Improvisation and Composition in Balinese Gendér Wayang

Download or read book Improvisation and Composition in Balinese Gendér Wayang written by Nicholas Gray and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an examination of the music of the Balinese gendér wayang, the quartet of metallophones - gendér - that accompanies the Balinese shadow puppet play - wayang kulit. The book focuses on processes of musical variation, the main means of creating new music in this genre, and the implications of these processes for the social and historical study of Balinese music, musical aesthetics, concepts of creativity and compositional methods. Dr Nick Gray tackles a number of core ethnomusicological concerns in a new way, including the relationship between composition and improvisation, and also highlights issues specific to Balinese music, including the importance of flexibility in performance, an aspect that has been largely ignored by scholars. Gray thus breaks new ground both in the study of issues relating to improvisation and composition and in Balinese music studies.