View source for Balungan

{{Short description|Core melody of a gamelan composition}}
[[Image:Ladrang cycle balungan.png|thumb|''[[Ladrang]]'' form on the ''balungan'' instruments. GONG = ''gong ageng''.<ref>Lindsay, Jennifer (1992). ''Javanese Gamelan'', p.48-49. {{ISBN|0-19-588582-1}}.</ref> {{audio|Ladrang cycle balungan.mid|Play}} balungan approximation without colotomy]]
The '''''balungan''''' ({{langx|jv|skeleton,<ref>Lindsay (1992), p.48. "''balung'' = bone".</ref> frame}}) is sometimes called the "core [[melody]]" or, "skeletal melodic outline,"<ref>Lindsay (1992), p.70.</ref> of a Javanese [[gamelan]] composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is [[heterophonic]]: the ''balungan'' is then the melody which is being [[variation (music)|elaborated]]. "An abstraction of the inner melody felt by musicians,"<ref>Sumarsam, cited in Perlman (2004), p.137.</ref> the ''balungan'' is, "the part most frequently notated by Javanese musicians, and the only one likely to be used in performance."<ref name="Anderson Sutton">Anderson Sutton, Richard (1991). ''Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java: Musical Pluralism and Regional Identity'', p.xix. Cambridge University. {{ISBN|9780521361538}}.</ref>
The group of instruments which play the closest to the ''balungan'' are sometimes also called the ''balungan'', or '''''balungan'' instruments'''. These are the ''[[saron (instrument)|saron]]'' family and the ''[[slenthem]]''. In many pieces, they play the ''balungan''. However, they can also elaborate on the parts in a variety of techniques. It is possible that there is no instrument playing the ''balungan'', although many musicians claim that the ''balungan'' is still present.
The term has been a source of some controversy, as various writers may define it differently. Sometimes it is identified with the melody played on the ''saron'' (whose range is limited to an [[octave]]), but sometimes it is identified with a wider [[tessitura]] that is implied by the patterns on other instruments. This multi-octave melody is the one given in [[kepatihan notation]], the cipher notation used for gamelan pieces.
'''''Lagu''''' is a related term, which is used by [[Sumarsam]] and is sometimes translated as "inner melody."{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} It can mean the multi-octave ''balungan'', or a more implicit melody. There is no consensus on the use of either term, and they may be used differently by different writers or in different contexts.
==Other uses==
'''''Balungan''''' is also the name of a journal published by the [[American Gamelan Institute]].<ref>''[http://www.gamelan.org/balungan/ Balungan]'', ''Gamelan.org''.</ref>
==Definitions==
Sumarsam argues that the use of the term, beginning directly after the introduction of notation, arose from the use of notation, theory, and pedagogy.<ref>Sumarsam (1995). ''Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in Central Java'', p.151. University of Chicago. {{ISBN|9780226780115}}.</ref>
*"The center of gravity of a gamelan composition, and the improviser's guideline, is a melody known as the 'skeleton' or 'framework' (''balungan''), played in a slow, even rhythm on [the]...''saron''."<ref>Perlman, Marc (2004). ''Unplayed Melodies: Javanese Gamelan and the Genesis of Music Theory'', p.1. University of California. {{ISBN|9780520930490}}. Note that Perlman is arguing against this definition.</ref>
*"If the ''balungan'' is the same, then the elaborating parts should be the same."<ref>Martopangrawit 22.i.85, cited in Perlman (2004), p.90.</ref>
*"The instrumental melody called ''balungan'' (literally, 'skeleton', 'outline')."<ref name="Anderson Sutton"/>
*"The balungan [[gendhing]] is important-if not, indeed, the most important-factor in the practice of karawitan, because as the framework of the gendhing it gives a composition its basic shape, and is used as a frame of reference and point of departure for the playing of the gamelan instruments."<ref>Supanggah (1988, p.9). Cited in Sumarsam (1995), p.152.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* [[Mantle Hood|Hood, Mantle]]. ''The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of [[Patet]] in Javanese Music''. Groningen and Jakarta: JB Walters, 1954.
* [[Jaap Kunst|Kunst, Jaap]]. ''Music in Java: Its History, its Theory and its Technique''. 2 vols, 3d ed enlarged. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973.
* Supanggah, Rahayu. Trans. Marc Perlman. "Balungan." In ''Balungan'', October 1988.
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