Book Pelog Bali Vol.1 BASS TROMBONE: LONDON

The pelog scale is one of the two fundamental tuning systems of Balinese and Javanese gamelan music, alongside slendro. Its name derives from the Javanese word pelag, meaning “beautiful.” While pelog theoretically consists of seven tones, in practice many ensembles employ only five, and tuning varies widely from region to region and even from one gamelan set to another, making it difficult to describe in Western intervallic terms.In Central Java, instruments within the same gamelan ensemble tend to preserve nearly identical intervallic relationships. In Bali, however, instruments are paired and deliberately tuned slightly apart to create acoustic beating, producing the characteristic bright and shimmering sonority associated with the perception of divine presence or meditative states in religious ceremonies.In Bali, the seven tones are primarily heard in ensembles such as gamelan semar pegulingan and gamelan gambuh, although it is rare for all seven to appear within a single composition. Instead, five-tone modes predominate. Among them, selisir is the most common, together with tembung and sunaren. These modes employ only five pitch names (ding, dong, deng, dung, dang), but their assignment varies depending on the mode. Jose Pardal Read more