the particular
piece, my advice would be to simply leave the piano in equal
temperament. Harrison was fond of a wide variety of tunings (actually,
virtually anything _but_ equal temperament), particularly various
pentatonic scales and "just" intonation (by which he, like Harry
Partsch, meant whole number ratios; which, unfortunately, often leaves a
bunch of questions unanswered for us practical tuners). But he also
favored historic temperaments for keyboard instruments - in a forward to
an edition of pieces for harpsichord or piano, he listed a few he
thought would be appropriate.
    One of the problems with just intonation, whether pentatonic or 12
tones or whatever, is that you need to know what is the "base" note to
start from. Start from the wrong one, and you'll be way off. And, of
course, if you're dealing with gamelan style instruments, you really
don't know what that pitch might be until you have the actual instrument
that will be played in the room with you (and even then, it's a bit hit
and miss - which partial is it you should focus on? how hard and with
what sort of mallet do you hit it?) Enormous can of worms.
    So why ruin the stability of your instrument (temporarily) on a wild
goose chase that might be nowhere near what is desired?
Regards,
Fred Sturm

Dennis Johnson wrote:

> That sounds like something I heard Owen Jorgensen talking about once.
> If so, it's definitely not a simple tune the first time.  If you are
> really interested and serious about it, I would probably give him a
> call for imput. Otherwise- ........."wing it".
> They know the request is way out there going into it, which should
> imply some flexibility.
>
> Dennis Johnson
> St. Olaf College
> ____________
> Otto Keyes wrote:
>
>> Unless these things are incredibly well crafted, I think you will
>> find the tuning anything but "standard", even within the prescribed
>> tunings/tempraments.  I would doubt that in the final analysis there
>> will be little to be gained by investing a great deal of worry in
>> the process.  Do your homework, tune your best, & let the gamelan
>> sound where it may.  Where/how it is struck, mallets used, etc.,
>> will alter the pitch significantly from its original, out-of-tune
>> state, so I don't think I'd sweat it much.  Chock it up to creative
>> dissonance. :-) Otto
>>
>>      ----- Original Message -----
>>      From:Mitch Staples
>>      To: College and University Technicians
>>      Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 10:04 AM
>>      Subject: Gamelan Tunings
>>      In a couple of weeks I will be tuning a piano that will be
>>      used in a concerto for piano with Javanese Gamelan
>>      composed by Lou Harrison.  I understand that there are at
>>      least two standard tunings (I assume they mean
>>      temperaments) for Javanese Gamelan, Slendro and Pelog.  I
>>      was supposed to get instructions for this special tuning
>>      but it looks like I'm going to have to wing it. Has any
>>      one tuned for this piece? Any suggestions?Mitch Staples
>>

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